Behaviorist View of Personality
Behaviorist View of Personality

Behaviorist view of
personality = habits

Everything a person
does is a response
to some
environment
stimulus that has
been reinforced by
reward in some way
Behaviorist View of Personality

Explanation of a shy personality




In childhood, parent had harsh
disciplinary style
Child is negatively reinforced to keep
quiet
Later child may have generalized
their approach to other adults
(maybe teachers)
Thus…..the habit of shyness
develops and continues
Bandura is Back!
Social Cognitive Theory
How does
our environment (physical surroundings
including people)
interact with
our behavior (intensity, frequency,
influence from and on our environment)
interact with
our cognition (previously reinforced
responses and processing)
Social Cognitive Theory

Reciprocal Determinism: the interacting
influences between personality, environmental
factors and internal cognition. Internal
Cognitive
Factors

Behavior
FOR EXAMPLE:
 Internal Cognitive Factor: talkative, Environmental
Factors
confidence
 Behavior: Volunteering your answers
 Environmental Factors: getting feedback from
teacher, doing better next time, thus
increasing your confidence



Personal Control
Our sense of controlling our environment
rather than the environment controlling us.
Exercising will power actually depletes
mental energy and blood sugar
Gaining self control in one area of life tends
to spill over into other areas



Control impulses, delay gratification
Option of controlling environment is
correlated with improved health and high
morale
Excessive freedom leads to decreasing life
satisfaction
External Locus of Control

The perception that chance or outside
forces beyond one’s personal control
determine one’s fate.

Can be healthy at times, but often leads to
learned helplessness (once you have the
option to control, you don’t take it)
Internal Locus of Control

The perception that one controls one’s
own fate.
External vs. Internal



You did well on a test, how would you
explain it?
External: you got lucky, the teacher made
an easy test
Internal: your hard work, good study
habits, and interest in the topic
Self-efficacy
The belief that you are likely to
be successful at something
If I believe I am likely to be
successful in math, I may
choose to take more math
classes, and actually become
a better math student.
Self-efficacy is a powerful determinant of future
success, but…
…be wary of overconfidence.
It can lead students to perform lower (“I don’t
need to study”) and may encourage unwise risks
(“I can drive on ice.”)
What would you attempt to do, if
you knew you could not fail?