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Misbeliefs In One's Inefficacy May Retard Development Of The Very Subskills Upon Which More Complex Performances Depend

-Albert Bandura

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Misbeliefs In One's Inefficacy

Albert Bandura

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Misbeliefs In One's Inefficacy May Retard Development Of The Very Subskills Upon Which More Complex Performances Depend

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People Not Only Gain Understanding Through Reflection, They Evaluate And Alter Their Own Thinking.

[attributional] Factors Serve As Conveyors Of Efficacy Information That Influence Performance Largely Through Their Intervening Effects On Self-percepts Of Efficacy

There Are Countless Studies On The Negative Spillover Of Job Pressures On Family Life, But Few On How Job Satisfaction Enhances The Quality Of Family Life.

Convictions That Outcomes Are Determined By One's Own Actions Can Be Either Demoralizing Or Heartening, Depending On The Level Of Self-judged Efficacy. People Who Regard Outcomes As Personally Determined, But Who Lack The Requisite Skills, Would Experience Low Self-efficacy And View The Activities With A Sense Of Futility

For Many Activities, People Cannot Rely Solely On Themselves In Evaluating Their Ability Level Because Such Judgments Require Inferences From Probabilistic Indicants Of Talent About Which They May Have Limited Knowledge. Self-appraisals Are, Therefore, Partly Based On The Opinions Of Others Who Presumably Possess Evaluative Competence

Because Of Such Conjointedness, Behavior That Exerts No Effect Whatsoever On Outcomes Is Developed And Consistently Performed

Given A Sufficient Level Of Perceived Self-efficacy To Take On Threatening Tasks, Phobics Perform Them With Varying Amounts Of Fear Arousal Depending On The Strength Of Their Perceived Self-efficacy

Self-belief Does Not Necessarily Ensure Success, But Self-disbelief Assuredly Spawns Failure.

Moreover, Joint Occurrences Tend To Be Better Recalled Than Instances When The Effect Does Not Occur. The Proneness To Remember Confirming Instances, But To Overlook Disconfirming Ones, Further Serves To Convert, In Thought, Coincidences Into Causalities.

In The Self-appraisal Of Efficacy, There Are Many Sources Of Information That Must Be Processed And Weighed Through Self-referent Thought

Gaining Insight Into One's Underlying Motives, It Seems, Is More Like A Belief Conversion Than A Self-discovery Process

Reasonably Accurate Appraisal Of One's Own Capabilities Is, Therefore, Of Considerable Value In Successful Functioning. Large Misjudgments Of Personal Efficacy In Either Direction Have Consequences. People Who Grossly Overestimate Their Capabilities Undertake Activities That Are Clearly Beyond Their Reach. As A Result, They Get Themselves Into Considerable Difficulties, Undermine Their Credibility, And Suffer Needless Failures. Some Of The Missteps, Of Course, Can Produce Serious, Irreparable Harm

Irreparable Harm

The Difficulty In Judging What Type Of Behavior Works Well Arises Not Only Because A Given Course Of Action Does Not Always Produce The Outcomes. Similar Outcomes Can Occur For Reasons Other Than The Person's Actions, Which Further Complicates Inferential Judgment. Effects That Arise Independently Of One's Actions Distort The Influence Of Similar Effects Produced By The Actions, But Only On Some Occasions. Given A Strong Cognitive Set To Perceive Regularities, Even Chance Joint Occurrences Of Events Can Be Easily Misjudged As Genuine Relationships Of Low Contingent Probability

The Presence Of Many Interacting Influences, Including The Attainments Of Others, Create Further Leeway In How One's Performances And Outcomes Are Cognitively Appraised

Dualistic Doctrines That Regard Mind And Body As Separate Entities Do Not Provide Much Enlightenment On The Nature Of The Disembodied Mental State Or On How An Immaterial Mind And Bodily Events Act On Each Other

In Order To Succeed, People Need A Sense Of Self-efficacy, To Struggle Together With Resilience To Meet The Inevitable Obstacles And Inequities Of Life.

Perceived Self-efficacy And Beliefs About The Locus Of Outcome Causality Must Be Distinguished

The Content Of Most Textbooks Is Perishable, But The Tools Of Self-directedness Serve One Well Over Time.

Moral Justification Is A Powerful Disengagement Mechanism. Destructive Conduct Is Made Personally And Socially Acceptable By Portraying It In The Service Of Moral Ends. This Is Why Most Appeals Against Violent Means Usually Fall On Deaf Ears.

People Who Hold A Low View Of Themselves [will Credit] Their Achievements To External Factors, Rather Than To Their Own Capabilities.

People’s Beliefs About Their Abilities Have A Profound Effect On Those Abilities.

The Human Condition Is Better Improved By Altering Detrimental Circumstances And Personal Perspectives Than By Trying To Alter Personal Outlooks, While Ignoring The Very Circumstances That Serve To Nourish Them

A Theory That Denies That Thoughts Can Regulate Actions Does Not Lend Itself Readily To The Explanation Of Complex Human Behavior.

The Effects Of Outcome Expectancies On Performance Motivation Are Partly Governed By Self-beliefs Of Efficacy

Psychology Cannot Tell People How They Ought To Live Their Lives. It Can However, Provide Them With The Means For Effecting Personal And Social Change.

Accurate Processing Of Information About Outcomes Is No Simple Task Under The Variable Conditions Of Everyday Life . . . Usually, Many Factors Enter Into Determining What Effects, If Any, Given Actions Will Have, Actions, Therefore, Produce Outcomes Probabilistically Rather Than Certainly. Depending On The Particular Conjunction Of Factors, The Same Course Of Action May Produce Given Outcomes Regularly, Occasionally, Or Only Infrequently

To The Extent That Children With Similar Characteristics Achieve Comparable Performance Levels, Using The Performances Of Similar Peers Is Likely To Yield More Accurate Self-appraisal Than Using The Accomplishments Of Dissimilar Peers

In Any Given Instance, Behavior Can Be Predicted Best By Considering Both Self-efficacy And Outcome Beliefs . . . Different Patterns Of Self-efficacy And Outcome Beliefs Are Likely To Produce Different Psychological Effects

Among The Types Of Thoughts That Affect Action, None Is More Central Or Pervasive Than People's Judgments Of Their Capabilities To Deal Effectively With Different Realities

Forceful Actions Arising From Erroneous Beliefs Often Create Social Effects That Confirm The Misbeliefs

Discrepancies Between Self-efficacy Judgment And Performance Will Arise When Either The Tasks Or The Circumstances Under Which They Are Performed Are Ambiguous

Discrepancies Between

When Experience Contradicts Firmly Held Judgments Of Self-efficacy, People May Not Change Their Beliefs About Themselves If The Conditions Of Performance Are Such As To Lead Them To Discount The Import Of The Experience

Expected Outcomes Contribute To Motivation Independently Of Self-efficacy Beliefs When Outcomes Are Not Completely Controlled By Quality Of Performance. This Occurs When Extraneous Factors Also Affect Outcomes, Or Outcomes Are Socially Tied To A Minimum Level Of Performance So That Some Variations In Quality Of Performance Above And Below The Standard Do Not Produce Differential Outcomes

[children] Receive Direct Instruction From Time To Time About The Appropriateness Of Various Social Comparisons

Freedom [should Not Be] Conceived Negatively As Exemption From Social Influences Or Situational Constraints. Rather...positively As The Exercise Of Self-influence To Bring About Desired Results.

Stringent Standards Of Self-evaluation [can] Make Otherwise Objective Successes Seem To Be Personal Failures

As A General Rule, Moderate Levels Of Arousal Facilitate Deployment Of Skills, Whereas High Arousal Disrupts It. This Is Especially True Of Complex Activities Requiring Intricate Organization Of Behavior

People Are Much More Likely To Act On Their Self-percepts Of Efficacy Inferred From Many Sources Of Information Rather Than Rely Primarily On Visceral Cues. This Is Not Surprising Because Self Knowledge Based On Information About One's Coping Skills, Past Accomplishments, And Social Comparison Is Considerably More Indicative Of Capability Than The Indefinite Stirrings Of The Viscera

It Is No More Informative To Speak Of Self-efficacy In Global Terms Than To Speak Of Nonspecific Social Behavior

Social Behavior

People Who Are Burdened By Acute Misgivings About Their Coping Capabilities Suffer Much Distress And Expend Much Effort In Defensive Action... They Cannot Get Themselves To Do Things They Find Subjectively Threatening Even Though They Are Objectively Safe. They May Even Shun Easily Manageable Activities Because They See Them As Leading To More Threatening Events Over Which They Will Be Unable To Exercise Adequate Control.

Indeed There Are Many Competent People Who Are Plagued By A Sense Of Inefficacy, And Many Less Competent Ones Who Remain Unperturbed By Impending Threats Because They Are Self-assured Of Their Coping Capabilities

When People Are Not Aiming For Anything In Particular Or When They Cannot Monitor Their Performance, There Is Little Basis For Translating Perceived Efficacy Into Appropriate Magnitudes Of Effort

Judgments Of Adequacy Involve Social Comparison Processes

Dysfunctions Can Occur In Each Of The Self-regulatory Subfunctions-in How Personal Experiences Are Self-monitored And Cognitively Processed, In The Evaluative Self-standards That Are Adopted, And In The Evaluative Self-reactions To One's Own Behavior.. Problems At Any One Of These Points Can Create Self-dissatisfactions And Dejection. Dysfunctions In All Aspects Of The Self System Are Most Apt To Produce The Most Chronic Self-disparagement And Despondency

People Who Underestimate Their Capabilities Also Bear Costs, Although, As Already Noted, These Are More Likely To Take Self-limiting Rather Than Aversive Forms. By Failing To Cultivate Personal Potentialities And Constricting Their Activities, Such Persons Cut Themselves Off From Many Rewarding Experiences. Should They Attempt Tasks Having Evaluative Significance, They Create Internal Obstacles To Effective Performance By Approaching Them With Unnerving Self-doubts

People Behave Agentically, But They Produce Theories That Afford People Very Little Agency.

Success And Failure Are Largely Self-defined In Terms Of Personal Standards. The Higher The Self-standards, The More Likely Will Given Attainments Be Viewed As Failures, Regardless Of What Others Might Think.

Incongruities Between Self-efficacy And Action May Stem From Misperceptions Of Task Demands, As Well As From Faulty Self-knowledge

Self Efficacious Children Tend To Attribute Their Successes To Ability, But Ability Attributions Affect Performance Indirectly Through Perceived Self-efficacy

Persons Who Have A Strong Sense Of Efficacy Deploy Their Attention And Effort To The Demands Of The Situation And Are Spurred By Obstacles To Greater Effort.

Self-efficacy Is The Belief In One's Capabilities To Organize And Execute The Sources Of Action Required To Manage Prospective Situations.

People's Conceptions About Themselves And The Nature Of Things Are Developed And Verified Through Four Different Processes: Direct Experience Of The Effects Produced By Their Actions, Vicarious Experience Of The Effects Produced By Somebody Else's Actions, Judgments Voiced By Others, And Derivation Of Further Knowledge From What They Already Know By Using Rules Of Inference

Even Noteworthy Performance Attainments Do Not Necessarily Boost Perceived Self-efficacy

To Grant Thought Causal Efficacy Is Not To Invoke A Disembodied Mental State

Learning Would Be Exceedingly Laborious, Not To Mention Hazardous, If People Had To Rely Solely On The Effects Of Their Own Actions To Inform Them What To Do. Fortunately, Most Human Behavior Is Learned Observationally Through Modeling: From Observing Others One Forms An Idea Of How New Behaviors Are Performed, And On Later Occasions This Coded Information Serves As A Guide For Action.

The Evaluative Habits Developed In Sibling Interactions Undoubtedly Affect The Salience And Choice Of Comparative Referents In Self-ability Evaluations In Later Life

Even The Self-assured Will Raise Their Perceived Self-efficacy If Models Teach Them Better Ways Of Doing Things.

Measures Of Self-precept Must Be Tailored To The Domain Of Psychological Functioning Being Explored.

Self-percepts Foster Actions That Generate Information, As Well As Serve As A Filtering Mechanism For Self-referent Information In The Self-maintaining Process

Behavior Must Also Be Adequately Assessed Under Appropriate Circumstances. Ill-defined Global Measures Of Perceived Self-efficacy Or Defective Assessments Of Performance Will Yield Discordances. Disparities Will Also Arise When Efficacy Is Judged For Performances In Actual Situations But Performance Is Measured In Simulated Situations That Are Easier To Deal With Than The Actualities

Regression Analyses Show That Self-efficacy Contributes To Achievement Behavior Beyond The Effects Of Cognitive Skills

Self-doubt Creates The Impetus For Learning But Hinders Adept Use Of Previously Established Skills

Most Of The Images Of Reality On Which We Base Our Actions Are Really Based On Vicarious Experience.

Many People Who Gain Recognition And Fame Shape Their Lives By Overcoming Seemingly Insurmountable Obstacles, Only To Be Catapulted Into New Social Realities Over Which They Have Less Control And Manage Badly. Indeed, The Annals Of The Famous And Infamous Are Strewn With Individuals Who Were Both Architects And Victims Of Their Life Courses.

From The Social Cognitive Perspective, It Is Mainly Perceived Inefficacy To Cope With Potentially Aversive Events That Makes Them Fearsome. To The Extent That People Believe They Can Prevent, Terminate, Or Lessen The Severity Of Aversive Events, They Have Little Reason To Be Perturbed By Them. But If They Believe They Are Unable To Manage Threats Safely, They Have Much Cause For Apprehension.

One Cannot Afford To Be A Realist.

People Who Regard Themselves As Highly Efficacious Act, Think, And Feel Differently From Those Who Perceive Themselves As Inefficacious. They Produce Their Own Future, Rather Than Simply Foretell It.

We Are More Heavily Invested In The Theories Of Failure Than We Are In The Theories Of Success.

People With High Assurance In Their Capabilities Approach Difficult Tasks As Challenges To Be Mastered Rather Than As Threats To Be Avoided.

Coping With The Demands Of Everyday Life Would Be Exceedingly Trying If One Could Arrive At Solutions To Problems Only By Actually Performing Possible Options And Suffering The Consequences.

Ironically, It Is The Talented Who Have High Aspirations, Which Are Possible But Exceedingly Difficult To Realize, Who Are Especially Vulnerable To Self-dissatisfaction Despite Notable Achievements.

Comparative Appraisals Of Efficacy Require Not Only Evaluation Of One;s Own Performances But Also Knowledge Of How Others Do, Cognizance Of Nonability Determinants Of Their Performances, And Some Understanding That It Is Others, Like Oneself, Who Provide The Most Informative Social Criterion For Comparison

Students Judge How Well They Might Do In A Chemistry Course From Knowing How Peers, Who Performed Comparably To Them In Physics, Fared In Chemistry

Accomplishment Is Socially Judged By Ill Defined Criteria So That One Has To Rely On Others To Find Out How One Is Doing.

Except For Events That Carry Great Weight, It Is Not Experience Per Se, But How They Match Expectations, That Governs Their Emotional Impact

If Self-efficacy Is Lacking, People Tend To Behave Ineffectually, Even Though They Know What To Do.

Self-efficacy Beliefs Differ From Outcome Expectations, Judgments Of The Likely Consequence [that] Behavior Will Produce.

How Children Learn To Use Diverse Sources Of Efficacy Information In Developing A Stable And Accurate Sense Of Personal Efficacy Is A Matter Of Considerable Interest

After People Become Convinced They Have What It Takes To Succeed, They Persevere In The Face Of Adversity And Quickly Rebound From Setbacks. By Sticking It Out Through Tough Times, They Emerge Stronger From Adversity.

The Performances Of Others Are Often Selected As Standards For Self-improvement Of Abilities

People Who Believe They Have The Power To Exercise Some Measure Of Control Over Their Lives Are Healthier, More Effective And More Successful Than Those Who Lack Faith In Their Ability To Effect Changes In Their Lives.

What People Think, Believe, And Feel Affects How They Behave. The Natural And Extrinsic Effects Of Their Actions, In Turn, Partly Determine Their Thought Patterns And Affective Reactions.

Humans Are Producers Of Their Life Circumstance Not Just Products Of Them.

Self-appraisals Of Efficacy Are Reasonably Accurate, But They Diverge From Action Because People Do Not Know Fully What They Will Have To Do, Lack Information For Regulating Their Effort, Or Are Hindered By External Factors From Doing What They Can

Perceived Self-efficacy Also Shapes Causal Thinking. In Seeking Solutions To Difficult Problems, Those Who Perceived Themselves As Highly Efficacious Are Inclined To Attribute Their Failures To Insufficient Effort, Whereas Those Of Comparable Skills But Lower Perceived Self-efficacy Ascribe Their Failures To Deficient Ability

If You Look At Our Theories Of Social Pathology And Then At The Dismal Conditions In Which Children Grow Up In Our Ghettos, You Would Predict That All Of Them Would Be On Drugs Or Psychological Basket Cases. Yet If You Use Criteria Like Gainful Employment, Forming Partnerships And Life Without Crime, You Will Find That Most Of Those Kids Make It.

People Infer High Self-efficacy From Successes Achieved Through Minimal Effort On Difficult Tasks, But They Infer Low Self-efficacy If They Had To Work Hard Under Favorable Conditions To Master Relatively Easy Tasks

In Social Cognitive Theory, Perceived Self-efficacy Results From Diverse Sources Of Information Conveyed Vicariously And Through Social Evaluation, As Well As Through Direct Experience

Such Self-referent Misgivings Creates Stress And Undermine Effective Use Of The Competencies People Possess By Diverting Attention From How Best To Proceed To Concern Over Personal Failings And Possible Mishaps

Very Often We Developed A Better Grasp Of The Subjects Than The Over Worked Teachers.

Agemates Provide The Most Informative Points Of Reference For Comparative Efficacy Appraisal And Verification. Children Are, Therefore, Especially Sensitive To Their Relative Standing Among The Peers With Whom They Affiliate In Activities That Determine Prestige And Popularity

If There Is Any Characteristic That Is Distinctly Human, It Is The Capability For Reflective Self-consciousness.

A Problem Of Future Research Is To Clarify How Young Children Learn What Type Of Social Comparative Information Is Most Useful For Efficacy Evaluation

It Is Widely Assumed That Beliefs In Personal Determination Of Outcomes Create A Sense Of Efficacy And Power, Whereas Beliefs That Outcomes Occur Regardless Of What One Does Result In Apathy

Perceived Self-efficacy Influences The Types Of Causal Attributions People Make For Their Performances

Perceived Self-inefficacy Predicts Avoidance Of Academic Activities Whereas Anxiety Does Not

People Who Are Insecure About Themselves Will Avoid Social Comparisons That Are Potentially Threatening To Their Self-esteem

This Has Increased With The Tremendous Technological Advances In Communications. We Have A Vast New World Of Images Brought Into Our Sitting Rooms Electronically. Most Of The Images Of Reality On Which We Base Our Actions Are Really Based On Vicarious Experience. This Has Increased With The Tremendous Technological Advances In Communications. We Have A Vast New World Of Images Brought Into Our Sitting-rooms Electronically.

People Judge Their Capabilities Partly By Comparing Their Performances With Those Of Others

People Regulate Their Level And Distribution Of Effort In Accordance With The Effects They Expect Their Actions To Have. As A Result, Their Behavior Is Better Predicted From Their Beliefs Than From The Actual Consequences Of Their Actions

Misbeliefs In One's Inefficacy May Retard Development Of The Very Subskills Upon Which More Complex Performances Depend

Social Cognitive Theory Rejects The Dichotomous Conception Of Self As Agent And Self As Object. Acting On The Environment And Acting On Oneself Entail Shifting The Perspective Of The Same Agent Rather Than Reifying Different Selves Regulating Each Other Or Transforming The Self From Agent To Object

Once Established, Reputations Do Not Easily Change.

Self-appraisals Are Influenced By Evaluative Reactions Of Others.

When Actions Are Followed By Events That Are Not Causally Related To The Prior Acts, People Often Erroneously Perceive Contingencies That Do Not, In Fact, Exist

The Adequacy Of Performance Attainments Depends Upon The Personal Standards Against Which They Are Judged

The Satisfactions People Derive From What They Do Are Determined To A Large Degree By Their Self-evaluative Standards

Through Their Capacity To Manipulate Symbols And To Engage In Reflective Thought, People Can Generate Novel Ideas And Innovative Actions That Transcend Their Past Experiences

Perceived Self-efficacy In Coping With Potential Threats Leads People To Approach Such Situations Anxiously, And Experience Of Disruptive Arousal May Further Lower Their Sense Of Efficacy That They Will Be Able To Perform Skillfully

Such Knowledge Is Probably Gained In Several Ways. One Process Undoubtedly Operates Through Social Comparison Of Success And Failure Experiences. Children Repeatedly Observe Their Own Behavior And The Attainments Of Others

Success And Failure

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