Showing papers by "Albert Bandura published in 1982"

Self-efficacy mechanism in human agency

Abstract: This article addresses the centrality of the self-efficacy mechanism in human agency. Self-per- cepts of efficacy influence thought patterns, actions, and emotional arousal. In causal tests the higher the level of induced self-efficacy, the higher the perfor- mance accomplishments and the lower the emotional arousal. Different lines of research are reviewed, show- ing that the self-efficacy mechanism may have wide explanatory power. Perceived self-efficacy helps to ac- count for such diverse phenomena as changes in coping behavior produced by different modes of influence, level of physiological stress reactions, self-regulation of refractory behavior, resignation and despondency to failure experiences, self-debilitating effects of proxy control and illusory inefficaciousness, achievement strivings, growth of intrinsic interest, and career pur- suits. The influential role of perceived collective effi- cacy in social change is analyzed, as are the social con- ditions conducive to development of collective inefficacy. Psychological theorizing and research tend to cen- ter on issues concerning either acquisition of knowledge or execution of response patterns. As a result the processes governing the interrelation- ship between knowledge and action have been largely neglected (Newell, 1978). Some of the re- cent efforts to bridge this gap have been directed at the biomechanics problem—how efferent com- mands of action plans guide the production of ap- propriate response patterns (Stelmach, 1976,1978). Others have approached the matter in terms of algorithmic knowledge, which furnishes guides for executing action sequences (Greeno, 1973; Newell, 1973). ,

Microanalysis of action and fear arousal as a function of differential levels of perceived self-efficacy.

Abstract: Two experiments combining intergroup and intrasubject designs were conducted to test the hypothesis that self-percepts of efficacy operate as cognitive mediators of coping behavior and fear arousal. Differential levels of self-efficacy were induced in phobic subjects through either inactive mastery or modeling. Their coping behavior and accompanying fear arousal were then measured. In the next phase, self-efficacy was successively raised to designated levels within the same subjects, whereupon their behavior and fear arousal were again measured. Coping behavior corresponded closely to instated self-percepts of efficacy, with higher levels of perceived self-efficacy being accompanied by greater performance attainments. The efficacy-action relationship was replicated across different modes of efficacy induction, different types of behavioral dysfunctions, and in both intergroup and intrasubject comparisons. The hypothesis that fear arousal stems largely from perceived coping inefficacy also received support from the findings. As subjects' self-efficacy level was raised, they experienced progressively less anticipatory and performance distress while coping with threats. Results of a third experiment using cardiac acceleration and elevation in blood pressure as indicants of arousal further corroborate the generality of the relationship between perceived coping inefficacy and stress reactions.

The Psychology of Chance Encounters and Life Paths

Abstract: Psychological theories have neglected the fundamental issue of what determines people's life paths. The central thesis of this article is that chance encounters play a prominent role in shaping the course of human lives. In a chance encounter the separate chains of events have their own causal determinants, but their intersection occurs fortuitously rather than through deliberate plan. Some fortuitous encounters touch only lightly, others leave more lasting effects, and still others branch people into new trajectories of life. A science of psychology cannot shed much light on the occurrence of fortuitous encounters, but it can provide the basis for predicting the impact they will have on human lives. An analysis is presented of personal fac- tors and milieu properties that govern the branching power of chance encounters.

The role of visual monitoring in observational learning of action patterns: making the unobservable observable.

Abstract: The present experiment tested the hypothesis that concurrent visual feedback enhances observational learning of a novel action pattern that normally would be unobservable. Subjects repeatedly enacted a modeled action pattern with visual monitoring of their reproductions throughout enactments, during only early, or late phases of enactment, or not at all. At periodic intervals, the adequacy of their conception of the modeled pattern was also measured. Visual feedback during ongoing performance enhanced accurate reproduction of the modeled pattern; the facilitative effect was most pronounced for reproduction of complex response components. The superiority of subjects who had enacted these difficult response components with visual feedback was maintained even when both the model and feedback were withdrawn. Visual feedback did not facilitate accurate enactment of the modeled pattern before development of an adequate cognitive representation of it. The results support the social learning view that observation...