Social and CognitiveBehavioral Psychology

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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.

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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 others 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
  its molecular approach and denial of
  consciousness

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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).

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Social-Cognitive TheoryEmphasizes 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.

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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.

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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 researchers 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.

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Concepts from Social Psychology

• Attributions
• Causal attribution explanations for locus,
  stability, and globality of a persons behavior.
• Responsibility attribution assessment of blame.
• Coercion the process of controlling someones
  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.

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Concepts from Cognitive Psychology

• Cognitions include
• selective attention,
• perception,
• memories,
• self-talk,
• imagery,
• attitudes,
• beliefs,
• expectations,
• and attributions.
• Social Cognitions cognitions about persons in
  ones environment.

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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).

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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.

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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.

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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
  Fitzpatricks (1988) marital typology.
• Studies of attributions use to explain a
  partners 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).

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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.

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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.

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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.

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Figure 21-1 Banduras Model of Reciprocal
Determinism
Social Physical Environmental Domain
Behavioral Domain
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Figure 21-2 Social, Cognitve, Behavioral View of
Family Interaction
CULTURE/ COMMUNITY
Behavior
Intrapersonal