Efficacy and Self-efficacy
Written By: Dr. Gandham Sri Rama Krishna
Published in the journal of HRD Times, Chennai, July, 2012,
Vol. 14, No.7, PP. 20-21. ISSN:
0976-7401.
Efficacy means power or capacity to
produce a desired effect. Unlike efficacy, which is the power to produce an
effect-in essence, competence? Self-efficacy is the belief that one has the
power to produce that effect by completing a given task or activity related to
that competency. For example, a person with high self-efficacy may engage in a
more health-related activity when an illness occurs, whereas a person with low
self-efficacy would harbor feelings of hopelessness. Self-efficacy relates to a
person’s perception of their ability to reach a goal, whereas self-esteem
relates to a person’s sense of self-worth. Successful efficacy builders do more
than convey positive appraisals.
Psychologist Albert Bandura has
defined “self-efficacy as one’s belief in one’s ability to succeed in specific
situations. One’s sense of self-efficacy can play a major role in how one
approaches goals, tasks, and challenges. Self-efficacy is developed from
external experiences and self-perception and is influential in determining the
outcome of many events.
People will be more inclined to take
on a task if they believe they can succeed. Self-efficacy dealing with
confidence people has in abilities to do tasks. Self-efficacy has been defined
in a variety of ways: as the belief that one is capable of performing in a
certain manner to attain certain goals, as a person’s belief about their
capabilities to produce designated levels of performance that exercise
influence over events that affect their lives. It is a belief that one has the
capabilities to execute the courses of actions required to manage prospective
situations. The idea of self-efficacy is one of the centre points in positive
psychology; this branch of psychology focuses on factors that create a meaning
for individuals.
High amounts of self-efficacy were
better able to cope with the demanding and stressful conditions that are
commonly found in the work environment. Those who reported low levels of
self-efficacy found themselves highly stressed and frustrated at their work
which led to decreased productivity and increased signs of depression and
instability. Simply put, success raises self-efficacy, failure lowers it.
Self-efficacy is supposed to facilitate the forming of behavioural intentions,
the development of action plans, and the initiation of action. It is clear that
perceived self-efficacy is important for leading a healthy and comfortable life-style free from
excessive stress.
Self-efficacy beliefs determine how
people feel, think, motivate themselves and behave. Such beliefs produce these
diverse effects through four major processes. They include cognitive,
motivational, affective and selection processes.
Self-efficacy beliefs or
expectations, however, are the item-specific tasks and measurements of one’s
beliefs that such tasks can be performed. A
self-efficacy belief, therefore, includes both an affirmation of a capability
level and the strength of the belief.
·
Social self-efficacy: It is “an individual’s confidence in
her/his ability to engage in the social interaction tasks necessary to initiate
and maintain interpersonal relationships. Social self-efficacy described as a
measure of self-efficacy expectations with respect to a range of social
behaviours. Their instruments measured like: making friends, pursuing romantic
relationships, social assertiveness, performance in public situations, groups
or parties, and giving or receiving help.
Some of the item domains for this instrument included self-confidence
about social skill in personal relationship, trust in friends, and trust by
friends. Social self-efficacy is strongly correlated to the constructs of
shyness and social anxiety, the measure of self-efficacy having a heavy impact
upon that of the others. Self-efficacy represents the personal perception of
external social factors. Self-efficacy levels reflect a persons’ understanding
of what skills they can offer in a group setting. Tasks that are specifically
socially oriented, such as public speaking, were more difficult to individuals
with low self-efficacy, but those individuals showed no correlating social
responses in a casual social setting.
·
Social persuasions: Social persuasion is a way of strengthening people’s beliefs that they have what it takes to
succeed. People who are persuaded verbally that they possess the capabilities
to master given activities are likely to mobilize greater effort and sustain it
than if they harbor self-doubts and dwell on personal deficiencies when
problems arise. To the extent that persuasive boosts in perceived self-efficacy
lead people to try hard enough to succeed, they promote development of skills
and a sense of personal efficacy.
·
Academic self-efficacy: It refers to a student’s belief that
he or she can successfully engage in and complete course-specific academic
tasks, such as accomplishing course outcomes, demonstrating competency skills
used in the course, satisfactorily completing assignments, passing the course,
and meeting the requirements to continue on in his or her major.
·
Health behaviours: Health behaviours such as
non-smoking, physical exercise dieting, dental hygiene, seat belt use,
dependent on one’s level of perceived self-efficacy. Self-efficacy is directly
related to health behaviour, but it also affects health behavours indirectly
through its impact on goals. self-efficacy influences the challenges that
people take on as well as how high they set their goals. For example, “I intend
to reduce my liquor drinking or I intend to quit drinking altogether. A number
of research studies on the adoption of
health practice have measured self-efficacy to assess its potential influences in
initiating behaviour change. Measures of
self-efficacy for health behaviours refer to beliefs about the ability to
perform certain health behaviours. These behaviours may be defined broadly
i.e., healthy food consumption or in a narrow way i.e., consumption of
high-fiber food. Self-efficacy serves to promote health.
Protective aids and dosing the
severity of threats also help to restore and develop a sense of coping
efficacy. Perceived self-efficacy is concerned with individuals beliefs in
their capabilities to exercise control over their own functioning and over
events that affect their lives. Beliefs in personal efficacy affect life
choices, level of motivation, quality of functioning, resilience to adversity
and vulnerability to stress and depression.
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