so last time we talked about the psychodynamic and humanistic perspective and their view on personality and today we are going to continue talking about personality as we explore social cognitive and trait theories to start let's explore how social cognitive theory views personality with social cognitive theory the focus is on three main factors a person's personal factors such as their thoughts and beliefs their behaviors and their environment unlike other theories that emphasize fixed traits or unconscious drives looking at you psychodynamic perspective the social cognitive theory highlights cognition focusing on how a person thinks about and interprets situations and how that directly influences their personality this is shown in reciprocal determinism a concept that was created by Albert bandura reciprocal determinism shows a cycle that is created by a person's personal factors environment and behavior with each factor influencing each other ultimately forming the person's personality for example here we have Lily an AP psychology student who is struggling with her test scores and feeling frustrated with the class since she lacked confidence in the class and became frustrated she stopped participating in the class and studied less as a result her teacher and classmates stopped expecting her to contribute and she received less feedback from others resulting in her struggling more with psychology can you see how this cycle can form each fact actor influences the other and shapes the outcome now don't worry about Lily luckily she has a great friend who saw she was struggling and introduced her to the ultimate review packet where she started taking practice quizzes watching summary videos completing the study guides all of which made her feel more confident in her abilities eventually she started to participate more in class resulting in her teacher and peers giving her more feedback ultimately resulting in her rocking her next test now reciprocal determinism is just part of the puzzle to better understand a person's personality we need to understand the difference between a person's self-efficacy and self-esteem a person's self-esteem is how positively a person views themselves it includes how a person sees their abilities accomplishments and values as well as how they think others see them whereas self-efficacy is an individual's belief in their ability to do a specific task now both of these concepts are different from self-concept remember this is how a person sees and describes themselves including their personality skills roles and personality traits this is what helps form a person's sense of identity for example let's look at Nathan a psychology student who is preparing for his upcoming Psychology exam Nathan sees himself as a hardworking student he believes that he is generally good at Psychology but can struggle with some topics because Nathan values his academic success he feels disappointed and flustered when he does poorly on a quiz or test however he still believes he is a capable student overall when he does poorly on a quiz or test he remains confident that with more practice and effort he can improve his quiz and test scores next time in this example Nathan's self-concept is him believing he is a hardworking student who is generally good at Psychology his self-esteem is him valuing his academic success and understanding that he is a capable student overall lastly we can see self-efficacy shown when Nathan remains confident in his ability to do well on future quizzes and tests notice that self-esteem and self-efficacy both contribute to Nathan's self-concept without his belief in himself and his confidence in his ability to succeed his identity as a capable and hardworking student would be weaker just remember at the end of the day self-esteem is an individual's overall perception of themselves self-efficacy as their belief in their ability and self-concept answers the who am I question now when it comes to assessing personality social cognitive theory generally uses behavioral observations situational assessments questionnaires interviews and case studies so we can see that with social cognitive theory personality is not just about internal traits instead the focus is on the interaction between a person's behaviors personal beliefs and environment with feedback between the different factors constantly shaping an individual self-concept and overall personality all right now shifting gears to trait theories we can see the focus is on enduring characteristics also known as traits that form a person's personality enduring characteristics also known as traits are stable constant traits that can be measured they generally lead to predictable behaviors and emotional reactions from individuals for example a person high in the trait of extroversion May seek social interactions while an individual who is high in conscientiousness might prefer more organized and planned activities now I mentioned two specific traits these traits are part of the big five Theory of Personality this Theory suggests that there are five core traits that make up a person's personality these traits can be remembered by the acronym ocean o for openness which refers to imagination creativity and curiosity High openness means the individual will enjoy new experiences unconventional ideas and be up for exploring different perspectives low openness means the individual will prefer routine familiarity and traditional approaches to different situations C is for conscientiousness which involves a person's organization dependability discipline and goal directed behaviors High conscientiousness means the individual will be well organized reliable and efficient at tasks low conscientiousness means the individual will be more spontaneous careless and less detail oriented e is is for extroversion which involves a person's sociability enthusiasm and assertiveness High extroversion means that the individual will be more outgoing energetic and enjoy social situations low extroversion means the individual is more of an introvert with the individual being more reserved reflective and comfortable spending time alone A is for agreeableness which involves a person's trustworthiness altruism kindness and affection High agreeableness means the individual is more Cooperative empathetic and values positive social interaction low agreeableness means the individual is more competitive critical and may prioritize their own self-interests over others lastly there is n for neuroticism which is a little different because it's also referred to as emotional stability this involves a person's tendency to experience emotional stability and remain calm in stressful situations High emotional stability means that the person has low neuroticism resulting in the individual generally remaining calm resilient and secure in stressful situations High neuroticism means the person has low emotional stability resulting in the individual being more prone to anxiety mood swings and emotional instability now understanding one's traits can often help an individual better understand what career would be best for them how they can work as a team and how to improve their personal relationships to identify a person's personality traits individuals can take a personality in inventory which is a specialized questionnaire that measures where they fall on each of the big five traits once the questionnaire is completed factor analysis is used to interpret the results factor analysis is a statistical method that identifies clusters of related questions helping researchers determine which items on the test measure the same underlying trait this technique ensures that the test is well organized and accurately reflects a person's traits by analyzing response patterns typically person ality inventories present a series of statements covering different traits most of these statements use a like art scale which we discussed in unit zero this allows participants to rate their level of agreement on a numerical scale providing researchers with quantifiable data on personality characteristics after the responses are collected they are scored to indicate how strongly each trait is present a higher score in a particular trait suggests a stronger presence of that particular character istic helping individuals better understand their unique personality profile well that about wraps up this review video now comes the time to practice head on over to my ultimate review packet and take the social cognitive and trait theories practice quiz as always I'm Mr sin thank you so much for watching and I will see you next time online