0390435333.pdf

Feist−Feist: Theories of

Personality, Seventh

Edition

V. Learning Theories 17. Rotter and Mischel:

Cognitive Social Learning

Theory

© The McGraw−Hill^523

Companies, 2009

Applied to our example, the formula suggests that the likelihood (behavior po-
tential, or BP) that La Juan will rest her head on her desk (behavior x) in a dull and
boring class with other students slumbering (the psychological situation, or s 1 ) with
the goal of sleep (reinforcement, or ra) is a function of her expectation that such be-
havior (Ex) will be followed by sleep (ra) in this particular classroom situation (s 1 ),
plus a measure of how highly she desires to sleep (reinforcement value, or RVa) in
this specific situation (s). Because precise measurement of each of these variables
may be beyond the scientific study of human behavior, Rotter proposed a strategy for
predicting general behaviors.

Predicting General Behaviors

To predict general behaviors, we look at David, who has worked for 18 years in Hoff-
man’s Hardware Store. David has been informed that, because of a business decline,
Mr. Hoffman must cut his workforce and that David may lose his job. How can we
predict David’s subsequent behavior? Will he beg Mr. Hoffman to let him remain
with the company? Will he strike out in violence against the store or Mr. Hoffman?
Will he displace his anger and act aggressively toward his wife or children? Will he
begin drinking heavily and become apathetic toward searching for a new job? Will
he immediately and constructively begin looking for another position?

Generalized Expectancies

Because most of David’s possible behaviors are new to him, how can we predict what
he will do? At this point, the concepts of generalizationand generalized ex-
pectancy enter into Rotter’s theory. If, in the past, David has generally been re-
warded for behaviors that have increased his social status, then only a slight proba-
bility exists that he will beg Mr. Hoffman for a job, because such actions are contrary
to increased social status. On the other hand, if his previous attempts at responsible
and independent behaviors have generally been reinforced and if he has the freedom
of movement—that is, the opportunity to apply for another job —then, assuming he
needs work, a high probability exists that he will apply for another job or otherwise
behave independently. This prediction, though not as specific as the one predicting
the college student’s likelihood of sleeping in a boring classroom, is nevertheless
more useful in situations where rigorous control of pertinent variables is not possi-
ble. Predicting David’s reaction to the probable loss of a job is a matter of knowing
how he views the options available to him and also the status of his present needs.

Needs

Rotter (1982) defined needs as any behavior or set of behaviors that people see as
moving them in the direction of a goal. Needs are not states of deprivation or arousal
but indicators of the direction of behavior. The difference between needs and goals
is semantic only. When focus is on the environment, Rotter speaks of goals; when it
is on the person, he talks of needs.
The concept of needs allows for more generalized predictions than permitted
by the four specific variables that comprise the basic prediction formula. Ordinarily,

Chapter 17 Rotter and Mischel: Cognitive Social Learning Theory 517