Social Cognitive theory

Social cognitive theory is best described as a view of learning that:

• a. emphasizes the social interactions that occur among students in classrooms.
• b. emphasizes the ways that students perceive and think about problems.
• c. emphasizes the strategies that students use to solve interpersonal problems.
• d. emphasizes the effects of observing others on students’ thoughts and behavior.

Which of the following statements most accurately describes a comparison between behaviorism and cognitive learning theory?

• a. While behaviorism focuses on observable behavior, cognitive learning theorists pay no attention to observable behavior.
• b. While behaviorism views learners as passively shaped by experience, cognitive learning theorists view learners as actively interpreting their experiences.
• c. While organizing information for learners is an important role for teachers according to cognitive learning theory, organizing information for learners isn’t important for teachers according to behaviorism.
• d. While behaviorism focuses on learner expectations, cognitive learning theory focuses more on learner beliefs

Which of the following statements most accurately describes a comparison between behaviorism and cognitive learning theory?

• a. For cognitive theorists, learning could occur without a change in observable behavior, whereas this could not occur for behaviorists.
• b. For cognitive theorists, learning focuses on memorizing ideas, whereas for behaviorism, learning focuses on understanding.
• c. Cognitive learning theorists focus primarily on reinforcers, whereas behaviorists focus more on punishers.
• d. Teachers using behaviorism to guide their instruction provide feedback that tells learners whether or not their answers are correct, whereas teachers using cognitive learning theory to guide their instruction don’t provide feedback for learners.

Social cognitive theory and behaviorism differ in their views of reinforcement and punishment. This difference is reflected in the fact that social cognitive theory:

• a. emphasizes the role of expectations in interpreting reinforcers and punishers.
• b. more strongly emphasizes reinforcers and tends to ignore punishers.
• c. more strongly emphasizes the direct effects of reinforcers on behavior.
• d. more strongly emphasizes the effects of different schedules of reinforcement on behavior

Reciprocal causation is a term must closely associated with:

• a. classical conditioning.
• b. operant conditioning.
• c. social cognitive learning.
• d. social constructivism

The direct imitation of behavior observed in others is called:

• a. modeling.
• b. contiguity.
• c. generalization.
• d. potency

The process of people observing the consequences of other’s actions and adjusting their own behavior accordingly is referred to as

• a. symbolic modeling.
• b. vicarious learning.
• c. operant conditioning.
• d. cognitive modeling.

Adapting behavior as a result of observing the consequences of another person’s behavior is called:

• a. modeling.
• b. positive reinforcement.
• c. vicarious learning.
• d. reinforcement potency

Schools often give certificates to students, which parents are encouraged to stick on the bumpers of their cars. The certificates typically say something such as: MY CHILD IS AN HONOR ROLL STUDENT AT WESTVIEW ELEMENTARY SCHOOL For other students in the class -- who did not receive the certificates—the certificates are intended as:

• a. positive reinforcers.
• b. negative reinforcers.
• c. classical conditioners.
• d. vicarious reinforcers

You turn in an assignment, but your teacher doesn’t grade or return it, and you then exert less effort on your next assignment. Using social cognitive theory as a basis, of the following, the best explanation for your effort on the second assignment is:

• a. the lack of feedback on the first assignment prevented you from knowing what to do on the second assignment.
• b. the nonoccurrence of an expected reinforcer for the first assignment served as a punisher for the second assignment.
• c. the lack of an appropriate model for the first assignment resulted in no behavior that could be imitated for the second assignment.
• d. the lack of feedback after your first assignment resulted in a negative emotional arousal effect on the second assignment, and as a result, your effort was reduced.