Theories_of_Personality 7th Ed Feist

Feist−Feist: Theories of

Personality, Seventh

Edition

V. Learning Theories 17. Rotter and Mischel:

Cognitive Social Learning

Theory

© The McGraw−Hill^519

Companies, 2009

Other things being equal, people are most strongly reinforced by behaviors
that move them in the direction of anticipated goals. This statement refers to Rotter’s
empirical law of effect,which “defines reinforcement as any action, condition, or
event which affects the individual’s movement toward a goal” (Rotter & Hochreich,
1975, p. 95).
Rotter’s fifth assumption is that people are capable of anticipating events.
Moreover, they use their perceived movement in the direction of the anticipated
event as a criterion for evaluating reinforcers. Beginning with these five general as-
sumptions, Rotter built a personality theory that attempts to predict human behavior.

Predicting Specific Behaviors

Because Rotter’s primary concern is the prediction of human behavior, he suggested
four variables that must be analyzed in order to make accurate predictions in any spe-
cific situation. These variables are behavior potential, expectancy, reinforcement
value, and the psychological situation. Behavior potentialrefers to the likelihood
that a given behavior will occur in a particular situation; expectancyis a person’s ex-
pectation of being reinforced; reinforcement valueis the person’s preference for a
particular reinforcement; and the psychological situationrefers to a complex pattern
of cues that a person perceives during a specific time period.

Behavior Potential

Broadly considered, behavior potential(BP) is the possibility that a particular re-
sponse will occur at a given time and place. Several behavior potentials of varying
strengths exist in any psychological situation. For example, as Megan walks toward
a restaurant, she has several behavioral potentials. She might pass by without notic-
ing the restaurant; actively ignore it; stop to eat; think about stopping to eat, but go
on; examine the building and contents with a consideration to purchase it; or stop,
go inside, and rob the cashier. For Megan, in this situation, the potential for some of
these behaviors would approach zero, some would be very likely, and others would
be in between these extremes. How can a person predict which behaviors are most
or least likely to occur?
The behavior potential in any situation is a function of both expectancy and
reinforcement value.If a person wishes to know the likelihood that Megan will rob
the cashier rather than purchase the restaurant or stop to eat, for example, we could
hold expectancy constant and vary reinforcement value. If each of these behavior po-
tentials carried a 70% expectancy of being reinforced, then a person could make a
prediction about their relative probability of occurrence based solely on the rein-
forcement value of each. If holding up the cashier carries a positive reinforcement
value greater than ordering food or buying the restaurant, then that behavior has the
greatest occurrence potential.
The second approach to prediction is to hold reinforcement value constant and
vary expectancy. If total reinforcements from each possible behavior are of equal
value, then the one with the greatest expectation of reinforcement is most likely to
occur. More specifically, if reinforcements from robbing the cashier, buying the

Chapter 17 Rotter and Mischel: Cognitive Social Learning Theory 513