Personality psychology chapter12 the cognitive

Chapter Twelve The Cognitive Perspective Schemas and Their Development • Schema—a mental organization of information – – – – Perceptual images Abstract knowledge Feeling qualities Time sequence information • Includes information about: – Exemplars (specific examples) – General characteristics • Theories of Formations – Generated around construct of prototype (best actual or idealized member) – Represent a composite of characteristics that are relevant, but not necessary = fuzzy set Effects of Schemas • • • • Facilitate coding of new information Fill-in information lacking from events Influence what information is remembered Can be self-perpetuating – Schemas guide what is remembered – What you remember confirms schema – Schema continues to guide what is remembered Organization of Memory Schemas are organizations of memories • Semantic Memory—organized by meaning • Episodic Memory—organized by sequence of events (space and time) • Script—schemas for episodic events – Results from multiple episodes of a given type Socially Relevant Schemas • Social Cognition—cognitive processes focusing on socially meaningful stimuli • People form cognitive categories for: – – – – – Types of people Gender roles Environments Social situations Social relations • Social cognitions differ in content and complexity from person to person, depending on experience Self-Schemas • • • • Schematic representation of the self Larger and more complex than other schemas Has more emotional elements Effects of self-schema: – Makes it easier to remember things that fit it – Provides default information – Identifies where to look for new information – Can bias recall of past events – May be used as a default for strangers Entity and Incremental Schemas • Entity views—abilities seen as unchanging – Goal of task performance is to prove ability – Failure results in distress and desire to quit – Attend to and remember information concerning consistency • Incremental views—abilities seen as increasing with experience – Goal of task performance is to extend ability – Failure seen as opportunity to increase ability – Attend to and remember information indicating change Attribution • Inferring the cause of an event • Provides information important to understanding – Indicates kind of event – Hints at likelihood of future occurrence • Schemas assist in making attributions beyond information that is available • Self success attributed to stable internal causes (ability) • Self failure attributed to unstable causes, bad luck, or too little effort Activation and Memories • Memory is organized in a network of interconnected nodes (areas of storage) • Information from activated memory nodes is represented in consciousness • As a node is activated, partial activation spreads to related (linked) nodes • Partial activation makes it easier for information to move into consciousness – Priming—activation of a node of information in a task prior to a task of interest (experimental uses) • Schematic information varies in the ease of activation depending on frequency of use Connectionism • Representations exist in patterns of activation across a neural network, rather than in nodes • Patterns reflect simultaneous satisfaction of multiple constraints • Particular relevance to social perceptions and decision making – Requires selection of one possibility from many – Output takes the form of only one representation at a given time • Organization of patterned network can be destabilized by new inputs (e.g., ambiguous figures, self-concept) Dual Process Models • Two kinds of thought involved in cognition – Conscious processing—effortful reasoning and programs of instruction • Implements rules and carries out logical steps of inference and action • “Cool system,” slower, conscious, rational, evolutionarily newer • Explicit knowledge – Intuitive processing—intuitive problem solving, heuristic strategies, automated processes • “Insights” often shake out of the system • “Hot system,” quick, automatic, experiential, evolutionarily older • Implicit knowledge Cognitive Person Variables • Adequate theory of personality must take into account classes of variables that are influenced by learning (Mischel) – Competencies—social skills and problem-solving strategies – Encoding strategies and personal constructs—schematic influences on individualized perspectives of the world – Expectancies—important for understanding actions • Expectancies involving sequential continuity in experience • Behavior-outcome expectancies—connections suggesting causal influence – Subjective values—reflected by the outcomes a person wants – Self-Regulatory Systems and Plans—setting goals, making plans, and setting plans into action Cognitive-Affective Processing System • People develop complex organizations of information about themselves and the world – These organizations have a conditional quality (hedges), which link behavior and affect to situations – Conditional qualities vary from person to person Assessment • Focused on identifying cognitive tendencies and contents of consciousness • Procedures include: – Think-aloud procedures—used during problem solving – Thought/experience sampling—reports of thought and actions at scheduled or random times – Event recording/self-monitoring—reports of behavior, emotions, and thoughts associated with specific event types • Important to contextualize assessment—allows identification of if…then… contingencies for behavior Problems in Behavior • Difficulties arise from: – Deficits in information-processing abilities (encoding, attention) – Faulty schemas of the world – Negative schemas about self (cognitive triad) • Overgeneralization of bad outcomes • Arbitrary inferences—jump to negative conclusions without supporting evidence • Catastrophize Therapy • Cognitive Therapy—abandon faulty schemas and build new ones – Cognitive restructuring—identify automatic self-defeating thoughts and replace with new self-talk – Reality testing—challenge automated thought patterns to be tested against evidence ... “Insights” often shake out of the system • “Hot system,” quick, automatic, experiential, evolutionarily older • Implicit knowledge Cognitive Person Variables • Adequate theory of personality must take... about self (cognitive triad) • Overgeneralization of bad outcomes • Arbitrary inferences—jump to negative conclusions without supporting evidence • Catastrophize Therapy • Cognitive Therapy—abandon... Cognitive- Affective Processing System • People develop complex organizations of information about themselves and the world – These organizations have a conditional quality (hedges), which link behavior and affect