Download Social and Cognitive-Behavioral Psychology

Social and Cognitive-Behavioral
Psychology
Crosbie-Burnett, M., & Lewis, E. A.
(1993). Theoretical contributions from
social and cognitive-behavioral
psychology. In P. G. Boss, W. J.
Doherty, R. LaRossa, W. R. Schumm, &
S. K. Steinmetz (Eds.), Sourcebook of
family theories and methods: A
contextual approach (pp. 531-558).
New York: Plenum Press.
Historical Development
 Behaviorism (emphasis on the work of John B.
Watson)
 Modeled his work on principles of classical
conditioning (Pavlov) and operant conditioning
(Thorndike).
 Mental processes were considered habits that
were not connected to the brain.
 Major contribution: theoretical.
Suggested that conditioned responses
were forms of learning.
Suggested that all behavior was learned;
children were not active agents in their own
development.
 Social Psychology: influenced by William James
and Gorddon Allport.
 The Second Wave of European Influence
 Psychoanalytic: Alfred Adler, and other’s
fleeing Nazi oppression, settled in the U.S. In
contrast to behaviorism, Adler argued that
internal processes were important.
 Gestalt (e.g., Lewin): attacked behaviorism for
it’s molecular approach and denial of
consciousness
Dr. Ronald J. Werner-Wilson
Historical Development: Social Learning
Theory (Social Cognitive Theory)
 Albert Bandura integrated social
psychology, cognitive psychology, and
behaviorism.
 Reciprocal determinism: environment,
intrapersonal factors, and behavior are
interacting determinants of each other
(see Figure 21-1).
Dr. Ronald J. Werner-Wilson
Social-Cognitive Theory:
Emphasizes Unique Human Capabilities:
 Ability to use symbols
 allows humans to form guides for future
reference,
 generate innovate course of action.
 permits solutions symbolically by estimating
outcomes.
 Forethought regulates most behavior which
allows humans to
 anticipate consequences,
 set goals,
 plan.
 Vicarious learning allows efficient learning.
 Self-regulation provides humans with the
capacity to compare their behavior to
internal standards.
 Self-reflection permits analysis of
experience and analysis of thought
processes which is used to judge our own
abilities, forming self-efficacy.
Dr. Ronald J. Werner-Wilson
Assumptions About Human Nature
 Behavior is learned: human behavior is
plastic and malleable.
 Humans actively seek, select, and use
information in order to
 construct a view of reality,
 meet their basic needs.
 Cognitive activity can be consciously
assessed, monitored, and altered.
 Therapeutic goal: overt manipulation of
behavior is ethical.
Dr. Ronald J. Werner-Wilson
Assumptions About Couples and
Families
 Their model is descriptive, not
prescriptive: it focuses on
 how families interact,
 the consequences of these interactions.
 The model is value free, but researcher’s
and clinicians are not so their
descriptions are influenced by
 culture,
 gender,
 socioeconomic class.
 The model does not presume family
structure.
 The values of individuals in a family
influence family process.
Dr. Ronald J. Werner-Wilson
Concepts from Social Psychology
 Attributions:
 Causal attribution: explanations for locus,
stability, and globality of a person’s behavior.
 Responsibility attribution: assessment of
blame.
 Coercion: the process of controlling
someone’s behavior by acting aversively
to force compliance.
 Dominance and Equity: a dominant
person has more control of resources; an
asymmetrical distribution of power.
 Environment: physical and social
surroundings.
 Model: a person who provides examples
for behavior.
 Reciprocity: tendency for people to
reinforce or punish each other at
approximately equitable rates.
Dr. Ronald J. Werner-Wilson
Concepts from Cognitive
Psychology
 Cognitions include
 selective attention,
 perception,
 memories,
 self-talk,
 imagery,
 attitudes,
 beliefs,
 expectations,
 and attributions.
 Social Cognitions: cognitions about
person’s in one’s environment.
Dr. Ronald J. Werner-Wilson
Concepts from Cognitive
Psychology (cont.)
 Cognitive Mediation: attribution of
meaning to a stimulus.
 Schemata:
 A mental structure that is used to acquire and
organize knowledge.
 Long-standing, relatively stable basic
assumptions about the world and personal
agency.
 Behavior: any observable action or series
of actions, including spoken and
nonverbal communication.
 Behavioral Deficit or Skills Deficit:
behavioral skills that a person does not
have.
 Behavioral Excesses: behaviors which
are engaged in frequently enough to be
problematic (e.g., conversation
dominance, interruptions).
Dr. Ronald J. Werner-Wilson
The Model: How the Major
Concepts Link
 Environments
 Family members share social and physical
environments, to some degree.
There is variability in time spent between
family members.
Space also varies between family
members.
 Influence on intrapersonal and behavioral
factors:
Physical environment affects behavior and
intrapersonal factors.
Family members serve as models,
reinforcers, punishers.
Unlike other social environments, there are
financial and legal entanglements.
Dr. Ronald J. Werner-Wilson
The Model: How the Major
Concepts Link (cont.)
 Intrapersonal Factors: some are
permanent, some change
developmentally, and some change from
moment-to-moment.
 Characteristics of individual family members
such as genetic factors which influence
physical appearance,
mental and physical health,
temperament,
and predispositions.
 Personality characteristics.
 Intelligence.
 Abilities.
 Physiological factors.
 Cognitions.
 Emotions.
 Behavior
 Influences sense of competence.
 Can change the physical environment.
Dr. Ronald J. Werner-Wilson
Research with Couples
 Behavior in marriage (based on Gottman,
et al.). Unhappy couples in conflict
showed
 higher rates of negative behavior,
 more reciprocity of negative behaviors,
 and less variability in their behavior patterns.
 Cognition in marriage
 Studies of beliefs about marriage such as
Fitzpatrick’s (1988) marital typology.
 Studies of attributions use to explain a
partner’s behavior: the message sent by a
partner is not the same as the one received.
 Affect in marriage: coercive sequences
and reciprocity of negative behaviors is
associated with marital distress, not
anger per se (again based on the work of
Gottman and his colleagues).
Dr. Ronald J. Werner-Wilson
Research with Families
 Behavior in families:
 Gerald Patterson and his colleagues have
demonstrated that antisocial behavior is often
unintentionally reinforced through repeated
interactional sequences.
 This research has only recently
simultaneously considered contextual risk
factors (e.g., poverty, stress, substance abuse,
difficult temperament in an infant, high-crime
neighborhood, and marital conflict).
 Cognition in families: although there has
been research on family-related
cognitions of children, the study of
cognitions within families is just
beginning.
Dr. Ronald J. Werner-Wilson
Strengths
 Provides tools to study families at the
microscopic level, focusing on family
processes.
 Research has been self-correcting and
clearly operationalized.
 Therapeutic interventions are based on
empirical research.
 Characteristics (e.g., depression) can be
conceptualized at the individual and
systemic levels.
 Diversity issues can be addressed if there
is attention to schemata.
 Provides a basis for public policy.
Dr. Ronald J. Werner-Wilson
Limitations
 May underestimate biological factors.
 It does not address critical periods and
stages of development.
 It has difficulty measuring and explaining
subtle behavior which may be
subjectively interpreted.
 Poor application to triadic or group
relationships.
 Development and application of theory
has occurred in Western culture.
Generalization of research to diverse
populations is problematic.
Dr. Ronald J. Werner-Wilson
Figure 21-1: Bandura’s Model of
Reciprocal Determinism
Intrapersonal
Domain
Social & Physical
Environmental
Domain
Behavioral
Domain
Dr. Ronald J. Werner-Wilson
Figure 21-2: Social, Cognitve,
Behavioral View of Family Interaction
CULTURE/
COMMUNITY
Behavior
Intrapersonal
Family
Member
C
Behavior
Social
&
Physical
Environment
Family
Member
A
Intrapersonal
Family
Member
B
Intrapersonal
Behavior
Dr. Ronald J. Werner-Wilson