Self Efficacy Theory In Agancy

2.1. Introduction

The belief that people have about themselves form the fundamental bases in the exercise of control and personal agency (Bandura, 1997b, 1978, 1997). These beliefs are the most influencial factors of the decisions that people make (Bandura, 1986). One of the main reasons of one’s failure or success has to do with the question of what these individuals believe about themselves (Hoy & Murphy, 2001). From evereything that affects behavior such as: prior successes, schievement, goal attainment, knowledge, skills and performance, empirical research revealed the belief in someone’s ability to execute the behavior as more prominent (Bandura, 1997).

Basically, self-efficacy beliefs are considered to be as a core mechanism of the human

The core belief is the foundation of human agancy. Unless people believe they can produce desired effects by their actions, they have little incentive to act, or to persevere in the face of difficulties. Whatever other factors serve as guides and motivators, they are rooted in the core belief that one has the power to effect changes by one’s actions” (p. 170).

The term self-efficacy is defined as “ beliefs in one’s capabilites to organize and execute the courses of action given to produce given attainments” (Bandura, 1997, p.3). Bandura assumes that other constructs such as self-esteem and self-concept are not the same with

He further argues that self-esteem means “wether one likes or dislikes oneself” (Bandura, 1997, p. 11). He asserts that self-efficacy beliefs are mainly concerned with overall impression or judgement of personal ability whereas self-esteem is concerned with with the overall impression of judgement of self-worth (Bandura, 1997). In this regards, it can be further argumented that an individual’s belief of his ability to carry out a aparticular task as very low does not necessary imply that that person has a low self-esteem. For example, a person’s judgement when it comes to his ability to play tenis is least likely to influence his self-esteem as a teacher unless she invests her self-worth in that activity. It is important to also mention that self-efficacy predict “the goals people set about themselves and their performance attainments, whereas self-esteem affects neither personal goals nor performance” (p.