Self-Regulation Perspective

Basic assumptions: 1. people are information processors: they gather, integrate and organize information from the outside world - explicit processing - implicit processing

2. living involves continual decision making: "…life is a flow of decisions…"

3. behavior is goal directed living involves continuous checking and adjusting (self-regulating)

Cautions:

1. Who are the research subjects?

2. Be careful to note the qualifiers: p.448 – "People with an entity view tend to see task performance as having the goal of proving their ability. If they do poorly, they're distressed and want to quit. People with an incremental view see their actions as having the goal of extending their ability. If they do poorly, they see this as an opportunity to increase their ability." pp. 448-449.

"People tend to have jobs that have the same first initial as their own names. Sherry's odds of owning a salon are greater than chance." p. 453

Attribution

- judging the causes of events.

Fundamental attribution error – the tendency for observers to underestimate situational influences and overestimate dispositional influences on others' behavior.

i.e., I am cranky because of the situation

others are cranky because of their personalities

1 Weiner's Attribution of Causality Theory

- three dimensions

- was success or failure caused by something about the actor (Internal) or by something about the situation (External)

- was the internal or external cause stable (permanent) or unstable (temporary)

- was the occurrence controllable or not controllable

Attributions about achievement: grade on the Psyco 223 final exam Stable Unstable Internal External Internal External Controllable typical professor unusual unusual disruption effort dislikes effort by raving student student ------Not controllable lack of task mood luck ability difficulty

Mischel – cognitive social learning view

Cognitive social learning person variables:

Competencies – skills developed over the lifetime - physical skills - social skills - problem solving skills

- people differ - situational requirements differ

2 Encoding strategies and personal constructs - one's unique world view - how a situation is construed - depends on what schema is used

Expectancies 1. what typically follows an event

2. behavior-outcome expectancies - particular acts typically lead to particular outcomes

Goals and values - what outcome the person wants

Self-regulatory systems and plans - the nitty-gritty of setting goals, makings plans, carrying out the various steps, etc.

Mischel and Shoda – Cognitive-Affective Processing System (CAPS)

- behavior has a "conditional quality" - the if…then principle - does not measure the average amount of a behavioral disposition, e.g., friendliness - looks for the pattern of behavior - identifies mediating processes

(diagram)

Mediating processes – similar to cognitive person variables (above) - added an affects unit: feelings, emotions, affective responses (including physiological reactions)

3 "To summarize, through the interactions of the personality system's structure with the features of situations that activate characteristic processing dynamics, individuals may select, seek, interpret, respond to, and generate stable social situations and experiences in patterns that are typical for them." (Mischel & Shoda, 1995, p. 259 – 260).

(diagram)

- accounts for variability in behavioral expression - also accounts for stability in the underlying personality system