Primer on Self-efficacy

Title: Self-efficacy. By: Bandura, Albert, Harvard Mental Health Letter, 10575022, Mar97, Vol. 13, Issue 9
Database: Academic Search PremierHTML Full TextSELF-EFFICACY
Section: INSIGHTS
To realize their aims, people try to exercise control over the events that affect their lives. They have a stronger incentive to act if they believe that control is possible -- that their actions will be effective. Perceived self-efficacy, or a belief in one's personal capabilities, regulates human functioning in four mayor ways:
Cognitive: People with high self-efficacy are more likely to have high aspirations, take long views, think soundly, set themselves difficult challenges, and commit themselves firmly to meeting those challenges. They guide their actions by visualizing successful outcomes instead of dwelling on personal deficiencies or ways in which things might go wrong.

Motivational: People motivate themselves by forming beliefs about what they can do, anticipating likely outcomes, setting goals, and planning courses of action. Their motivation will be stronger if they believe they can attain their goals and adjust them based on their progress. Self-efficacy beliefs determine the goals people set for themselves, how much effort they expend, how long they persevere, and how resilient they are in the face of failures and setbacks.

Mood or Affect: How much stress or depression people experi`ence in threatening or difficult situations depends largely on how well they think they can cope. Efficacy beliefs regulate emotional states in several ways: (1) People who believe they can manage threats are less distressed by them; those who lack self-efficacy are more likely to magnify risks. (2) People with high self-efficacy lower their stress and anxiety by acting in ways that make the environment less threatening. (3) People with high coping capacities have better control over disturbing thoughts. Research shows that what causes distress is not the sheer frequency of the thoughts but the inability to turn them off. People with high self-efficacy are able to relax, divert their attention, calm themselves, and seek support from friends, family, and others. For someone who is confident of getting relief in these ways, anxiety and sadness are easier to tolerate.

(4) Furthermore, low self-efficacy can lead directly to depression in at least three ways: (a) A person who feels unable to prevent recurrent depressive thoughts or dejected rumination is more likely to have repeated episodes of depression. (b) Low self-efficacy causes the defeat of one's hopes, and the resulting low mood further weakens self-efficacy, creating a vicious downward cycle. (c) People with low self-efficacy do not develop the satisfying social relationships that make chronic stress easier to bear. The resulting sense of social inefficacy not only contributes directly to depression but further reduces social support.

People with high self-efficacy, by contrast, attract support from others, which reinforces their ability to cope. Others supply incentives and resources, provide good examples to model, and demonstrate the value of perseverance.

People who believe in their efficacy create benign environments in which they exercise some control. The effect on their choice of careers and the course of their lives is profound. Studies show that they consider more career options, show greater interest in them, prepare themselves better for different careers, and persevere more in their chosen pursuits.

Optimism is necessary for accomplishment and a sense of well-being. In a world full of impediments, adversities, and frustrations, people with a robust sense of personal efficacy are more likely to succeed. To some they may seem unrealistic, but so called realists too often abandon difficult pursuits or become cynical about the prospects for change. Optimism about oneself is an adaptive bias, not a cognitive failing.

To sum up, people with a low sense of efficacy avoid difficult tasks. They have low aspirations and weak commitment to their goals. They turn inward on their self-doubts instead of thinking about how to perform successfully. When faced with difficult tasks, they dwell on obstacles, the consequences of failure, and their personal deficiencies. Failure makes them lose faith in themselves because they blame their own inadequacies. They slacken or give up in the face of difficulty, recover slowly from setbacks, and easily fall victim to stress and depression.

People with high perceived self-efficacy, by contrast, approach difficult tasks as challenges to be mastered rather than threats to be avoided. They are deeply interested in what they do, set high goals, and sustain strong commitments. They concentrate on the task, not on themselves. They blame their failures on remediable ignorance, lack of skill, or insufficient effort. They redouble their effort in the face of obstacles and soon recover confidence after a setback. This outlook sustains motivation, reduces stress, and lowers any vulnerability to depression.

Psychological treatments work best when they provide not specific remedies for particular problems but tools for managing any situation that might arise. Treatment should equip people to take control of their lives and start a process of self-regulative change guided by a resilient sense of personal efficacy. There are four main ways to accomplish this:

(1) Experience of success or mastery in overcoming obstacles: The kind of success that makes a person stronger results from perseverance through difficulties and setbacks. A person who has only easy successes may be easily discouraged by failure.

(2) Social modeling: If you see people like yourself succeed, you are more likely to believe that you have the capacity to do so. Observing the failures of others instills doubts about one's own ability to master similar activities.

(3) Social persuasion: If people are persuaded to believe in themselves, they will exert more effort and increase their chances of success. But effective social persuaders do more to strengthen self-efficacy: they try to arrange things for others in ways that bring success and avoid placing them prematurely in situations where they are likely to fail.

(4) Reducing stress and depression, building physical strength, and learning how to interpret physical sensations: People rely on their physical and emotional states to judge their capabilities. They read tension, anxiety, and depression as signs of personal deficiency. In activities that require strength and stamina, they interpret fatigue and pain as indicators of low physical efficacy.

Here are some examples of the way self-efficacy works in psychological treatment:

Phobias: It is often assumed that phobias are mainly the result of anxiety. In this view, people with phobias avoid many situations and constrict their lives because they fear being overcome by a panic reaction or other catastrophe. But apparently a perceived lack of coping efficacy breeds anxiety, not the other way around. Studies have shown that low self-efficacy predicts variation in phobic behavior even when anxiety is removed, but anxiety does not predict phobic behavior when variation in self-efficacy is removed. This result has been corroborated for a wide variety of threats in a wide variety of situations.

Phobias can be treated by a method known as guided mastery. First the therapist models feared activities (shows the patient how to confront them). Then the task of overcoming fear is broken down into readily mastered small steps. At each stage, patients are asked to perform for a slightly longer time, doing only what is within their capacities. Most guided mastery treatments also try to alter maladaptive thinking. In the final phase, the therapist uses self-directed mastery experiences designed to confirm the patient's coping capacity. In this way even the most taxing or threatening activities become possible. Guided mastery works faster and more effectively than exposure alone in eliminating anxiety and phobias. Studies show that it reduces both subjective and physiological anxiety, transforms fearful attitudes, stops phobic ruminations and nightmares, and lowers high levels of stress hormones.

Physical Health: Efficacy beliefs affect physical health in at least two ways. First, a belief in the ability to cope with sources of stress reduces biological reactions that can impair immune function. Second, efficacy beliefs largely determine whether people consider changing their health habits and whether they succeed in making and maintaining the change. Perceived self-efficacy also helps to prevent existing disease from becoming worse. New case management systems based on self-regulation have been successful in reducing the risk of cardiovascular disease and improving the functioning of people with chronic illnesses.

Alcohol and Drug Abuse: In the treatment of alcohol and drug abuse, perceived self-regulatory capacity predicts not only who will relapse and how soon, but what the response to a relapse will be. People with a strong belief in their efficacy regard a slip as a temporary setback and redouble their efforts; those who distrust their capacity for self-regulation are more likely to give up and relapse permanently. Ratings of efficacy in various domains can be used to reveal areas in which substance abusers are vulnerable or treatments deficient.

~~~~~~~~

by Albert Bandura


Albert Bandura, Ph.D., is the David Starr Jordan Professor of Social Science in Psychology at Stanford University. He is the author of Self-Efficacy: The Exercise of Control (New York: Freeman 1997).


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Source: from Harvard Mental Health Letter, Harvard Health Publications, Copyright 1997 by President and Fellows of Harvard College. All rights reserved. Harvard authorizes you to view or download a single copy of the Harvard Content on EBSCOhost solely for your personal, noncommercial use if you include the following copyright notice: "Copyright, President and Fellows of Harvard College. All rights reserved" and other copyright and proprietary rights notices which were contained in the Harvard Content. Reproduction and/or redistribution of the Harvard Content is expressly prohibited. Any special rules for the use of other items provided on EBSCOhost may be included elsewhere within the site and are incorporated into these Terms and Conditions. The Harvard Content is protected by copyright under both United States and foreign laws. Title to the Harvard Content remains with President and Fellows, Harvard College. Any use of the Harvard Content not expressly permitted by these Terms and Conditions is a breach of these Terms and Conditions and may violate copyright, trademark, and other laws. Harvard Content and features are subject to change or termination without notice in the editorial discretion of Harvard. All rights not expressly granted herein are reserved to President and Fellows, Harvard College. If you violate any of these Terms and Conditions, your permission to use the Harvard Content automatically terminates and you must immediately destroy any copies you have made of any portion of the Harvard Content.MEDICAL DISCLAIMERThe information contained in this online site is intended to provide accurate and helpful health information for the general public. It is made available with the understanding that the author and publisher are not engaged in rendering medical, health, psychological, or any other kind of personal professional services on this site. The information should not be considered complete and does not cover all diseases, ailments, physical conditions or their treatment. It should not be used in place of a call or visit to a medical, health or other competent professional, who should be consulted before adopting any of the suggestions in this site or drawing inferences from it.The information about drugs contained on this site is general in nature. It does not cover all possible uses, actions, precautions, side effects, or interactions of the medicines mentioned, nor is the information intended as medical advice for individual problems or for making an evaluation as to the risks and benefits of taking a particular drug. The operator(s) of this site and the publisher specifically disclaim all responsibility for any liability, loss or risk, personal or otherwise, which is incurred as a consequence, directly or indirectly, of the use and application of any of the material on this site.
Format and Delivery OptionsView: