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2025-11-20, 4:04 PM
Rotter’s Social Learning Theory
Social Learning Theory is known as an ‘ancestor’ of other theories
Julian Rotter was born and raised in Brooklyn, NY as the third son of European Jewish
Immigrants
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His theories were influenced by many different areas of study (chemistry background,
etc.)
Believed the unit of investigation of personality is the interaction of the individual and his
meaningful environment
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The main question then becomes, what defines ‘meaningful’?
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We all find some situations and circumstances as more significant than others
If you want to understand how a person behaves and develops, you have to understand
what’s important to them
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What kind of situations and environments are going to ‘trigger’ that person
Personality constructs are not dependent on constructs in any other field
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Personality constructs have validity of their own and their own explanatory value
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You can use personality constructs to explain things without having to
necessarily refer to genetics or heritability, what brain processes might be at
work, etc.
Explanations of a psychological even in different terms do not alter the validity of the
individual’s experience of that event
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What parts of the brain light up during what is irrelevant, what matters is how the
person perceives the event
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What do the events subjectively mean to you?
Commonality with phenomenological field
Personality constructs are useful mainly for describing feelings, actions and thoughts of people
who’s socialization has begun
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Analyzing personality of a person before socialization (ie. an infant) is not useful)
What we learn in our current situation influences how we think, feel, and act is other
situations
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We have memories, and our subjective understanding of that memory changes
how we feel about it
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Behaviour is goal-directed, and the direction of behaviour is inferred from the effects of
reinforcement
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People seek to achieve things and reach certain goals
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We seek out our reinforcements
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Strongly influenced the theories of Bandura
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People seek out reinforcements and environments/situations that enforce
their perception of the world
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We choose our reinforcements
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We may not make the choices consciously, but we are not neutral as we
have the power to select
The environment a person reacts to or acts in is dependent on the individual’s learning history
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We tend to stay in the environments we are used to because it is comfortable
People learn to pay more attention to certain reinforcements than others
The occurrence of behaviour in a person is determined in part by the person’s anticipation or
expectancy that these goals will occur
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We learn to expect certain things and we behave in order to fulfill those expectations
Three important points
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This is both a process and content theory, but it does not introduce structural concepts
The kinds of reinforcement are important in learning the complex human social
behaviours learned in childhood
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Most of what we understand as reinforcement is learned in childhood
Strong emphasis on the development of a sense of mastery in early childhood
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It’s important for a child to be able to show they can control and manage their
environment
Behavioural Potential: The probability of a certain behaviour occurring in a specific situation
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“What are my choices of action?”
Expectancy: Which reinforcement does a person believe he/she can attain?
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“What are the odds that I might make money?”
Specific Expectancy: Subjective estimate of the probability of attaining certain reinforcements
in a specific situations
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“This particular study method is best for this specific exam”
Generalized Expectancy: A person’s subjective estimate of the probability of reinforcement
in a class of situations or a global belief about how reinforcements come about
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This is where locus of control comes from
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Are we in control of our lives, or are our lives controlling our actions?
“If I study, I will do well in school”
Reinforcement Value: One’s particular interest in one reinforcement over another
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“What do I want?”
Needs: Classes of reinforcements that affect behaviour
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Some needs are high valued, others less so
Need Potential: The probability of occurrence of any of a given set of behaviours directed
toward a particular need
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“How do I get it?”
~ Psychological Situation: The existing circumstances, as subjectively perceived by the
individual ~
Rotter placed heavy emphasis on the psychological situation
The processes of Personality Adjustment
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Freedom of Movement: The extent to which one believes one possesses the abilities
and resources to attain a certain group of reinforcements having a certain worth
referred to need value
Minimal Goal: Level of reinforcement that is barely rewarding
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Rotter argued that if you place this goal to high, you’ll set yourself up for
repeated failure, and setting it too low leads
The relationship between generalized expectancies and personality adjustment involves
being able to assess as correctly as possible, the degree of utility of one’s expectancies
and the suitability of one’s skillset and resources
Behaviour potential is a factor of expectancy and reinforcement value
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The more we expect to be reinforced and the higher the reinforcement value, the
more likely we will behave accordingly
Need potential is a function of freedom of movement and need value
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People will engage in sets of related behaviours to fulfill an important need
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If they have a few options due to lack of skills or resources, and/or they do not
value that need too much, behaviour will be more constricted
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Locus of control is a person’s view of the source of his/her outcomes
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Can be internal or external
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Internal: Perceiving that you are the one that brings about your own outcomes
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External: The things that happen to you are out of your control, and your
failures are not your fault
Related to culture, gender, child rearing practice, social-economic status
People with an internal locus of control…
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Seek more information
Seek to improve chances of success
Try to see more than one side to issues
Often have better physical health
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When ill, have less severe illnessnes
Take more responsibility for their health
Are higher achievers
Resist social pressure but remain cooperative
Have more adaptive coping strategies
Have better social and relational adjustment
Psychotherapy included learning to adjust minimal goals
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Explaining one’s goals
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Clarifying the difference between needs and wants
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Reviewing the reinforcement value of the rewards we seek
Modifying expectancies and changing faulty generalization of expectancies
Increasing one’s skills and resources so as to improve freedom of movement
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