self-efficacy

Examples of self-efficacy in the following topics:

• Additional Resources

  • Critical Issue: Working Toward Student Self-Direction and Personal Efficacy as Educational Goals: Collection of many resources (including video clips) on how to enhance student self-efficacy (http://www.ncrel.org/sdrs/areas/issues/students/learning/lr200.htm).
  • Information on self-efficacy: Professor Albert Bandura's web site on self-efficacy.
  • This site collects many learning theories and models in relation to self-efficacy http://www.des.emory.edu/mfp/self-efficacy.html#bandura).

• Self-Efficacy

  • Self-efficacy affects some of the factors that predict motivation.According to Bandura (1982), self-efficacy is a self-judgment of one's ability to perform a task in a specific domain.However, a high degree of self-efficacy in one domain does not necessarily transfer to other areas of endeavor.High self-efficacy positively affects performance; this good performance will in turn enhance self-efficacy .
  • Anxiety, nervousness, rapid heart rate, sweating; these symptoms often occur when learners face challenges that require competence to overcome.Such physical or mental states reflect learner perceptions of their self-efficacy; these in turn affect their performance.
  • Model: Exposing learners to an non-expert model (peer model) conquering the challenges successfully can help learners increase their motivation and self-efficacy.Another approach to enhance self-efficacy is learners observing the expert model solving problems with specific strategies or skills.
  • Successful experience: It is the teachers' responsibility to help learners achieve academic success by providing challenging, yet attainable tasks .Successful experience is the most important source of fostering self-efficacy.
  • This flash animation illustrates the journey of a teacher and student as the student's self-efficacy increases.

• Self-Regulation and Volition

  • Some independent learners require little attention from their teachers.They know how to adopt learning strategies, they understand their competencies in specific domains, and will commit to their academic goals.These students have volition and can be described as "self-regulated" learners.Zimmerman (1989) pointed out that students can be described as self-regulated to the degree that they are metacognitively, motivationally, and behaviorally active participants in their own learning processes.Three assumptions are involved in the definition: self-regulated learning strategies, self-efficacy perceptions of skill performance, and a commitment to academic goals.
  • Personal influences--students' knowledge and goals Behavioral influences--self-observation, self-judgment, and self-reaction Environmental influences--verbal persuasion and modeling
  • In his review of the literature, Alderman (1999) indicated that the formation of possible selves is influenced by developmental factors, sociocultural factors, attributional history and self-efficacy judgments.For example: John has an interest in media.He is influenced by his music teacher and decides to become a keyboard player.John tries to enhance his keyboard playing skills; his playing continually improves with practice.Encouragement from others and the positive experience of playing the keyboard increase his self-efficacy, which helps him to develop a concrete goal for the future.John attributes his success to internal, controllable, and stable causes.He stresses the value of effort over other factors.
  • Self-regulation is not a fixed characteristic of learners.Employing appropriate strategies can help learners to develop self-regulation and volition to learn.Zimmerman (1998) designed a table to compare experts' methods of self-regulation across different disciplines.Familiarity with these self-regulated methods is not only useful in learning, but once mastered, the techniques can be useful throughout life to function effectively in informal contexts.
  • Academic studying and the development of personal skill: a self-regulatory perspective.

• Bibliography

  • Self-efficacy: The exercise of control.
  • Albert Bandura, author of nine books and numerous scholarly journal articles, past-president of the American Psychological Association, and one of the leading psychologist, presents a complete explanation of self-efficacy as well as extensive applications of this theory as it relates to motivation in a variety of areas.
  • It examines the foundation of the theory, and the affects self-efficacy has on human welfare and achievements.
  • This exhaustive handling of the theory and its applications is the decisive work in this arena, and is composed by the leading authority of self-efficacy.
  • Each factor plays a key role in the nature of self and identity as well as the function of self-esteem.

• Maintaining Motivation

  • Rogers, suggests that we protect ourselves based on four factors: (1) the perceived severity of a threatening event, (2) the perceived probability of the occurrence or vulnerability, (3) the efficacy of the recommended preventive behavior, and (4) the perceived self-efficacy.
  • Self-efficacy, the final factor in PMT, is the belief in one's ability to carry out the recommended course of action successfully.
  • Positive self-talk, smiling, or a daily ten-minute exercise routine are all things that can help reduce stress.
  • A social support system provides encouragement and self-efficacy, helps maintain a positive outlook, and allows an individual to talk about and find ways to deal with the stressor.
  • Once these needs have been reasonably satisfied, one may be able to reach the highest level, called self-actualization.

• Temporal Motivation Theory

  • Expectancy, or self-efficacy, is the likelihood of success; value is the reward associated with the outcome; impulsiveness is the individual's ability to withstand urges; and delay is the amount of time until the realization of the outcome (i.e., the deadline).
  • Suppose the student really doesn't understand the material and doesn't feel confident that he will be able to grasp it in time for the exam (low self-efficacy, or expectancy).

• Emotional Leadership

  • According to the trait theory of leadership, some traits play a vital role in creating leaders, such as intelligence, adjustment, extroversion, conscientiousness, openness to experience, and general self-efficacy.
  • The perceived efficacy of group processes such as coordination, collaborative effort, and task strategy can also effect the emotions of followers.
  • Trait EI refers to individuals' self-perceptions of their emotional abilities.
  • It is measured by looking at degrees of emotional well-being, self-control, emotionalism, and sociability.
  • EI traits can be challenging to assess accurately because they rely on self-reporting, rather than observations of actual behaviors.

• Body-Oriented Psychotherapies

  • Body-oriented therapies, also referred to as body psychotherapies, are based on the principles of somatic psychology, which involves the study of the body, somatic experience, and the embodied self, including therapeutic and holistic approaches to the body.
  • Research across eight different schools of body-oriented therapies suggests overall efficacy in symptom reduction, though more research is needed.
  • The review of outcome research across different types of body-oriented psychotherapy concludes that the best evidence supports efficacy for treating somatoform/psychosomatic disorders and schizophrenia.
  • Many of the claims regarding the efficacy of body-oriented therapies are considered controversial due to lack of research.

• Humanistic Therapy

  • Humanistic therapy helps individuals access and understand their feelings, gain a sense of meaning in life, and reach self-actualization.
  • It encourages viewing ourselves as a "whole person" greater than the sum of our parts and encourages self exploration rather than the study of behavior in other people.
  • The aim of humanistic therapy is to help the client develop a stronger, healthier sense of self, as well as access and understand their feelings to help gain a sense of meaning in life.
  • With its roots running from Socrates through the Renaissance, this approach emphasizes individuals' inherent drive towards self-actualization, the process of realizing and expressing one's own capabilities, and creativity.
  • The term "actualizing tendency" was also coined by Rogers and was a concept that eventually led Maslow to study self-actualization as one of the needs of humans.

• Psychodynamic and Psychoanalytic Therapy

  • Meta-analyses in 2012 and 2013 found evidence for the efficacy of psychoanalytic therapy; other meta-analyses published in recent years showed psychoanalysis and psychodynamic therapy to be effective, with outcomes comparable to or greater than other kinds of psychotherapy or antidepressant drugs.
  • Numerous studies have suggested that its efficacy is related to the quality of the therapist, rather than the particular school, technique, or training.
  • The goal of PCT is to provide clients with an opportunity to develop a sense of self wherein they can realize how their attitudes, feelings, and behaviors are being negatively affected.