What is self-efficacy?
Self-efficacy can be described as a person’s judgement of being able to perform a task or do something. Psychologist Albert Bandura (1995) has defined self-efficacy as “beliefs in one’s capabilities to organize and execute the courses of action required to manage prospective situations” (p. 2). It is what you believe you can accomplish using your skills under certain situations (Snyder & Lopez, 2007).
For example, someone who says, “I am confident that I will be able to master this new language within six months” or “I know I am capable of scoring an A on a French speaking test after studying it for six months” are statements of someone who possess a high self-efficacy for mastering French. On the other hand, someone who disagree with such statements may have a low self-efficacy.
Self-efficacy has an impact on students’ academic success. For example, the judgments you make about your ability to do an activity can lead you to decide which activities to try or not to try, how much effort you can give, or how persistent you will, or you will be when challenged. Students with high self-efficacy will of course set higher goals, try harder to reach their goals and therefore become successful.
At this point, I am more likely to be a social cognitivist because social cognitivist goes beyond behavior in general and believe that behavior is based on a combination of observable stimuli, and internal psychological processes.
Both behaviorist and social cognitivist have observable stimuli in common but social cognitivist believe that why people behave the way they do should not only be limited to observable stimuli but internal psychological processes. For example, social cognitivists believe that, in addition to behaviorism’s external reinforcements, people learn through observation, and by imitating the behavior of the people around them.
References
Bandura, A. (1995). Exercise of personal and collective efficacy in changing societies. In A. Bandura (Ed.), Self-efficacy in changing societies (pp. 1-45). New York: Cambridge University Press.
Snyder, C. R., & Lopez, S. J. (2007). Positive psychology: The scientific and practical explorations of human strengths. Thousand Oaks, CA, US: Sage Publications.
