Social Cognitive ViewIntegrates Social Learning

and Cognitive Theories• Reciprocal determinism

• Self-regulation

• Expectancy values & self-efficacy

Reciprocal Determinism

• BehaviorismEnvironment Person

• Social learning theory Person

Environment-1 Environment-2 Environment-3

Person Environment

Self-Regulation

• Delay of gratification

• Emotion regulation

• Limitations of self-regulation

Delay of gratification

• Children are given the choice:

– Small reward now

– Large reward later

• How long can children can wait?

• What strategies are used?

Delay of Gratification as Predictor

• Delay of gratification at age four can predict competence in adolescence:– social competence – cognitive competence– scholastic achievement (SAT)– coping with frustration

• What is DOG based on?– Impulse inhibition?– General intelligence?

Strategies for Delay of Gratification

Waiting is easy if ...• … reward is hidden• … you think distracting thoughts • … you think of physical aspects of non-reward

(think of a pretzel while waiting for a cookie)• … you see only a picture of the reward:

– Waiting is easy if real reward is imagined as picture– Waiting is difficult if picture is imagined as real

• Regulation of Attention seems to be central!

Emotion RegulationDefinition:

• Any process that increases, decreases or modifies emotions

• Relevant for any aspect of emotion Experience Behavior Physiology

• Can be conscious or unconscious.

Possible points of regulation:1. Situation selection2. Situation modification3. Attention direction4. Cognitions / attributions5. Modulating responses

– Experience

– Behavior

– Physiology

Comparison Between Strategies for Emotion Regulation (Gross)

Suppression1. reducing expressive behavior:2. “control your expression so that nobody

could tell what you are feeling”

Reappraisal1. cognitive reframing2. “think about the situation in a way that

reduces the emotion”

Success of Different Strategies

• Both strategies reduce expressive behavior

• Reappraisal reduces the experience of negative emotion

• Suppression increases physiological responding

Limitations of Self-Regulation

Baumeister: “Strength” model of self-regulation

• Self-regulation requires effort

• Capacity for self-regulation is a limited resource

• High demands on self-regulation will be followed by a period of reduced capacity

Evidence for the “Strength” model of self-regulation:

• Regulating emotional response to an upsetting film resulted in reduced hand-grip strength afterward

• Trying to ‘not think about a white bear” led to:– reduced persistence at solving anagrams

afterward– poorer suppression of amusement during

a funny film afterwards