Self-Efficacy

Self-Efficacy is defined as people’s beliefs about their capabilities to produce designated levels of performance that exercise influence over events that affect their lives. It determines how people think and motivate themselves. A person’s self-efficacy plays a huge role in the way that they approach difficult situations. 

Someone with a high sense of self-efficacy would look at an obstacle as a challenge and would be more intrinsically motivated. They tend to be more deeply engrossed in their activities and are deal with failure better. They attribute their failures to insufficient effort and identify fixable problems so that they can deal with situations better. Those with a lower self-efficacy tend to doubt their capabilities and avoid tasks that they feel might be difficult for them. A fear of failure prevents them from pursuing difficult goals. They are more focused on the possible adverse outcomes than they are on the goal. They get very stressed out very quickly and are prone to depression.

A sense of self efficacy can be developed through mastery experiences, vicarious experiences and social persuasion. Mastering difficult tasks especially at a younger age builds self-efficacy. However, mastering a number of easy tasks is not as effective as mastering one difficult one. If a person sees his role model or someone he relates to succeed, his self-efficacy could go up. A perceived similarity to models results in an “If he can do it, I can do it” mentality.