Feist−Feist: Theories of
Personality, Seventh
EditionV. Learning Theories 17. Rotter and Mischel:
Cognitive Social Learning
Theory(^552) © The McGraw−Hill
Companies, 2009
546 Part V Learning Theories
- The general prediction formulastates that need potential is a function of
freedom of movement and need value. - Need potentialis the possible occurrence of a set of functionally related
behaviors directed toward the satisfaction of a goal or a similar set of
goals. - Freedom of movementis the average expectancy that a set of related
behaviors will be reinforced. - Need valueis the degree to which a person prefers one set of
reinforcements to another. - In many situations, people develop generalized expectanciesfor success
because a similar set of experiences has been previously reinforced. - Locus of control is a generalized expectancy that refers to people’s belief
that they can or cannot control their lives. - Interpersonal trustis a generalized expectancy that the word of another is
reliable. - Maladaptive behaviorrefers to those actions that fail to move a person
closer to a desired goal. - Rotter’s method of psychotherapyaims toward changing goals and
eliminating low expectancies. - Mischel’s cognitive-active personality system(CAPS) suggests that
people’s behavior is largely shaped by an interaction of stable personality
traits and the situation, which include a number of personal variables. - Personal dispositionshave some consistency over time but little
consistency from one situation to another. - Relatively stable personality dispositions interact with cognitive-affective
unitsto produce behavior. - Cognitive-affective units include people’s encoding strategies,or their way
of construing and categorizing information; their competencies and self-
regulatory plans,or what they can do and their strategies for doing it; their
expectancies and beliefsabout the perceived consequences of their actions;
their goals and values;and their affective responses.