The capacity to exercise control over the nature and quality of one's life is the essence of humanness. Human agency is characterized by a number of core features that operate through phenomenal and functional consciousness. These include the temporal extension of agency through intentionality and forethought, self-regulation by self-reactive influence, and self-reflectiveness about one's capabilities, quality of functioning, and the meaning and purpose of one's life pursuits. Personal agency operates within a broad network of sociostructural influences. In these agentic transactions, people are producers as well as products of social systems. Social cognitive theory distinguishes among three modes of agency: direct personal agency, proxy agency that relies on others to act on one's behest to secure desired outcomes, and collective agency exercised through socially coordinative and interdependent effort. Growing transnational embeddedness and interdependence are placing a premium on collective efficacy to exercise control over personal destinies and national life.

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Social cognitive theory: An agentic perspective

Mindfulness is an attribute of consciousness long believed to promote well-being. This research provides a theoretical and empirical examination of the role of mindfulness in psychological well-being. The development and psychometric properties of the dispositional Mindful Attention Awareness Scale (MAAS) are described. Correlational, quasi-experimental, and laboratory studies then show that the MAAS measures a unique quality of consciousness that is related to a variety of well-being constructs, that differentiates mindfulness practitioners from others, and that is associated with enhanced selfawareness. An experience-sampling study shows that both dispositional and state mindfulness predict self-regulated behavior and positive emotional states. Finally, a clinical intervention study with cancer patients demonstrates that increases in mindfulness over time relate to declines in mood disturbance and stress. Many philosophical, spiritual, and psychological traditions emphasize the importance of the quality of consciousness for the maintenance and enhancement of well-being (Wilber, 2000). Despite this, it is easy to overlook the importance of consciousness in human well-being because almost everyone exercises its primary capacities, that is, attention and awareness. Indeed, the relation between qualities of consciousness and well-being has received little empirical attention. One attribute of consciousness that has been much-discussed in relation to well-being is mindfulness. The concept of mindfulness has roots in Buddhist and other contemplative traditions where conscious attention and awareness are actively cultivated. It is most commonly defined as the state of being attentive to and aware of what is taking place in the present. For example, Nyanaponika Thera (1972) called mindfulness “the clear and single-minded awareness of what actually happens to us and in us at the successive moments of perception” (p. 5). Hanh (1976) similarly defined mindfulness as “keeping one’s consciousness alive to the present reality” (p. 11). Recent research has shown that the enhancement of mindfulness through training facilitates a variety of well-being outcomes (e.g., Kabat-Zinn, 1990). To date, however, there has been little work examining this attribute as a naturally occurring characteristic. Recognizing that most everyone has the capacity to attend and to be aware, we nonetheless assume (a) that individuals differ in their propensity or willingness to be aware and to sustain attention to what is occurring in the present and (b) that this mindful capacity varies within persons, because it can be sharpened or dulled by a variety of factors. The intent of the present research is to reliably identify these inter- and intrapersonal variations in mindfulness, establish their relations to other relevant psychological constructs, and demonstrate their importance to a variety of forms of psychological well-being.

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The Benefits of Being Present: Mindfulness and Its Role in Psychological Well-Being

Attention to the beliefs of teachers and teacher candidates should be a focus of educational research and can inform educational practice in ways that prevailing research agendas have not and cannot. The difficulty in studying teachers’ beliefs has been caused by definitional problems, poor conceptualizations, and differing understandings of beliefs and belief structures. This article examines the meaning prominent researchers give to beliefs and how this meaning differs from that of knowledge, provides a definition of belief consistent with the best work in this area, explores the nature of belief structures as outlined by key researchers, and offers a synthesis of findings about the nature of beliefs. The article argues that teachers’ beliefs can and should become an important focus of educational inquiry but that this will require clear conceptualizations, careful examination of key assumptions, consistent understandings and adherence to precise meanings, and proper assessment and investigation of spec...

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Teachers’ Beliefs and Educational Research: Cleaning Up a Messy Construct:

Preface Chapter 1 The challenge Chapter 2 The nature of the evidence: A synthesis of meta-analyses Chapter 3 The argument: Visible teaching and visible learning Chapter 4: The contributions from the student Chapter 5 The contributions from the home Chapter 6 The contributions from the school Chapter 7 The contributions from the teacher Chapter 8 The contributions from the curricula Chapter 9 The contributions from teaching approaches - I Chapter 10 The contributions from teaching approaches - II Chapter 11: Bringing it all together Appendix A: The 800 meta-analyses Appendix B: The meta-analyses by rank order References

Visible Learning: A Synthesis of Over 800 Meta-Analyses Relating to Achievement

The MOS social support survey.

Career decision making, fast and slow: Toward an integrative model of intervention for sustainable career choice

Extending Social Cognitive Theory to Counselor Training:: Problems and Prospects

Este articulo propone a la Teoria Social Cognitiva del Desarrollo de Carrera (SCCT; Lent, Brown, & Hackett, 1994) como una ventajosa perspectiva para comprender el proceso de transicion entre la escuela y el trabajo. En lugar de enfatizar solo el periodo inmediatamente precedente al egreso de la escuela media, la perspectiva SCCT del proceso de transicion entre la escuela y el trabajo se concentra en seis aspectos relacionados evolutivamente que se manifiestan a traves de los anos escolares. El enfasis en estos seis temas (formacion de autoeficacia y expectativas de resultados, desarrollo de los intereses, relaciones entre intereses y metas, traduccion de metas en acciones, ejecucion de  destrezas; negociacion de apoyos y obstaculos de transicion) sugiere multiples metas e intervenciones tendientes a facilitar el desarrollo de carrera de los estudiantes durante los anos de escuela y despues del ingreso al trabajo. Palabras Clave: Teoria Social Cognitiva de la Carrera- Transicion Escuela-Trabajo

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Una perspectiva Social Cognitiva de la transición entre la escuela y el trabajo

Self-efficacy beliefs and self-rated abilities are conceptually overlapping constructs that have emerged from two parallel literatures in career psychology. The present investigation employed three different analytic strategies to assess empirically whether they represent unique constructs. In the first analysis, confirmatory factor analyses of measures of each of these two constructs revealed that a two-factor model fit the data better than did a one-factor model. Second, it was found that LISREL estimates of self-efficacy beliefs were more highly related to vocational interests and perceived career options than were estimates of self-rated abilities. Third, the relation of ability self-estimates to interests was found to be mediated by self-efficacy beliefs. The implications of these findings for theory and practice are considered.

Steven D. Brown

Papers

Career decision making, fast and slow: Toward an integrative model of intervention for sustainable career choice

Extending Social Cognitive Theory to Counselor Training:: Problems and Prospects

Una perspectiva Social Cognitiva de la transición entre la escuela y el trabajo

Self-Rated Abilities and Self-Efficacy Beliefs: Are They Empirically Distinct?:

Adherence to RIASEC structure in relation to career exploration and parenting style: Longitudinal and idiothetic considerations