Bandura's Self-Efficacy

Bandura's Self-efficacy
The term ‘self-efficacy” was first coined by psychologist Albert Bandura (1977) a Canadian-American
psychologist and a professor at Stanford University.

He originally proposed the concept, in his own words, as a personal judgment of "how well one can
execute courses of action required to deal with prospective situations" (1977).

Bandura was responsible for bringing the term to light, but psychologists have studied self-efficacy from
several perspectives.

To give an example of another perspective, Kathy Kolbe – educator and best-selling author – thinks that
believing in one’s own abilities can be vital in measuring cognitive strength (2009). She believes that self-
efficacy also involves determination and perseverance – seeing as how it helps one overcome obstacles
that would interfere with utilizing those innate abilities to achieve goals.

How Does Self-Efficacy Develop?

1. Mastery Experiences (Performance Outcomes)

The most influential source is the interpreted result of one's previous performance, or mastery
experience.
When talking about Mastery experiences, this refers to the experiences one gains when they
take on a new challenge and are successful at doing so.

2. Vicarious Experiences (Social Role Models)

Vicarious experiences involve observing other people successfully completing a task.
When one has positive role models in their life (especially those who display a healthy level of
self-efficacy) - one is more likely to absorb at least a few of those positive beliefs about the self.
Social role models including older sibling, older friends, camp counselors, parents, aunts and
uncles, grandparents, teachers, coaches, and employers.

3. Social Persuasion
Receiving positive verbal feedback while undertaking a complex task persuades a person to
believe that they have the skills and capabilities to succeed.
Verbal persuasion works on any age, but the earlier it is administered the more it is likely to
encourage building of self-efficacy.

4. Emotional and Physiological States

The emotional, physical, and psychological well-being of a person can influence how they feel
about their personal abilities in a particular situation.

Building Self-Efficacy

Emphasize Peer Modeling: Learning from examples set by those around you happens at any age (think
of how a teacher is a role model for a student but in a similar manner an employer is a model for an
employee).
This concept of peer modeling , while it can be applied to any age, is of course especially true for
children on the early side of the spectrum, and is most effective when a child’s direct peers (brothers,
sisters, parents, teachers, friends) set the example (Bandura, 1988).

To put peer modelling into simple terms – it is when a child or an adult shows good social behaviors, and
is interested in passing on those same values to a new person.

Seek Feedback: The problem with understanding feedback is that some people tend to believe that
getting no feedback is the same as being told that one is doing their job well (hence the common phrase:
“no feedback is great feedback”).

When done with both the right intentions in mind and also in the right manner, feedback can be one of
the most important sources of building levels of self-efficacy.

Self-efficacy and subsequent task performance improves after receiving higher, more detailed levels of
performance feedback (Beattie, Woodman, Fakehy, Dempsey, 2015).

Encourage Participation: Participation tends to be essential in any work environment – it encourages the
person to be active and engaged, great qualities in someone that are usually influential in a person’s
levels of self-efficacy.

Participation is especially important at an early age – those students who engage with the class are not
only being more active in their learning, they are probably absorbing more information in regards to the
material. Active class participation is also correlated to having high critical and higher level thinking
skills.

Participation is also an essential quality of a peer model – this is a person who has previously engaged in
active learning and can teach others in a similar manner.

Allow People to Make Their Own Choices: When talking about the importance of letting people make
their own choices the term self-accountability usually tends to come to mind.

Whether the outcome is positive or negative – making one’s own decisions allows for one to feel
responsible (due to your cunning or due to your negligence, the person themselves is the one held
accountable for if the outcome turned out in your favor or against you).

Another important reason to emphasize self-accountability - making one’s own choices and decisions
allows them to make their own mistakes and – most importantly – gives them the opportunity to learn
from the

Applications of Self-Efficacy

Healthy Habits

According to health psychologists (Bandura, 1988), people are more likely to engage in healthy
behaviors when they feel confident in their capabilities to successfully carry out those behaviors. Self-
efficacy is also a factor that helps people adopt other health lifestyle choices – like trying to keep a
healthy diet or trying to stop smoking. For whatever one would want to use it for, health psychologists
believe that self-efficacy can be applied in ways that promote a healthy lifestyle.

Academic Success

Mart van Dinther (2011) and a number of his collegues conducted research on the link between
education and self-efficacy. Their conclusions state that self-efficacy is linked to factors such as the
strategies that students utilize, the goals that students set out for themselves, and their academic
achievements.

In other words, higher levels of self-efficacy are related to – what people everywhere largely consider to
be – healthy student life habits. This means that those individuals with higher levels of self-efficacy could
be subject to doing better in school and being more organized.

Treating Phobias

Bandura (1982) proposed that self-efficacy could be used in an effective manner to treat phobias. He
wanted to test this by conducting an experiment.

He started with two groups – one group would directly interact with their phobia (in this case, snakes)
and the members of the second group would watch someone partake in activities with their phobia.

The point was to assesses which group – after different ways of approaching a phobia – would still be
more fearful of snakes. According to the results of the experiment, the participants who had directly
interacted with the snake showed higher self-efficacy and less avoidance.

Dweck's Fixed and Growth Mindsets

The Fixed Mindset

A fixed mindset is the belief that your intelligence, talents and other abilities are set in stone. You
believe that you are born with a particular set of skills and that you cannot change them.

If you have a fixed mindset, you will fear that you may not be smart or talented enough to achieve your
goals . You may hold yourself back by engaging only in activities that you know you can do well.

Worse still, a manager with a fixed mindset may fear that their team members' achievements will
surpass their own expertise. Or they may feel threatened if someone else spots an opportunity that they
missed. To avoid being "found out " As lacking skills, the manager may discourage a star team member's
development, and ignore their people's needs.

Dweck and her colleagues examined the brains of people with different mindsets. The brains of those
with a fixed mindset showed higher activity when they were told that their answers to a series of
questions were right or wrong – they were keenly interested to know whether they had succeeded or
failed. But they showed no interest when researchers offered them help to learn from their mistakes.
They did not believe they could improve so they did not try.

The Growth Mindset

If you have a growth mindset, you believe that, with effort, perseverance and drive, you can develop
your natural qualities.

Neuroscientist Gilbert Gottlieb asserted that intelligence is determined by a combination of genes and
environment, and that your environment influences the activation of genes during your lifetime.

Whether your personality is determined by nature or nurture is still heavily debated, but, according to
Dweck, you can develop your own skills , abilities, talents, and even intelligence through your
experiences, training and effort.

You use feedback and mistakes as opportunities to improve, while enjoying the process of learning and
becoming more productive. This is what Dweck calls "purposeful engagement."

You also believe that you can overcome obstacles. You choose to learn from the experience, work
harder and try again until you reach your goals.

In her research, Dweck built on the theory of neuroplasticity, which is the brain's ability to continue to
form new connections into adulthood, after it has been damaged or when it is stimulated by new
experiences. This supports the idea that you can adopt a growth mindset at any time of life. You may not
become another Thomas Edison, but a growth mindset can help you to realize your own potential
through learning and practice

This is why Dweck says that offering praise when someone does well reinforces a fixed mindset, while
praising their effort encourages growth. When you focus on an individual's results, they learn that trying
doesn't matter. But praising their efforts rewards their process of learning, so they become more
motivated to keep striving toward their goals.

How to Develop a Growth Mindset

Step 1. Listen to yourself. The voice of a fixed mindset will stop you from following the path to success.
For example, can you hear yourself questioning whether you have the skills or talent for a project? Do
you worry that you will fail, and that people will look down on you? When you think about taking on a
new challenge, do you resist for fear of failing? Perhaps you've received negative feedback and you hear
yourself making excuses, blaming others, and defending yourself. If you do, you can use thought
awareness to combat negative thinking

Step 2. Recognize that you have a choice . Everyone will face obstacles, challenges, and defeats
throughout life, but the way that you respond to them can make the difference between success and
failure. If you have a fixed mindset, you will see these setbacks as proof that you are just not up to the
job. But if you look at them as opportunities for growth, you can develop a plan for action, such as
learning, working hard, changing your strategy, and trying again.

Step 3. Challenge your fixed mindset. When you are faced with a challenge and you hear yourself
thinking that you would better not try because you do not have the talent to succeed, remember that
you can learn the skills you need to achieve your goals. You may not succeed the first time, but practice
will help you to develop. For example, if you are facing a challenge and you think, "I'm not sure I can do
this. I do not think I'm smart enough," then challenge this fixed mindset by responding with, "I'm not
sure if I can do it and I may not get it right the first time, but I can learn with practice."

Step 4. Take action. When you practice thinking and acting in a mindset of growth, it becomes easier to
tackle obstacles in a more positive way. Think of it like practicing the violin or your hoop shot: nobody
does it perfectly the first time. When you make a mistake, try to see it as a chance to learn.

think of how you can help your team by using the growth mindset. Praise your people for their efforts
and for having an attitude of learning. If you have a fixed idea of someone's abilities, recognize and
appreciate them when they improve. You can support your team's development with workshops or
coaching . To build teamwork and encourage people to voice their opinions and ideas, create an
environment of open discussion and communication.