Environmental Influences on
Personality
Ch 2
Sec 4
Pages 58-64
Situations and social learning
• According to environmentalist people don’t
have traits instead they show patterns of
behavior
• Reasons for inconsistency in behavior is that
different behaviors are rewarded, punished or
ignored depending on situation
Objectives Today
1. Describe why people don’t always behave
consistently across situations
2. Compare Social cognitive learning Theory
(Environmental) and other Personality
theories
3. Analyze parents shaping of children’s
personality
4. Discuss how your peers influence your
personality
Social- Cognitive Theories
• Scientific tradition
• Research on specific influences of personality
and behavior
• Personality different when with family-friends
• Concert vs. Living Room
• Expectations and beliefs, Habits, Observations
• Bandura, B.F. Skinner
Bandura
B.F. skinner
Reciprocal (mutual) Determinism
• Interdependent relationship with
Environment, Cognition, and behavior
• For example you like psychology (Cognition)
• So you hang out in psychology dept. on
college campus ( environment)
• Interact with other psy. Students ( social)
• Leads to majoring on psy.
chapter 2
Reciprocal determinism
Two-way interaction between aspects of the
environment and aspects of the individual in the shaping of
personality traits
Explains against Gene theory
• Gives reasons for different siblings with similar
genes
• Environment different, behavior different
• Non shared environment- f.e. DIFFERENT
CLASSES
chapter 2
Non-shared environment
Unique aspects of a person’s
environment and aspects of the
individual in the shaping of personality
traits
chapter 2
The power of parents
The shared environment of the home has
little influence on personality.
The non-shared environment is a more important influence.
Few parents have a single child-rearing style
that is consistent over time and that they use
with all children.
Even when parents try to be consistent, there
may be little relation between what they do
and how their children turn out.
2 biggest environmental influences:
Parents- Friends
• Columbine tragedy- Parents blamed
• Western thought parents strong or sole
influence on children’s personality
• 3 lines of evidence AGAINST THIS
Against Parent Influence objective3
1. Shared environment of home has little
influence on personality- F.E. Adopted
children weak correlation to parents
personality traits
2. Few parents have a single childrearing style
that is consistent over time and that they use
with all their children- F.E. More lenient with
easy going child OTOH punitive with difficult
ones
Against Parents influence
• 3RD Argument against parent rearing/Personality
• Even when parents try to be consistent in the way
they treat their children, there may be little
relation between what they do and how the
children turn out.
• F.E. Children of abusive parents do not suffer
lasting emotional damage OTOH children of
nurturing loving parents succumb to drugs,
mental illness or gangs
Parents Do influence
• Religious, occupational, intellectual, feelings,
self-esteem= High correlation
• Not a one way street…You influence each
other! 
Power of Peers/ Objectives 4
• Cornell Study: 275 students most had double
“secret” life. Sex, drugs, drinking unbeknownst
to their parents
• Life at home and at school
• Dress, habits, Language
• Categorized Interests (Jocks, Nerds, Musicians,
Artists), ethnicity, status,
Peer Study
• 15,000 students, High school
• Asian-American, African-American, Latinos
and Whites
• Asian, Highest G.P.A., student peer support,
study groups, cheered on, celebrate successes
• OTOH African American students regarding
doing well in school as “selling out to the
white establishment” High achieving black
students said they had few black friends
Summarize Environmental factors on
PERSONALITY
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•
•
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Environmental factors
People associated with social Cognitive theory
Problems with gene theory
Peers