Self Efficacy Theory

1602 Words4 Pages

Theory of Self-Efficacy Self-Efficacy is the notion that an individuals ' beliefs about their capabilities to produce designated levels of performance when participating in events that affect their lives (Bandura, 1994). An individual 's perceived self-efficacy is related to motivation in that if an individual believes he or she has the capability to perform a task, and that performance will then lead to a positive result, the individual will be motivated to perform (Bandura, 1994). Self – Efficacy is affected in four ways through mastery experiences, vicarious experiences, social persuasion, and emotional states. In the stage of mastery experiences the students’ actual real life experience in any given area has a direct impact on their …show more content…

If a student is successful in a mastery experience it builds their self-efficacy, however if they fail and have a negative experience it can deter from their individual self-efficacy as well. Vicarious experiences are experiences that are associated with the observation of the people, referred to in the theory as “models”, which surround them such as, parents, peers, relatives, teachers, administrators, and mentors. The more that students identify with the models observed, the greater the model’s influence can have on their perceived self-efficacy. The third stage of self-efficacy is social persuasion. Social persuasion has the potential to reinforce a learners’ self-efficacy in a particular area when they have suffered a temporary setback (Bandura, 1994). Juxtapose, social persuasion can be detrimental to student success when students believe that their role models are not supportive of them or that they do not have confidence in them and their goals. This lack of confidence can have after effects such as students being less likely to pursue their goals thus resulting in low self-efficacy, which can lower academic performance. The final stage of

Open Document