JULIAN ROTTER’S

COGNITIVE SOCIAL
LEARNING THEORY
ASSUMPTIONS:
• The Cognitive Social Learning theory of JULIAN
ROTTER rest on the assumption that cognitive factors
help shape how people will react to environmental forces.
• Rotter contended that human behavior is best predicted
from an understanding of the interaction with PEOPLE
and their meaningful ENVIRONMENTS.
• He believed that neither the environment itself nor the
individual is completely responsible for behavior.
• He held that people’s cognitions, past histories, and
expectations of the future are keys to predicting behavior.
ASSUMPTIONS:

• Humans interact with their meaningful

environments
• human personality is learned.
• personality has a basic unity
• motivation is goal directed.
• people are capable of anticipating events
PREDICTING SPECIFIC BEHAVIOR
Four Variables of the Predictive Formula
 Four Variables of the
Specific Predictive Formula
1. BEHAVIOR POTENTIAL (BP) is the likelihood that a
particular response or behavior will occur in a given situation. In
any given situation, there are multiple behaviors a person can
engage. For each possible behavior, there is a behavior potential.

For example: Megan walks toward a restaurant, she has several

behavior potentials. She might pass by, stop to eat, think about stopping
to eat, but go on. She might also approach the cashier and rob the
restaurant.
In this situation the potential for some of these behaviors would
approach zero, some would be very likely, and others would be in
between extremes.
 Four Variables of the
Specific Predictive Formula
1. BEHAVIOR POTENTIAL (BP)
But how do we predict which behaviors are most or least
likely to occur?
• The Behavior Potential in any situation is a function of
both
(E) Expectancy and (RV) Reinforcement Value.

BP = f ( E + RV)

If holding up the cashier carries a positive reinforcement

value greater than ordering food or buying in the restaurant,
then the behavior has the greater occurrence potential.
 Four Variables of the
Specific Predictive Formula
2. EXPECTANCY
• Refers to a person’s expectation that some specific
reinforcement or set of reinforcements will occur in
a given situation.
• In other words, Expectancy is how likely is it that a
specific behavior will lead to an outcome.
• Having High Expectancies means a person is
confident the behavior will result in an outcome or
reinforcement.
• Having Low expectancies means a person believes it
is unlikely that his or her behavior will be reinforced.
 Four Variables of the Predictive
Formula

2. EXPECTANCY (E)
• A person’s expectation that their behavior will be
reinforced.
For example: A person with low expectancy for
success in obtaining a prestigious job is not likely to
apply for the position, whereas a person with high
expectancy for success will exert much effort and
persist in the face of setback to achieve goals that
appear possible.
 Four Variables of the Predictive
Formula
3. REINFORCEMENT VALUE (RV)

• - Refers to the preference a person attached to

any reinforcement when the probabilities for the
occurrence of a number of different
reinforcements are all equal.
• When expectancies and situational variables are
held constant, behavior is shaped by one’s
preference for the possible reinforcement.
 Four Variables of the
Predictive Formula

3. REINFORCEMENT VALUE (RV)

What determines a person’s reinforcement value to a situation or
action?
A.Firsts, the person’s perceptions contributes to the positive and
negative value of an event.
B.Another contributor to RV is a person’s needs, reinforcement tends
to increase in value as the need it satisfies becomes stronger.
C.C. Lastly, reinforcements are values according to their expected
consequences for future reinforcements. Rotter believed that people
are capable of using cognition to anticipate a sequence of events
leading to some future goals and that the ultimate goal contributes
to the reinforcement value of each event in the sequence.
Four Variables of the Predictive Formula

4. PSYCHOLOGICAL SITUATION
- Defined as that part of external and internal
world to which a person is responding. It is the
combination of a person’s subjective feelings and
the objective reality at a given point in time.
- In Cognitive Social Learning Theory behavior is
viewed as the result of neither environmental
events nor personal Traits; rather it stems from
the INTERACTION of the person with his or her
meaningful environment.
Basic Predictive Formula
 General Predictive Formula

The higher the FM and NV the higher the NEED POTENTIAL

Predicting General Pattern of
Behaviors
NEEDS- defined as any behavior or set of
behaviors that people see as moving them in the
direction of a goal.

Needs Potential (Np) = Behavior Potential (Bp)

-Needs Potential refers to the possible occurrence
of a set of functionally related behaviors directed
toward satisfying the same or similar goals.
 Categories of
Needs
1. Recognition-Status
2. Dominance
3. Independence
4. Protection-
Dependency
5. Love and Affection
6. Physical Comfort
Predicting General
Pattern of Behaviors

2. Freedom of Movement (FM)

• it is analogous to the concept of Expectancy
• It refers to a person’s overall expectation of being
reinforced for performing those behaviors that are
directed toward satisfying some general need.
• To illustrate , a person with a strong need for
dominance could behave in a variety of ways to satisfy
that need. That person might select her husband’s
clothes, decide what college her son will pursue or
perform a hundred other behaviors aimed at securing
reinforcement for her need for dominance.
Predicting General
Pattern of Behaviors
3. Need Value (NV)
• The degree to which he/she prefers one set of
reinforcements to another.
• In the general prediction formula, need is the
analog is of Reinforcement Value
• Rotter defined this as the mean preference value
of a set of functionally related reinforcements.
• The value a person place on a particular need will
be the principal determinant of their behavior.
 General Predictive Formula

The higher the FM and NV the higher the NEED POTENTIAL