Psychology: Bandura and Humanistic Theories

Albert Bandura and Social-Cognitive Theory

• Bandura challenged behavioralism, arguing that thinking and reasoning are important components of learning.
• Proposed a social-cognitive theory that emphasizes both learning and cognition in personality.
• Introduced the concept of reciprocal determinism, where cognition, behavior, and context interact.
• Identified observational learning as a significant form of learning, where we learn by observing others' behaviors and consequences.
• Highlighted the importance of self-efficacy, our belief in our abilities, developed through social experiences.
• Emphasized the locus of control, our beliefs about our influence on life events: internal (we control our destiny) or external (outside forces control our destiny).

Humanistic Approaches

• Maslow and Rogers focused on how healthy individuals develop and reach their full potential.
• Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs states that basic needs must be met before higher-level needs can be addressed, with self-actualization as the pinnacle need.
• Rogers emphasized the importance of self-concept for a healthy personality.
• Achieving consistency between the ideal self (who we want to be) and the real self (who we are) leads to self-worth and personal growth.

Biological Approaches

• The Minnesota Study of Twins Reared Apart demonstrated the heritability of certain personality traits.
• Temperament, an individual's typical reaction to the world, is present from a very young age and influences personality development.

Trait Theorists

• Believe personality can be understood by identifying characteristic ways of behaving, known as traits.
• Gordon Allport identified 4,500 words describing people and organized traits into three categories:
  • Cardinal traits: dominant personality traits.
  • Central traits: general characteristics that describe a person.
  • Secondary traits: less consistent and less influential traits.
• Raymond Cattell narrowed the list to 171 traits and identified 16 personality factors or dimensions.
• The 16PF (16 Personality Factor Questionnaire) was based on Cattell's 16 factors.
• Hans and Sybil Eysenck proposed two primary personality dimensions: extroversion/introversion and neuroticism/stability.
• The Five Factor Model, the most popular theory today, identifies five key traits: openness to experience, conscientiousness, extroversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism.

Personality Assessment

• Personality tests utilize various techniques to assess personal characteristics.
• Two main types of personality assessments: self-report inventories and projective tests.
• Self-report inventories use multiple-choice questions or scales for assessing personality.
• Projective tests rely on the projection of unconscious thoughts and feelings onto ambiguous stimuli.
• The Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI), a common self-report inventory, is used in clinical practice, workplace assessments, and pre-employment screenings.
• It consists of true/false questions.
• The MMPI-2-RF is an updated version with fewer questions.
• Projective Tests present ambiguous stimuli like inkblots (Rorschach) or pictures (Thematic Apperception Test) to elicit unconscious responses.

Explore the key concepts of Albert Bandura's social-cognitive theory, including observational learning and self-efficacy. Additionally, delve into humanistic approaches by Maslow and Rogers focusing on personal development and needs fulfillment. This quiz encapsulates major psychological theories that shape our understanding of personality and motivation.