Developing self-efficacy

Self-efficacy is people’s beliefs about their capabilities to produce designated levels of performance that exercise influence over events that affect their lives. Self-efficacy beliefs determine how people feel, think, motivate themselves and behave. Such beliefs produce these diverse effects through four major processes. They include cognitive, motivational, affective and selection processes.

A strong sense of efficacy enhances human accomplishment and personal well-being in many ways. People with high assurance in their capabilities approach difficult tasks as challenges to be mastered rather than as threats to be avoided. Such an efficacious outlook fosters intrinsic interest and deep engrossment in activities.

Characteristics of people with high self-efficacy

1. They set themselves challenging goals and maintain strong commitment to them.
2. They heighten and sustain their efforts in the face of failure.
3. They quickly recover their sense of efficacy after failures or setbacks.
4. They attribute failure to insufficient effort or deficient knowledge and skills which are acquirable.
5. They approach threatening situations with assurance that they can exercise control over them.
6. Such an efficacious outlook produces personal accomplishments, reduces stress and lowers vulnerability to depression.

Characteristics of people with low self-efficacy

1. They have low aspirations and weak commitment to the goals they choose to pursue.
2. When faced with difficult tasks, they dwell on their personal deficiencies, on the obstacles they will encounter, and all kinds of adverse outcomes rather than concentrate on how to perform successfully.
3. They slacken their efforts and give up quickly in the face of difficulties.
4. They are slow to recover their sense of efficacy following failure or setbacks.
5. Because they view insufficient performance as deficient aptitude it does not require much failure for them to lose faith in their capabilities.
6. They fall easy victim to stress and depression.

Sources of Self-Efficacy

1. People’s beliefs about their efficacy can be developed by four main sources of influence. The most effective way of creating a strong sense of efficacy is through mastery experiences.
2. Another way of creating and strengthening self-beliefs of efficacy is through the vicarious experiences provided by social models.
3. Social persuasion is a third way of strengthening people’s beliefs that they have what it takes to succeed. People who are persuaded verbally that they possess the capabilities to master given activities are likely to mobilize greater effort and sustain it than if they harbor self-doubts and dwell on personal deficiencies when problems arise.