Psychological Review· 1977Q1
Self-efficacy: Toward a unifying theory of behavioral change.
- 35,560citations
- Q1SCImago
- 1977year
Short summary
Self-efficacy, the belief in one's ability to succeed, is proposed as a unifying theory explaining psychological changes across various treatments by influencing behavior initiation, effort, and persistence.
AI-generated from the title and abstract; the full text is not read.
Key points
- Self-efficacy expectations determine the initiation, effort, and persistence of coping behaviors.
- Persistence in challenging but safe activities leads to mastery experiences that enhance self-efficacy.
- Four principal sources inform efficacy expectations: performance accomplishments, vicarious experience, verbal persuasion, and physiological states.
- The dependability of experiential sources directly impacts changes in perceived self-efficacy.
AI-generated from the title and abstract; the full text is not read.
Abstract
The present article presents an integrative theoretical framework to explain and to predict psychological changes achieved by different modes of treatment. This theory states that psychological procedures, whatever their form, alter the level and strength of self-efficacy. It is hypothesized that expectations of personal efficacy determine whether coping behavior will be initiated, how much effort will be expended, and how long it will be sustained in the face of obstacles and aversive experiences. Persistence in activities that are subjectively threatening but in fact relatively safe produces, through experiences of mastery, further enhancement of self-efficacy and corresponding reductions in defensive behavior. In the proposed model, expectations of personal efficacy are derived from four principal sources of information: performance accomplishments, vicarious experience, verbal persuasion, and physiological states. The more dependable the experiential sources, the greater are the changes in perceived selfefficacy. A number of factors are identified as influencing the cognitive processing of efficacy information arising from enactive, vicarious, exhortative, and emotive
The authors' abstract, as published at the source. Psychological Review, 1977 · DOI ↗
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Field: Developmental and Educational Psychology
Developmental and Educational PsychologyPsychology