The Social Cognitive Theory of Personality (College Board AP® Psychology): Revision Note

The social cognitive theory of personality

• Social cognitive theory proposes that personality is shaped by the interaction between cognitive processes, behavior, and the environment

• Unlike psychodynamic and trait theories, it views personality as:

  • learned, flexible, and context-dependent rather than fixed

  • developed through social experience and learning, not stable internal traits alone

• The most influential theorist is Albert Bandura, who extended social learning theory to explain personality

Reciprocal determinism

• Reciprocal determinism is Bandura’s model of how personality is shaped through the interaction of three factors:

  • The person: cognitive factors, e.g. beliefs, expectations, self-efficacy, self-concept

  • The behavior: actions taken by the individual

  • The environment: the social and physical context within which behaviour occurs. These factors influence each other in a continuous feedback loop

    • the environment shapes thoughts and behaviour

    • behaviour alters the environment

    • experiences feed back into personal belief

• These factors influence each other in a continuous feedback loop:

  • the environment shapes thoughts and behaviour

  • behaviour alters the environment

  • experiences feed back into personal beliefs

• E.g. a friendly person engages socially, creating a positive environment that reinforces their behaviour and beliefs about socializing

• Reciprocal determinism contrasts with both:

  • behavorism: the environment shapes behavior one-directionally

  • trait theory: fixed internal characteristics determine behavior regardless of context

Self-efficacy

• Self-efficacy is a person’s belief in their ability to succeed in a specific task or situation

  • It is task-specific, not a general trait

    • E.g. a person may have high self-efficacy for public speaking but low self-efficacy for mathematics

• Self-efficacy is a key component of the person factor in reciprocal determinism, as it shapes behavior and in turn is shaped by experience:

  • High self-efficacy leads to:

    • greater effort and persistence

    • resilience when facing difficulty

    • more successful outcomes

  • Low self-efficacy leads to:

    • avoidance of challenges

    • reduced effort and persistence

    • further weakening of self-efficacy

• E.g. a student who believes they can succeed at chemistry (high self-efficacy) studies harder, persists when it gets difficult, and is more likely to succeed

  • This further reinforces their belief

• Sources of self-efficacy include:

  • mastery experiences: successfully performing a task strengthens belief

  • vicarious experiences: observing a similar person succeed increases self-efficacy

  • social persuasion: being told by others that you are capable increases self-efficacy

  • physiological states: interpreting physical arousal (e.g., nervousness) as a sign of incompetence reduces self-efficacy

Self-concept and self-esteem

• Self-concept refers to how a person views themselves and their relationship to others

  • It is shaped by experience, social feedback, and behavioral outcomes, and is not fixed

• Self-esteem is the evaluative aspect of self-concept — how positively or negatively a person views themselves overall

  • High self-esteem is associated with positive self-evaluation; low self-esteem with negative self-evaluation

• Both self-efficacy and self-esteem contribute to self-concept, and are both shaped by the reciprocal interplay of person, behavior, and environment

Locus of control & explanatory style

Locus of control (personality context)

• Locus of control refers to the extent to which individuals believe they have control over life outcomes

• In the personality context, locus of control is a stable tendency influencing how people interpret and respond to events:

  • Individuals with an internal locus of control attribute outcomes to their own actions and are associated with greater persistence and higher wellbeing

  • Individuals with an external locus of control attribute outcomes to luck or external forces and are associated with lower persistence and greater vulnerability to learned helplessness and depression

• Locus of control is a component of the person factor in reciprocal determinism

  • It shapes how the person interprets their environment and what behaviors they choose to engage in

Explanatory style (personality context)

• Explanatory style is the habitual way individuals explain the causes of events, especially successes and failures

• It is a relatively stable characteristic linked to self-concept and locus of control:

  • Optimistic explanatory style: bad events seen as external, unstable, and specific; good events as internal, stable, and global

    • linked to resilience, achievement, and better wellbeing

  • Pessimistic explanatory style: bad events seen as internal, stable, and global; good events as external, unstable, and specific

    • linked to depression, helplessness, and lower achievement

• From a social cognitive perspective, explanatory style is learned through experience and can be modified