A Description of Self-efficacy

The concept of self-efficacy is a key component in the theory of social cognition theory. The Encyclopedia of Epidemiology (Boslaugh, 2008) described social cognition theory as an interaction between environment, behavior, and thought. These interactions affect each other at different degrees, depending upon the individual. It is how the individual mentally processes

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external and internal stimuli that influence the behaviors the individual makes (p. 983). A person’s observation of others taking on a task serves as a model for how to do that particular task. The person processes the observation and through this process can learn how to apply that new knowledge to his or her own situation. Bandura (1989) emphasized the thought process as an integral component in the development of one’s own self-efficacy, noting that these thought processes rely on reflection of information from varied sources. Thought can be influenced by motivational and informational stimuli which in turn affected by the degree of one’s self-efficacy (Bandura, 1989). There is a reciprocal relationship between motivation, information processing, and self-efficacy in the thought process. All the processes inform and respond to each other.

A person’s self-efficacy is part of his or her thought processes that involve how he or she interprets and processes stimuli relating to personal abilities. Bandura believed that people are able to develop their own self-efficacy in a given area if they have the opportunity for that development. When developing his theory on self-efficacy in 1977, Bandura experimented with adults who were terrified of snakes. He designed an experiment where the adults would receive different interventions for their fear of snakes. Bandura then recorded the behavior changes of the adults resulting from their experience. The adults were divided into groups involving participant modeling, where they would work to master a task, vicarious modeling of the desired behavior, and a control group which did not receive any training or intervention. As the adults participated in the interventions, their belief in what they could master regarding snakes increased. There was a correlation between the adults’ performance with the snakes and their expectations. Further, the adults who participated in the participant modeling developed the strongest efficacy expectations that those who participated in the vicarious modeling exercise, who in turn had a stronger sense of self-efficacy than those adults who did not participate in any training (Bandura, 1977). This

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experiment suggests that through participation in activities designed to improve performance, people will improve their own level of expectation for their performance and may be able to transfer that to the success with a new task of challenge.

Bandura (1997) defined self-efficacy as “beliefs in one's capabilities to organize and execute the course of actions required to produce given attainments”(p. 3). Self-efficacy refers to a person’s perception of his or her degree of confidence of his or her capabilities to meet goals. It is the result of a person cognitively processing feedback on his or her performance of a task. This processing not only informs about past performance, it also assesses capabilities for future performance (Cantor, 1990; Gist & Mitchell, 1992). A perception of self-efficacy is open to change depending upon how one evaluates one’s performance and processes feedback on that performance.

Self-efficacy is also multi-dimensional. It may differ in magnitude, depending on the degree of difficulty of the tasks. It may differ in the degree of generality from one task to another. Finally, it may differ in degree of strength, depending upon the task and the individual (Bandura, 1977). This multi-dimensional aspect of self-efficacy suggests that in order to increase one’s level of self-efficacy, it may be necessary for a person to repeat a task designed to improve performance and to receive frequent feedback on his or her progress toward mastery (Gist & Mitchell, 1992). It may be that task completion and feedback on progress form a process in the development of self-efficacy.

It is this process of information and feedback on one’s performance on a task that helps to develop and build a person’s perceived self-efficacy. People learn from their observations. Further, because people will process information from observations differently, people will develop varied levels of self-efficacy (Bandura, 1977). Thus, if several people master a

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performance task at the same time, the level of self-efficacy developed among them will vary due to how each one has processed the experience. People process their own feedback on their performance, making judgments on their ability as a result. Lane and Lane (2001) stressed self- efficacy may change because of this feedback. As self-efficacy is a product of this thought process, it is a component of the grander Social Cognitive Theory.

Social cognitive theory may be constructivist in that it focuses on how people mentally process the stimuli they are receiving from things such as their environment, tasks they are working on, and their confidence in their abilities to make decisions (Dzewaltowski, 1994). The people use these stimuli to construct a scenario where their actions will lead them to certain results. People anticipate future outcomes for their actions and set goals from this anticipation. These outcome expectations and goals motivate people to make plans to take action. They help them to regulate their behavior in the attainment of those goals (Bandura, 1991). This anticipation of the outcome expectations serves to motivate people to set goals and to evaluate their own abilities and capacity to reach those goals (Bandura, 1977). People have to visualize themselves accomplishing their goals before they can work to attain them.

People have to believe that they have the ability to establish and meet goals that they themselves set. This belief may help motivate them to realize these goals. People’s belief in their ability to meet goals will help them to regulate the behavior they need in order to reach these goals (Locke & Latham, 2002). Reivich (2010) observed that the level of one’s perceived self-efficacy reflects one’s belief in whether he or she has the agency and ability to affect one’s chances of meeting set goals. This belief of agency is a central component of self-efficacy. Self-efficacy references one’s perception of one’s agency in one’s capabilities to accomplish self-set goals. Dzewaltowksi (1994) observed people have to regulate their own behavior when working to attain

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goals. The goals motivate people to take the necessary actions to achieve them, provided the people believe they can do so (Locke & Latham, 2002). Setting attainable goals and developing reasonable expectations for outcomes are key components in both social cognitive theory and self- efficacy theory.