Albert Bandura's Self-Efficacy: Do you believe in yourself?

To understand what the self-efficacy theory, I'm going to ask you a question. First think of a goal that you would like to achieve.

When facing the challenge, do you feel that you are up to the task and can you achieve the goal? If you are one of those people who represent the famous phrase that Barack Obama used for his political campaign that brought him to power in 2008: “Yes, we can! " (We can), surely you have a high self-efficacy for that specific goal or task and you trust your abilities to achieve that objective.

If, on the other hand, you think that this challenge is great or you do not trust your abilities to achieve it, you have a weak perception of self-efficacy.

• Self-efficacy is part of the Axial components of personality, according to Bandura. To delve into it you can read: "The Personality Theory of Albert Bandura"

What is Self-efficacy?

Self-efficacy is a concept introduced by Albert Bandura, a Ukrainian-Canadian psychologist who was born in 1925. In 1986, he produced the Social Learning Theory

, referring to the regulation of motivation and human action, which implies three types of expectations: situation-outcome expectations, action-outcome expectations, and self-efficacy perceived. Today I will talk about self-efficacy

Self-efficacy, or beliefs in your abilities to deal with different situations that arise, play an important role. not only in the way you feel about an objective or task, but it will be decisive to achieve or not the goals in your lifetime. The concept of self-efficacy is a central aspect in psychology, as it emphasizes the role of observational learning, social experience, and the impact on a person's personal development.

In Albert Bandura's theory, it is argued that self-efficacy is a main construct to carry out a behavior, since the relationship between knowledge and action will be significantly mediated by the thought of self-efficacy. The beliefs of self-efficacy, that is, the thoughts that a person has about the capacity and self-regulation of her to start this behavior will be decisive.

In this way, people will be more motivated if they perceive that their actions can be effective, This is if there is the conviction that they have personal abilities that allow them to regulate their Actions. Bandura considers that it influences cognitive, affective and motivational levels. Thus, a high perceived self-efficacy is related to positive thoughts and aspirations about performing the behavior successfully, reduced stress, anxiety and perception of threat, together with adequate planning of the course of action and anticipation of good results.

The role of Self-efficacy

Anyone can identify the goals they want to achieve or the aspects of their life that they would like to change. However, not everyone thinks that putting these plans into action is easy. Research has shown that each individual's self-efficacy plays an important role in tackling a goal, task, or challenge.

Individuals with high self-efficacy are very interested in the tasks in which they participate, see problems as stimulating challenges, they experience a high commitment to their interests and activities, and they recover quickly from their failures. In contrast, individuals with low or weak self-efficacy: avoid tasks or goals challenging, think difficult goals are out of reach, and interpret failures as something personal.

Development of Self-efficacy

Self-efficacy beliefs develop in early childhood while experiencing different experiences or situations. However, the development of self-efficacy does not end in the childhood wave adolescenceRather, it continues to evolve throughout life as people acquire new skills, knowledge, or live new experiences.

Self-efficacy beliefs are formed from information provided by a total of four sources:

1. Execution achievements

Past experiences constitute the most important source of self-efficacy information, since they are based on the real domain check. Repeating success in certain tasks increases positive evaluations of self-efficacy while repeated failures decrease them, especially when failures cannot under circumstances external.

2. Vicarious experience or observation

The modeling is important because by seeing (or imagining) other people successfully perform certain activities, a person may come to believe that they have sufficient capacities to perform with the same success. This source of self-efficacy acquires particular relevance in cases in which individuals do not they have a great understanding of their own abilities or have little experience in the task at hand.

3. Verbal persuasion

Verbal persuasion is another important source of self-efficacy, especially in those who already have a high level of self-efficacy and need only a little more than confidence to go the extra mile and achieve success.

4. Physiological state of the individual

The multiple indicators of autonomic activation, as well as pain and fatigue can be interpreted by the individual as signs of her own inadequacy. In general, people tend to interpret elevated anxiety states as signs of vulnerability and as indicators of poor performance. The humor or the emotional states they will also have an impact on how one will interpret experiences.

Conclution

In short, self-efficacy is the appreciation of one's abilities and focuses on the beliefs of having the necessary resources and the ability to succeed in a given context. It is an important concept for psychology and personal development as it reinforces the idea that human beings can select or eliminate activities future through their own cognitive mechanisms, and provides a non-reductionist view of the human being and the complexity of influences that affect their conduct.

Individuals are seen as proactive Y self-regulating of her behavior rather than as reactive and controlled by environmental or biological forces.