Deck 12: Social Cognitive Theory: Bandura and Mischel

Question 1

Bandura's microanalytic research strategy emphasizes

A) the enduring influence of unconscious processes.
B) situational specificity.
C) modeling, or observational learning.
D) goals and intrinsic interest.

Answer 1

B

Question 2

According to social cognitive theory, the process of reciprocal determinism suggests that

A) people influence their environments.
B) environments influence people.
C) both (a) and (b).
D) neither (a) nor (b).

Answer 2

C

Question 3

A major theme is Bandura's work is that people

A) can learn merely by observation.
B) have the capacity to self-regulate their actions and experiences.
C) contribute agentically to their own development.
D) all of the above.
E) none of the above.

Answer 3

D

Question 4

The major difference between social cognitive theory and other learning approaches (e.g., Skinner) is that social learning theory

A) emphasizes developmental principles.
B) emphasizes learning in the absence of reinforcement.
C) emphasizes imitative behavior.
D) minimizes the role of reinforcement in performance.

Question 5

Expectations generally

A) are inherited.
B) vary from situation to situation.
C) cannot be stated in words.
D) are consistent from situation to situation.

Question 6

Like Kelly's personal construct theory, social cognitive theorists believe that much human thought and action is

A) future-oriented.
B) influenced by submerged constructs.
C) determined by childhood events.
D) determined by environmental rewards.

Question 7

The following is a distinction emphasized by social cognitive theorists

A) acquisition-performance.
B) behaviorist-humanist.
C) situationist-personologist.
D) all of the above.

Question 8

A feature that differentiates social cognitive theory from behaviorism is the two theories' different views of

A) the importance of experimentation.
B) the importance of experiences in the social environment.
C) personality trait variables.
D) expectancies.

Question 9

Social-cognitive theorists are critical of behaviorism because behaviorists

A) based their theory on experimental rather than correlational research.
B) underestimated people's capacity for personal agency.
C) underestimated people's capacity to adapt their behavior to situations.
D) were too interests in individual differences.

Question 10

Two of Mischel's mentors were

A) Kelly and Rotter.
B) Bandura and Kelly.
C) Bandura and Rotter.
D) Kelly and Eysenck.

Question 11

The text notes that a defining characteristic of persons involves persons'

A) language and reasoning abilities.
B) capacity for self-reflection.
C) capacity to think about the future.
D) all of the above.
E) none of the above.

Question 12

_______ refers to what people think will happen, whereas _______ refer to what people think should happen.

A) goals; standards
B) standards; goals
C) expectancies; standards
D) standards; expectancies

Question 13

___________ knowledge can be stated in words, whereas _________ knowledge cannot.

A) inherited; learned
B) declarative; procedural
C) reinforced; non-reinforced (i.e., learned via modeling)
D) none of the above

Question 14

Social cognitive theory recognizes that people differ not only because of their different emotions and motives, but because of their different

A) archetypes.
B) competencies.
C) traits.
D) levels of self-actualization.

Question 15

Social cognitive theorists are critical of earlier learning theories because of their

A) neglect of cognitive variables.
B) emphasis on rewards.
C) both (a) and (b).
D) neither (a) nor (b).

Question 16

Social-cognitive theorists are critical of trait theory because they think that

A) variability in action is important to understanding people's personality, yet is relatively disregarded by trait theory.
B) trait theorists have placed far too much emphasis on unconscious forces.
C) trait theorists are interested in individual differences.
D) people do not have distinctive characteristics, or traits.

Question 17

Social cognitive personality theorists are critical of approaches that emphasize

A) unconscious forces.
B) traits.
C) drives.
D) all of the above.

Question 18

A numerical value that can influence people's estimates of a quantity is called

A) an expectancy.
B) a goal.
C) an anchor value.
D) a standard.

Question 19

Social cognitive theory has roots in

A) drive theory.
B) phenomenology.
C) learning theory.
D) all of the above.

Question 20

Social cognitive theorists strongly emphasize

A) variability in behavior.
B) traits
C) reinforcers in the acquisition of responses.
D) all of the above.

Question 21

Vicarious conditioning occurs in

A) humans.
B) monkeys.
C) both (a) and (b).
D) neither (a) nor (b).

Question 22

The point of Cervone and Peake's research on anchoring, self-efficacy, and behavior was that

A) people are highly motivated to perform well in academic settings.
B) self-efficacy judgments causally influence behavior.
C) self-efficacy should be assessed in a context-specific manner.
D) self-efficacy judgments may change over time.

Question 23

As illustrated by the CAPS model, social-cognitive theorists view personality as

A) primarily inherited.
B) the product of unconscious forces.
C) too complex to be understand via laboratory experiments.
D) a system.

Question 24

Bandura's microanalytic research strategy emphasizes

A) computer generated profiles.
B) if-then behavior profiles.
C) situation-specific measures.
D) the use of strategic expectancies.

Question 25

Through observational learning, one can acquire

A) behavior responses.
B) emotional reactions.
C) both (a) and (b).
D) neither (a) nor (b).

Question 26

The CAPS model was developed by

A) Bandura.
B) Mischel and Shoda.
C) Skinner.
D) Costa and McCrae.

Question 27

In social cognitive theory, one of the ways in which self-regulation is achieved is

A) through the use of external rewards.
B) through the use of external cues.
C) through the use of internal standards and self-evaluation.
D) through the use of internal cues.

Question 28

A ___________ is a criterion for judging the goodness or worth of a person or thing.

A) performance goal
B) learning goal
C) self-efficacy perception
D) evaluative standard

Question 29

Research reveals that playing violent video games

A) increase people's aggression.
B) lower people's aggression.
C) has no influence on people's aggression.
D) lower people's verbal skills.

Question 30

Self-efficacy beliefs most influence

A) patterns of thought.
B) motivation.
C) performance.
D) all of the above.

Question 31

Research by Shoda, Wright, and Mischel reveals that aggressive behavior

A) is primarily inherited, as the evolutionary psychologists thought.
B) is very stable across time.
C) varies from one situation to another.
D) is not an important element of personality.

Question 32

Observed consequences to a model most affect

A) acquisition of responses.
B) performance of responses.
C) both to the same degree.
D) They have no consistent effect.

Question 33

________ goals usually have a stronger influence on behavior than do ________ goals.

A) easy; difficult
B) unclear; clear
C) proximal; distal
D) distal; proximal

Question 34

According to social cognitive theory, goals

A) allow us to engage in altruistic behavior.
B) allow us to form social groups.
C) allow us to organize behavior over extended periods of time.
D) allow the future to govern behavior more than the past.

Question 35

A central idea of the CAPS model is that

A) variability in behavior is an important aspect of personality.
B) the key determinant of behavior is self-efficacy.
C) most behavior is acquired through modeling or observational learning.
D) people's trait are stable across different situations.

Question 36

With regard to the personality variables of competencies, goals, evaluative standards, and expectancies, social cognitive theorists

A) give people an overall score on each by using self-report questionnaires.
B) give people an overall score on each by using projective tests.
C) give people an overall score on each by using brain imaging techniques.
D) would never give people one overall score on each.

Question 37

The text notes that Bandura has criticized theories of learning that place complete reliance on the concept of reinforcement for the following reason(s)

A) They fail to account for complex behaviors that are immediately learned in their entirety.
B) They fail to account for behaviors learned in the absence of rewards to the model or to the observer.
C) They fail to account for the first appearance of behaviors weeks after they have been learned.
D) All of the above are reasons.

Question 38

Experiments (outlined in the text) which show that a subject can develop a conditioned response through the observation of another person (model) being conditioned are taken as evidence of

A) vicarious conditioning.
B) negative modeling.
C) reverse modeling.
D) identification with the conditioner.

Question 39

In observational learning, a critical distinction is made between

A) acquisition and performance.
B) acquisition and memory.
C) memory and performance.
D) all of the above.

Question 40

The fact that children learn so many behaviors through television can probably best be explained by

A) Skinnerian operant conditioning.
B) Freudian psychoanalytic theory.
C) Pavlovian classical conditioning.
D) Bandura's observational learning.

Question 41

According to research by Casey et al. (2011), people low in the ability to delay gratification displayed more processing in the striatum, an area of the brain associated with processing reward information. How does this provide insight into the ability to delay gratification?

A) It indicates that in order to delay gratification, one must become very sensitive to environmental rewards.
B) It indicates that the direction of causality in the ability to delay gratification is from brain to behavior.
C) It indicates that in order to delay gratification, one must become a little less sensitive to environmental rewards.
D) It indicates that the direction of causality in the ability to delay gratification is from behavior to brain.

Question 42

Which of the following conclusions is supported by recent research on self-control?

A) The various self-control concepts and related measures are identical to one another.
B) The concept of self-control is the same as intelligence.
C) The marshmallow task does not predict physical and mental health
D) The marshmallow task can predict school success, and occupational success

Question 43

According to social cognitive theory, goal-directed behavior can be explained in terms of

A) performance standards.
B) feedback information.
C) both (a) and (b).
D) neither (a) nor (b).

Question 44

Which of the following is not a structural unit emphasized by social cognitive theory?

A) self-efficacy beliefs.
B) competencies.
C) goals.
D) generalized expectancies.

Question 45

Mischel found that preschool measures of delay of gratification were

A) related to adolescent social popularity.
B) related to later athletic performance.
C) related to adolescent cognitive competencies.
D) all of the above.

Question 46

Casey et al.'s (2011) research linking the ability to delay gratification in childhood to brain activity during adulthood revealed that relative to those high in the ability, those low in the ability had:

A) greater activation in the frontal lobes and in the striatum
B) greater activation in the frontal lobes and lower activation in the striatum
C) lower activation in the frontal lobes and in the striatum
D) lower activation in the frontal lobes and greater activation in the striatum

Question 47

Delay of gratification research is concerned with

A) the learning of new skills
B) the control of impulses
C) motivating oneself when one can no incentive to take action
D) unconvering unconscious mental forces

Question 48

In Michel's delay of gratification paradigm, children get a large reward if they

A) wait for a designated period of time.
B) have a high sense of self-efficacy.
C) show an if . . . then . . . behavioral signature.
D) all of the above.

Question 49

Delay of gratification scores in preschool children were found to be related to later

A) parental ratings of cognitive skills.
B) parental ratings of self-control skills.
C) SAT scores.
D) all of the above.

Question 50

What did Casey et al.'s (2011) research indicate regarding the link between childhood ability to delay gratification and adulthood brain activity?

A) There was no link, indicating that delay ability likely changes through the lifespan.
B) There was only a link among those who were low in SES, indicating that there is an interaction between SES and delay ability.
C) There was a link, indicating that delay ability likely remains relatively stable throughout the lifespan
D) There was only a link among those who were high in SES, indicating that there is an interaction between SES and delay ability.

Question 51

Behavioral signatures consist of

A) aggregates across situations.
B) profiles of situation-behavior relationships.
C) generalized expectancies.
D) none of the above.

Question 52

In research conducted by Bandura and Cervone, on factors that increase motivation, results indicated that motivation is most strongly enhanced when people

A) are working toward specific goals, but do not receive any feedback on their performance, since the feedback can distract them from performing at their best.
B) receive feedback on their performance but do not receive any specific goals to work toward, since goals can distract people from performing at their best.
C) do not receive either goals or feedback on their performance.
D) none of the above.

Question 53

According to social cognitive theory, effortful performance is most enhanced when

A) goals and feedback are present.
B) a relaxed atmosphere prevails.
C) incentives are high.
D) all of the above.

Question 54

In Michel's delay of gratification paradigm, children wait longest if they see

A) the immediate reward.
B) the delayed reward.
C) both rewards.
D) neither reward.

Question 55

According to Bandura, greater effort follows from

A) not meeting one's standards.
B) meeting one's standards.
C) anxiety.
D) all of the above.

Question 56

According to Bandura, a person will try harder if

A) they see a more competent person succeed.
B) they see a model punished.
C) perceived self-efficacy suggests a chance for success.
D) all of the above.

Question 57

According to social cognitive theory, goal-directed behavior is best understood in terms of

A) standards and anticipated consequences.
B) standards and reinforcers.
C) reinforcers and traits.
D) anticipated consequences and ego controls.

Question 58

Bandura's view of motivation involves

A) goals.
B) performance feedback.
C) both (a) and (b).
D) neither (a) nor (b).

Question 59

According to Bandura, aggressive behavior is regulated by

A) external consequences.
B) self-produced consequences.
C) vicarious experiencing of consequences.
D) all of the above.

Question 60

Standards can be acquired through

A) reinforcement.
B) observational learning.
C) both (a) and (b).
D) neither (a) nor (b).

Question 61

Although conceptualized differently, social cognitive theory shares many fundamental assumptions with trait theory.

Question 62

A social cognitive theorist would suggest that children can learn aggressive behavior through watching television.

Question 63

An important aspect of competencies in social cognitive theory is that they are context specific.

Question 64

The problem with self-efficacy measures is that they do not predict behavior.

Question 65

One would expect social cognitive theorists to support the use of generalized measures of intelligence.

Question 66

In observational learning, what happens to the model plays no role in the performance of behavior.

Question 67

According to research by Osofsky and colleagues, how were prison personnel able to execute prisoners when, in general, they knew killing was wrong?

A) By finding ways to make mortality more salient.
B) By finding ways to selectively disengage morality.
C) By finding ways to argue against the death penalty.
D) By finding ways to punish themselves later.

Question 68

Relative to trait theorists, social cognitive theorists place much greater emphasis on discriminations among situations.

Question 69

Which of the following items could appear on a scale measuring moral disengagement?

A) "Cheating on an exam is justified when individuals don't have the time to study because of family obligations."
B) "Plagiarizing a term paper is okay if it's for a class that is not part of your academic major."
C) both 'a' and 'b.'
D) neither 'a' nor 'b.'

Question 70

According to social cognitive theory, internal standards are central to self-regulation.

Question 71

According to social cognitive theory behavior is influenced more by expected consequences than actual consequences.

Question 72

Self-efficacy beliefs are important mediators to action.

Question 73

The process of learning emotional reactions through observing others is known as vicarious conditioning.

Question 74

Social cognitive theory emphasizes stages of cognitive development.

Question 75

According to social cognitive theorists, self-efficacy can be considered a trait.

Question 76

Self-efficacy involves the generalized expectancy of successful goal attainment.

Question 77

According to theorizing by Bandura and colleagues, the disengagement of moral standards allows people to:

A) engage in immoral behaviors when it is to their advantage to do so.
B) disregard their own standards of behavior.
C) engage in behaviors they believe to be morally wrong.
D) all of the above.

Question 78

In development of the ability to delay gratification, children develop ways to distance themselves from the "hot" qualities of desired objects.

Question 79

Which of the following statements best describe the social cognitive theory approach to personality assessment, specifically, their approach to assessing perceived self-efficacy?

A) self-efficacy perceptions should be assessed using self-report measures that describe specific situations individuals will confront.
B) self-efficacy perceptions should be assessed using self-report measures that do not describe any specific situations, but instead measure a more generalized sense of self.
C) self-efficacy perceptions can not be assessed using self-report measures because people are not fully aware of their thinking processes, and therefore can not report on them.
D) none of the above

Question 80

The most important ingredient of self-efficacy is reinforcement for accomplishment.