Self-Efficacy
- The belief that we are capable of successfully showing certain behaviours that will bring about desired outcomes
- High self-efficacy tends to motivate people to engage in a realm
- People experience self-efficacy for specific realms of behaviour and may also have high general self-efficacy.
- Our choice of activities is partially determined by self-efficacy.
- We show more effort and persistence at tasks for which we have high self-efficacy.
- Self efficacy beliefs may vary in strength. Stronger beliefs (of either high or low efficacy) are more resistant to disconfirming evidence.
Current Research
- Nichols, J., Schutte, N.S., Brown, R.F., Dennis, C.L., & Price, I. (2009). The impact of a self-efficacy intervention on short-term breastfeeding outcomes. Health Education and Behavior.
- Kirk, B.A., Schutte, N.S., & Hine, D.W. (2011). The effect of an expressive writing intervention for employees on emotional self-efficacy, emotional intelligence, affect, and workplace incivility. Journal of Applied Social Psychology.
- Fitzgerald, S. & Schutte (2010) Increasing Transformational Leadership Through a Self-Efficacy Enhancing Expressive Writing Intervention.
- Planned future research: self-efficacy in conjunction with warnings regarding health risks of smoking intervention, CBT and self-efficacy training for tinnnitus sufferers