Social Cognitive Approaches and neo-behaviouralism

Question 1

What is the differences between traditional behaviourism and neo-behaviourism?

Answer 1

traditional - direct observations only
Neo - Direct observation though to internal subjective states

Question 2

What was George Kellys contributions and ideas in social cognitive theory?

Answer 2

we are scientists with the power to rethink events and test hypothesis
Agentic - people can influence and change their lives
Social constructivist
how you contrue determines how you respond

Question 3

What were Albert banduras contributions to social cognitive theory?

Answer 3

Expectancies and self-efficacy shape our choices and our expectancies shape self-efficacy
Recognised reinforcement from parents usually - vicarious learning, we develop important learnings that drive the future

Question 4

What was Albert Ellis’ rational emotive therapy?

Answer 4

A focused form of social cognitive theory where specific beliefs are hypothesised to drive mood/behaviour
1. Demandingness
2. Awfulising
3. Low-frustration tolerance
4. Depreciation
looking at absolutism that come through for cognitions

Question 5

What were Bandura’s contributions to moral disengagement?

Answer 5

1. moral justification - portraying inhumane behaviour as having moral purpose
2. euphemistic labelling - sanitising language to make behaviour respectable
3. advantageous comparison - trivialising behaviour by comparing it to more immoral acts
4. Displacement of responsibility - a legitimate authority accepts responsibility for a behaviour
5. Disregarding or misrepresneting injurious consequences - minimise or avoid facing harm caused
6. dehumanisation - denying humanness may be used to justify acting with fewer constraints

Question 6

What is self-efficacy and what is its effect on behaviour?

Answer 6

Belief one can execute a behaviour in a given situation and determines their competence of the behaviour
Low self-efficacy = avoidance/escape
High self-efficacy = generates perspective
It drives behaviour but also allows us to understand how capable someone is to change or stop their behaviour, this will effect our assessment

Question 7

What are expectancies and how can they help us to understand behaviour?

Answer 7

It is behaviour that results form conscious choices based on the expected utility and rewards of said behaviours.
Personal beliefs about the consequences of acting a certain way
Vicariously learned and shaped by experiences

Question 8

What is the effect of the interaction between self-efficacy and expectancies on assessment and understanding problems?

Answer 8

It is a perpetuating cycle, self-efficacy drives behaviour then expectancies shape behaviour. These experiences are orthogonal meaning that they are independent.

Question 9

How can diaries be used in assessment?

Answer 9

They can help us to identity cues for presenting problems and when they recede. When analysing them we look for ‘vicious cycles’ and self-fulfilling prophecies.

Question 10

What is Walter Mischels Cognitive-Affective Personality System (CAPS)?

Answer 10

A broad approach to social cognitive theory - cognitive affective personality system, this is a network information processing model that looks at cool and hot elements (cognitions/feelings)

Question 11

What are the 5 cognitive-effective units (CAUs) of Mischels CAPS?

Answer 11

1. Encodings
2. Expectancies/self-efficacy
3. ‘hot’ cognitions/affect
4. Life goals and values
5. Behavioural scripts

Question 12

What are encodings?

Answer 12

Personal meaning associated with external cue followed by a stream of thoughts, feelings, expectations, goals, scripts that can be rather automatic. You can have the same cue but different subjective experiences.

Question 13

What are expectancies/self-efficacy in CAPS?

Answer 13

Personal beliefs about outcomes
Confidence about successfully coping with a certain situation

Question 14

What are ‘hot’ cognitions/affect?

Answer 14

Thoughts that activate strong emotions (he/she rejected me and that makes me angry)
Includes physiological components
Thoughts associated with important consequences
Often have existential themes (rejection, major setback, safety, aloneness)

Question 15

What are life goals and values?

Answer 15

LG = global outcomes you desire for yourself that you hold closely
Values = provide direction and structure to life, organise and drive one’s efforts and decisions

Question 16

What are behavioural scripts?

Answer 16

Learned ways of responding in an organised way to given set of CAUS though observational learning, direct behavioural learning process, our own reflections on what works - we can regulate behaviour.

Question 17

What are Mischel signatures?

Answer 17

They are individually tailored signatures that take into consideration off of Mischels CAUs to understand how someone thinks, feels and may behave in a given situation that you are trying to understand. There is a map of the relationships between cognition and affect and generates an imprint of personality dispositions.

Question 18

In Mischel’s signatures, what do solid lines, broken lines and weighting of lines represent?

Answer 18

1. Excitatory
2. Inhibitory
3. Reflects individual differences

Question 19

What is test-retest reliability and what can effect it?

Answer 19

It assess the consistency of a measure overtime. Factors that can influence it are:
1. Time between tests
2. Practice Effects
3. Participant characteristics
4. environmental characteristics
5. Instrumentation
6. Sampling bias

Question 20

What is pearsons correlation coefficient?

Answer 20

a statistical measure that quantifies the strength and direction of the linear relationship between two continuous variables. It tells us how closely the data points in a scatterplot follow a straight line, ranging from -1 (perfect negative correlation) to +1 (perfect positive correlation), with 0 indicating no correlation.

Question 21

How can you make correlations stronger?

Answer 21

Increase your sample size

Question 22

What are the approximate values of test-retest reliability and what do they tell us?

Answer 22

0.00 to 0.25: Little to no reliability. The test scores show low consistency over time.
0.26 to 0.50: Low to moderate reliability. The test scores exhibit some consistency, but there is room for improvement.
0.51 to 0.75: Moderate to high reliability. The test scores demonstrate reasonably consistent results.
0.76 to 1.00: High to very high reliability. The test scores show strong consistency over time.

Question 23

What is construct validity?

Answer 23

The extent to which a measurement or test accurately assesses or measures the underlying theoretical construct or concept it is intended to measure. It evaluates how well the test aligns with the theoretical framework or idea it aims to represent.

Question 24

Convergent validity is a type of construct validity, explain it.

Answer 24

It examines the degree to which the test correlates positively with other measures that are theoretically related to the construct. If the test is assessing a specific construct, it should show a strong positive correlation with other measures of the same construct.

Question 25

Divergent validity is a type of construct validity, explain it.

Answer 25

It assesses the degree to which the test does not correlate strongly with measures that are theoretically unrelated to the construct. This helps demonstrate that the test is distinct from other constructs and is measuring what it intends to measure.

Question 26

Criterion validity is a type of construct validity, explain it.

Answer 26

It assesses how well the test correlates with a criterion or outcome that is external to the test itself. Criterion validity can be divided into concurrent validity (correlation with a criterion measured at the same time) and predictive validity (correlation with a future criterion).

Question 27

How can we look at item-score data to see if it captures a factor within the construct we are trying to measure?

Answer 27

By observing the mean score and how much the scores for the item vary around the mean. This can be done by looking at the standard deviation. If the mean and SD are noticeably different from the control then we can infer that this measure is accurately capturing the construct.

Question 28

What are the strengths and weaknesses of a behaviourism?

Answer 28

Strengths:
Observable and measurable
Environmental influence
Emphasis on learning and conditioning

Weaknesses:
Limited focus on internal processes
Reductionistic view
Neglect of individual differences

Question 29

What are the strengths and weaknesses of trait approaches?

Answer 29

Strengths:
Individual differences
Predictive value
Comprehensive framework

Weaknesses:
Lack of situational specificity
Limited explanation of underlying processes
Oversimplification

Question 30

What is item-total reliability?

Answer 30

Item-total reliability, also known as item-total correlation, is a measure used to assess the internal consistency of a scale or questionnaire. It evaluates the degree of association or correlation between individual items and the total score of the scale.

Higher item-total correlations suggest stronger internal consistency, indicating that the items are measuring the same construct consistently. Lower correlations may indicate issues with item selection or conceptual alignment, requiring further evaluation and refinement of the scale.