Self-efficacy: toward a unifying theory of behavioral change.
TL;DR: An integrative theoretical framework to explain and to predict psychological changes achieved by different modes of treatment is presented and findings are reported from microanalyses of enactive, vicarious, and emotive mode of treatment that support the hypothesized relationship between perceived self-efficacy and behavioral changes.
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 sources. The differential power of diverse therapeutic procedures is analyzed in terms of the postulated cognitive mechanism of operation. Findings are reported from microanalyses of enactive, vicarious, and emotive modes of treatment that support the hypothesized relationship between perceived self-efficacy and behavioral changes. Possible directions for further research are discussed.
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TL;DR: This article found that it was use of inservice knowledge, not exposure to it, that contributed to changes in teacher efficacy and not personal teaching efficacy that changed, and that any increment in personal confidence that might have arisen due to increased teaching skill in the program was offset by increased standards arising from social comparisons among teachers.
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TL;DR: In this article, the authors investigated factors which may influence the occurrence of flow in elite athletes and found that some of the more salient factors influencing whether or not flow occurred included: preparation, both physical and mental; confidence; focus; how the performance felt and progressed; and optimal motivation and arousal level.
Abstract: Understanding factors which may influence the occurrence of flow in elaite athletes was the goal of the present investigation. Twenty-eight elite level athletes from seven sports were interviewed about the factors they perceived influenced their experience of flow state. Inductive content analyses of athletes' responses to questions about what facilitates, prevents, and disrupts flow, resulted in 10 dimensions that synthesized the 361 themes suggested by the athletes. These themes and dimensions provided insight into factors that may influence whether or not flow occurs in elite athletes. For example. some of the more salient factors influencing whether or not flow occurred included: preparation, both physical and mental; confidence; focus; how the performance felt and progressed; and optimal motivation and arousal level. This study also involved asking elite athletes about the perceived controllability of these factors, and of the state of flow itself. The majority of the athletes interviewed pe...
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TL;DR: Unlike their control group counterparts, trained children also evidenced significant and lasting gains in classroom peer acceptance and a social learning explanation of behavioral change.
Abstract: Previous research indicates that the consequences of peer isolation or rejection may be severe. The present investigation examined changes in low-accepted children's behavior and peer acceptance resulting from social learning approach to social skill training. Third-grade children responded to a sociometric measure and were later observed on targeted social skills. 36 children with low scores on both criteria were randomly assigned to 1 of 3 experimental conditions: skill training, attention control, and nontreatment control. Children in the training condition were coached in 3 social skills: asking questions, leading, and offering support to peers. Sociometric and observational assessments were conducted upon completion of the experimental procedures and at follow-up. Trained children spent a significantly greater percentage of time engaging in 2 of the 3 trained skills at posttest and follow-up, whereas control group children remained the same or declined. Unlike their control group counterparts, trained children also evidenced significant and lasting gains in classroom peer acceptance. The results are interpreted as support for the intervention's effectiveness and a social learning explanation of behavioral change.
292 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examined empirically the factors that affect the adoption of Internet banking by Tunisian bank customers and employed structural equation modeling to examine the inter-correlations among the proposed constructs.
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26 Jan 2001
TL;DR: A review of the theoretical foundation of teacher efficacy can be found in this paper, where the authors discuss important substantive implications stemming from efficacy research that may advance the field, present recent measurement advances, and highlight several methodologies that have been underutilized in developing teacher efficacy instruments.
Abstract: Founded in social cognitive theory, teachers' self-efficacy beliefs have been repeatedly associated with positive teaching behaviors and student outcomes. However, teacher efficacy has developed a storied history regarding construct validity and measurement integrity. Study of teacher efficacy now stands on the verge of maturity, but such developmental growth will likely be contingent on development of strong theoretical models and effective instrumentation to assess theoretical constructs. The purpose of the present article is to: (a) briefly review the theoretical foundation of teacher efficacy and critically evaluate historical attempts to measure teacher efficacy, (b) discuss important substantive implications stemming from efficacy research that may advance the field, (c) present recent measurement advances, and (d) highlight several methodologies that have been underutilized in development of teacher efficacy instruments. Teacher Efficacy Research 3 Teacher Self-Efficacy: Substantive Implications and Measurement Dilemmas Anecdotally, we all have observed others prevailing amidst adversity and trial. Consider, for example, the following: • Louis Pasteur was only a mediocre pupil in undergraduate studies and ranked 15th out of 22 students in chemistry. • Albert Einstein was four before he began to speak. He did not read until he was seven. His teacher described him as "mentally slow, unsociable, and adrift forever in foolish dreams." • It has been told that a football expert once said of Vince Lombardi: "He possesses minimal football knowledge and lacks motivation." Of course, each of us could add our own testimony of how we have fared in the world, for better or worse. Implicit in these and our own anecdotes lies the question of how people are able to face challenge, direct their actions, and somehow succeed. One answer to this question lies with the concept of self-efficacy. What is Self-Efficacy and Why is it Important? The theoretical foundation of self-efficacy is found in social cognitive theory, developed by former APA president (1974) and current Stanford professor Albert Bandura (1977, 1997). Social cognitive theory assumes that people are capable of human agency, or intentional pursuit of courses of action, and that such agency operates in a process called triadic reciprocal causation. Reciprocal causation is a multi-directional model suggesting that our agency results in future behavior as a function of three interrelated forces: environmental influences, our behavior, and internal personal factors such as cognitive, affective, and biological processes. This trinity mutually impacts its members, determines what we come to believe about ourselves, and affects the choices we make and actions we take. We are not products of our environment. We are not products of our biology. Instead, we are products of the dynamic interplay between the external, the internal, and our current and past behavior. In reaction to more reductionist theories, Bandura noted: “Dualistic doctrines that regard mind and body as separate entities do not provide much enlightenment on the nature of the disembodied mental state or on how an immaterial mind and bodily events act on each other” (1986, p. 17). Central to Bandura’s (1997) framework is his concept of self-efficacy. Bandura’s aspirations about self-efficacy were grand, as reflected in the title of his 1977 article “SelfEfficacy: Toward a Unifying Theory of Behavioral Change.” In this seminal work, Bandura defined self-efficacy as “beliefs in one’s capabilities to organize and execute the courses of action required to produce given attainments” (p. 3). Self-efficacy beliefs were characterized as the major mediators for our behavior, and importantly, behavioral change. Over the last quarter century, Bandura’s other works continued to develop and defend the idea that our beliefs in our abilities powerfully affect our behavior, motivation, and ultimately our success or failure (cf. Bandura, 1982, 1986, 1993, 1996, 1997). Bandura (1997) proposed that because self-efficacy beliefs were explicitly self-referent in nature and directed toward perceived abilities given specific tasks, they were powerful predictors of behavior. The research literature has supported this proposition. Research has linked efficacy to a variety of clinical issues such as phobias (Bandura, 1983), addiction (Marlatt, Baer, & Teacher Efficacy Research 4 Quigley, 1995), depression (Davis & Yates, 1982), and smoking behavior (Garcia, Schmitz, & Doerfler, 1990). Educationally, self-efficacy beliefs are related to academic performance and self-regulated learning (cf. Hackett, 1995; Pajares, 1996; Schunk, 1991; Zimmerman, 1995). Importantly, efficacy beliefs help dictate motivation (cf. Maehr & Pintrich, 1997; Pintrich & Schunk, 1996). Bandura observed: “People regulate their level and distribution of effort in accordance with the effects they expect their actions to have. As a result, their behavior is better predicted from their beliefs than from the actual consequences of their actions” (1986, p. 129). From the social cognitive theory perspective, because human agency is mediated by our efficaciousness, self-efficacy beliefs influence our choices, our effort, our persistence when facing adversity, and our emotions (cf. Pajares, 1997). In short, self-efficacy theory is a common theme in current views of motivation (Graham & Weiner, 1996), primarily because of its predictive power and application for practically any behavioral task. This article will focus on one area of self-efficacy application directly relevant to educational improvement: teacher self-efficacy. Unfortunately, teacher efficacy research has at times been theoretically confused. In effort to advance and strengthen the study of teacher efficacy, I will (a) briefly review the theoretical foundation of teacher efficacy and critically evaluate historical attempts to measure the construct, (b) discuss important substantive implications stemming from efficacy research that may advance the field, (c) present recent measurement advances, and (d) highlight several methodologies that have been underutilized in development of teacher efficacy instruments. What is Teacher Self-efficacy and Why is it Important? Consistent with the general formulation of self-efficacy, Tschannen-Moran and Woolfolk Hoy (in press) defined teacher efficacy as a teacher’s “judgment of his or her capabilities to bring about desired outcomes of student engagement and learning, even among those students who may be difficult or unmotivated.” The study of teacher efficacy is a little over two decades old and began with RAND researchers’ evaluation of whether teachers believed they could control the reinforcement of their actions (Armor et al., 1976). This early work was founded on Rotter’s (1966) locus of control theory, and it was assumed that student learning and motivation were the relevant reinforcers of teaching action. Historically, the Bandura (1977) and Rotter (1966) traditions have influenced the study of teacher efficacy. Unfortunately, researchers' interpretations of these theories have significantly muddied the efficacy waters as regards the theoretical formulation of teacher efficacy and the psychometric attempts to measure the construct. Tschannen-Moran, Woolfolk Hoy, and Hoy (1998) provided a comprehensive review of these historical developments and they will not be reiterated here, with the exception of several measurement issues noted below. In spite of the measurement confusion, teacher efficacy still emerged as a worthy variable in educational research. As Woolfolk and Hoy (1990) noted, “Researchers have found few consistent relationships between characteristics of teachers and the behavior or learning of students. Teachers’ sense of efficacy . . . is an exception to this general rule” (p. 81). The idea that teachers’ self-beliefs are determinants of teaching behavior is a simple, yet powerful idea. The correlates of teacher efficacy are many when using a variety of efficacy scales and measurements. Students of efficacious teachers generally have outperformed students in other classes. Teacher efficacy was predictive of achievement on the Iowa Test of Basic Skills (Moore & Esselman, 1992), the Canadian Achievement Tests (Anderson, Greene, & Loewen, 1988), and the Ontario Assessment Instrument Pool (Ross, 1992). Watson (1991) observed greater Teacher Efficacy Research 5 achievement in rural, urban, majority Black, and majority White schools for students of efficacious teachers. Teacher efficacy is also related to students’ own sense of efficacy (Anderson et al., 1988) and student motivation (Midgley, Feldlaufer, & Eccles, 1989). Regarding teacher behaviors, efficacious teachers persist with struggling students and criticize less after incorrect student answers (Gibson & Dembo, 1984). They are more likely to agree that a low SES student should be placed in a regular education setting and less likely to refer students for special education (Meijer & Foster, 1988; Podell & Soodak, 1993; Soodak & Podell, 1993). Teachers with high efficacy tend to experiment with methods of instruction, seek improved teaching methods, and experiment with instructional materials (Allinder, 1994; Guskey, 1988; Stein & Wang, 1988). Coladarci (1992) observed higher professional commitment for efficacious inservice teachers. Evans and Tribble (1986) found similar results for preservice teachers. Clearly the study of teacher efficacy has borne much fruit. However, teacher efficacy is the subject of current debate concerning its meaning and measure (cf. Tschannen-Moran et al., 1998). The dialogue has centered on two issues. First, based on the theoretical nature of the selfefficacy construct as defined by Bandura (1977, 1997), researchers have argued that self-efficacy is most appropriately measured within context regarding specific behaviors (Pajares, 1996). Second, the construct validity
292 citations
Cites background from "Self-efficacy: toward a unifying th..."
...Alberta Journal of Educational Research, 34(2), 148-165....
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...Historically, the Bandura (1977) and Rotter (1966) traditions have influenced the study of teacher efficacy....
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...The theoretical foundation of self-efficacy is found in social cognitive theory, developed by former APA president (1974) and current Stanford professor Albert Bandura (1977, 1997)....
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...Alberta Journal of Educational Research, 38(1), 49-64....
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...Historically, the Bandura (1977) and Rotter (1966) traditions have influenced the study of teacher efficacy....
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References
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TL;DR: In this paper, the effects of reward or reinforcement on preceding behavior depend in part on whether the person perceives the reward as contingent on his own behavior or independent of it, and individuals may also differ in generalized expectancies for internal versus external control of reinforcement.
Abstract: The effects of reward or reinforcement on preceding behavior depend in part on whether the person perceives the reward as contingent on his own behavior or independent of it. Acquisition and performance differ in situations perceived as determined by skill versus chance. Persons may also differ in generalized expectancies for internal versus external control of reinforcement. This report summarizes several experiments which define group differences in behavior when Ss perceive reinforcement as contingent on their behavior versus chance or experimenter control. The report also describes the development of tests of individual differences in a generalized belief in internal-external control and provides reliability, discriminant validity and normative data for 1 test, along with a description of the results of several studies of construct validity.
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TL;DR: In this article, an exploración de the avances contemporaneos en la teoria del aprendizaje social, con especial enfasis en los importantes roles que cumplen los procesos cognitivos, indirectos, and autoregulatorios.
Abstract: Una exploracion de los avances contemporaneos en la teoria del aprendizaje social, con especial enfasis en los importantes roles que cumplen los procesos cognitivos, indirectos, y autoregulatorios.
20,904 citations
TL;DR: Reading motivation reconsidered the concept of competence is also a way as one of the collective books that gives many advantages as a way to develop your experiences about everything.
6,452 citations
"Self-efficacy: toward a unifying th..." refers background in this paper
...In seeking a motivational explanation of exploratory and manipulative behavior, White (1959) postulated an "effectance motive," which is conceptualized as an intrinsic drive for transactions with the environment ....
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Book•
22 Jun 2011
TL;DR: The concept of competence is also a way as one of the collective books that gives many advantages as discussed by the authors, and the advantages are not only for you, but for the other peoples with those meaningful benefits.
Abstract: No wonder you activities are, reading will be always needed. It is not only to fulfil the duties that you need to finish in deadline time. Reading will encourage your mind and thoughts. Of course, reading will greatly develop your experiences about everything. Reading motivation reconsidered the concept of competence is also a way as one of the collective books that gives many advantages. The advantages are not only for you, but for the other peoples with those meaningful benefits.
5,245 citations
TL;DR: The problem of which cues, internal or external, permit a person to label and identify his own emotional state has been with us since the days that James (1890) first tendered his doctrine that "the bodily changes follow directly the perception of the exciting fact, and that our feeling of the same changes as they occur is the emotion" (p. 449) as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: The problem of which cues, internal or external, permit a person to label and identify his own emotional state has been with us since the days that James (1890) first tendered his doctrine that "the bodily changes follow directly the perception of the exciting fact, and that our feeling of the same changes as they occur is the emotion" (p. 449). Since we are aware of a variety of feeling and emotion states, it should follow from James' proposition that the various emotions will be accompanied by a variety of differentiable bodily states. Following James' pronouncement, a formidable number of studies were undertaken in search of the physiological differentiators of the emotions. The results, in these early days, were almost uniformly negative. All of the emotional states experi-
4,808 citations