Generalized Self-Efficacy
Mental Toughness Key Dimension #7
by Andreas Stamatis, Ph.D.
Synopsis
- Generalized self-efficacy is a belief in your abilities to achieve success in your achievement context
- Beliefs in personal efficacy affect choices, motivation, functioning, facing adversity and susceptibility to stress and depression.
- People’s beliefs in their efficacy are developed by four main sources of influence: mastery experience, vicarious experience, social persuasion, and affective and physiological states.
- There are four major psychological processes through which self-beliefs of efficacy affect human functioning: cognitive, motivation, affective, and selection.
- Perception of self-efficacy undergoes changes throughout the course of the lifespan.
Self-efficacy beliefs define how people feel, reason, encourage themselves and act. High levels of self-efficacy produce personal achievements, reduce stress, and lower susceptibility to depression. Athletes with high self-efficacy have high aspirations and strong commitment to their goals.
In this piece, we will show that those beliefs can be developed by four main sources, produce diverse effects through four major processes, and change over the course of the lifespan (see Figure 1). Let’s start with the sources of self-efficacy.
A. Sources of Self-efficacy
Self-efficacy beliefs can be developed by four main sources of influence: mastery experience, vicarious experience, social persuasion, and affective and physiological states.
- Enactive Mastery Experiences
Success builds self-efficacy while failure undermines it. If you start your season winning game after game, won’t your belief of your own efficacy be affected positively? Thanks to that, you’ll face adversity even more efficiently and, as a result, you’ll emerge even higher in self-efficacy!
2. Vicarious Experience
Seeing people being successful affects our own belief of efficacy. Of course, similarity of goals and capabilities is key here. Picking the right “models” could help us with acquisition of better “ways” (e.g., knowledge of a skill), which increases perceived self-efficacy. Have you ever read the story of somebody with the same background of yours who made it in the sport you’re engaging? Did that increase your own belief about your capabilities to perform in that sport? If so, that’s a perfect example of “modeling.”
3. Social Persuasion
Have you ever been persuaded by your coach during half time that you can get out there and win that difficult game? Do you remember how much more effort and less self-doubt that speech created in you? Well, that’s why verbal persuasion, if done correctly (e.g., realistic boost/challenge), can raise people’s beliefs in their capabilities.
4. Affective and Physiological States
The way we interpret a challenge and our reaction to it affects our judgment of our own capabilities. For example, if you could reduce stress and negative emotions before that important play, wouldn’t you most likely perform better? Important note: Perception is important here. In other words, people with high levels of self-efficacy perceive those affective and physiological states (e.g., arousal) as facilitators and not as debilitators of performance.
B. Mediating Processes
There are four major psychological processes through which self-beliefs of efficacy affect human functioning.
- Cognitive Processes
The higher the perceived self-efficacy, the more challenging the goal and the harder the commitment. Thoughts are usually a prerequisite of action. As an athlete, if you have high self-efficacy, most likely, you’ll anticipate successful scenarios and not dwell on things that could go wrong. Instead, you’ll develop ways to control those scenarios, even in in the face of obstacles and ramifications.
2. Motivational Processes
Self-efficacy is connected with motivation. Motivation is connected with cognition. We just showed how high self-efficacy affects functioning via cognitive processes. Well, people motivate themselves by thinking and planning. The more you think that you will make that shot (self-efficacy), the more motivated you’ll be to take it.
3. Affective Processes
How you perceive your coping capabilities, including controlling negative thoughts, will affect how much stress and depression you will experience when a situation gets challenging. However, it’s not the stressful conditions per se. It’s more about the perceived ability or inability to manage them that makes most of the difference. For instance, the higher the perceived self-regulatory efficacy, the more successful you will be in reducing the health-impairing habit of abusing alcohol and adopting the health-promoting habit of drinking water.
4. Selection Processes
People are affected by the environment they live in. But people’s belief of self-efficacy will affect the type of activities/environment they will choose. Your career choices as an athlete is a great example. So, the higher your level of perceived self-efficacy, the wider the range of career options, the greater your interest, the better your preparation, and the greater your success in them.
C. Development and Expertise of Self-Efficacy Over the Lifespan
Through life, some changes are anticipated. However, different people experience them in different stages, durations, frequencies and intensities. Also, different people manage their lives differently. Below, we present the characteristic developmental changes of self-efficacy over the course of the lifespan.
1. Origins of a Sense of Personal Agency
In the beginning, the newborn has no sense of self. Slowly, infants -for whom environmental events are based on how they behave- become more observant to their own behavior and more competent in learning new efficient responses. Eventually, based on accumulating personal and social experiences, they form a distinct representation of themselves.
2. Familial Sources of Self-Efficacy
Young children must eventually gain knowledge of their own capabilities. This mainly happens through exploratory and play activities centered in the family. Later, peers become increasingly important in assessing their own levels of capabilities. However, younger siblings should not judge their capabilities in relation to older siblings due to their siblings being more advanced/developed.
3. Broadening of Self-Efficacy Through Peer Influences
The larger the community, the more the changes in assessing self-efficacy. Children are especially sensitive to their relative standing among the peers in activities that matter (e.g. involving social status). As a result, disrupted or bad relationships can affect the growth of personal efficacy in a negative way.
4. School as an Agency for Cultivating Cognitive Self-Efficacy
The school functions as the primary setting for cultivating cognitive self-efficacy during that very important period of their lives. Teachers should create learning environments that promote that through cooperative learning structures and self-comparisons (vs. social comparisons).
5. Growth of Self-Efficacy Through Transitional Experiences of Adolescence
During this period, adolescents must learn to assume responsibility for themselves. With growing independence during adolescence, some experimentation with risky behavior is not all that uncommon. However, insulation from problematic situations is not the solutions. Adolescents should be exposed to situations in which they have to learn how to cope. Lastly, mastery experiences will build self-efficacy, which will help with the transition to adulthood.
6. Self-Efficacy Concerns of Adulthood
Young adulthood is a period when people have to learn to cope with many new demands, such as friendships, romantic relationships, parenthood, and careers. Poor coping skills and numerous self-doubts lead to stress and depression. By the middle years, people settle into established routines that serve their functioning. Any type of competition helps with self-appraisals of capabilities.
7. Reappraisals of Self-Efficacy with Advancing Age
Reappraisals and misappraisals of capabilities are key for older adults. Physical capacities (e.g., power) and intellectual abilities (e.g., memory) decrease while expertise increases. However, there is no uniform decline in beliefs in personal efficacy during this period. Major life changes in later years (e.g., loss of friends/spouses) increase perceived social inefficacy.
For more information, please see:
Bandura, A. (1997). Self-efficacy: The exercise of control. New York: Freeman.
What’s next? Let’s break down the last key dimension. Let’s continue with overcoming adversity.
In the meantime… live intentionally, NOT habitually,
Andreas.
