Self efficacy
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Self efficacy is an individual's estimate or personal judgment of his or her own ability to succeed in reaching a specific goal, e.g., quitting smoking or losing weight or a more general goal, e.g., continuing to remain at a prescribed weight level.
self-efficacy (http://moodle.ed.uiuc.edu/wiked/index.php/Bandura)
Self efficacy not only deals with personal judgment of ability, but also behavior. In the book Educational Psychology Developing Learners by Jeanne Ellis Ormrod, it states, "People are more likely to engage in certain behaviors when they believe they are capable of executing those behaviors successfully." This belief in self, can be related to many different areas. I may have a high or low self efficacy about learning to sky dive, or learning calculus, etc. Even though self efficacy is similar to self concept, it is important to remember that self efficacy deals with specific situations. I may have a high self efficacy to do a backflip, but not to do a bunch of cartwheels in a row. People's sense of self-efficacy, according to social cognitive theorists, affects their chioce of activities their effort and persistence, and their learnning and achievement. Here are 4 factors that affect the development of self-efficacy: 1)One's own previous successes and failures 2)Messages from others 3)Successes and failures of others 4)Successes and failures of the group as a whole. (e.g., Bandura, 1986, 1989, 1997; Schunk, 1989a; Schunk, Hanson, & Cox, 1987) (Ormrod, 2003) Anolli 2005: "The optimism" You can measure your level of self efficacy by GSES (General Self Efficacy Scale) written and validated by Bandura.
Self Efficacy is strongly related with optimism, well-being, and health. (e.g. Seligman, Pennebaker).