Bandura and Self-Efficacy

1. Bandura and Self-Efficacy By Reneé Yackley and Mary Defilippis

2. Albert Bandura • Born in 1925 in Canada • Graduated from the University of British Columbia with the Bolocan Award in Psychology in 1949 • Received M.A. in 1951 from University of Iowa, Ph.D, in 1952 • In 1953, he began his career at Stanford University • His initial research focused on social modeling • In the 1960’s, he began his studies on children’s development of self-regulatory capabilities • President of the American Psychology Association

3. Self-Efficacy • Through the regulation of behavior, one observes one’s actions and evaluate one’s performances. • The affects of self-efficacy appraisals as a means of motivation • Bandura believed that it would be better to have too high of an estimation of one’s own abilities rather than too low, and a higher estimation would be beneficial. • Low self-efficacy can lead to depression and unnecessary doubt. • His experiments were not so much focused on the child’s success, but more on their estimation of their own capabilities.

4. Important Terms • Self-Efficacy: the belief in one’s capabilities to organize and execute the courses of action required to manage prospective situations • Self-Concept: a cognitive appraisal, integrated across various dimensions, that individuals attribute to themselves, typically accompanied by self-evaluative judgment of self-worth • Social Cognitive Theory: human achievement depends on interactions between one’s behaviors, personal factors, and environmental conditions • Model Similarity: observing others succeed can realize observers’ self-efficacy and motivate them to perform the task if they think they will be successful and vice-versa • Self-Reflection: how you think about and evaluate your own experiences and thought processes (Bandura calls this the most unique human characteristic) • Self-Esteem: success over pretensions

5. The Sources of Self-Efficacy Appraisals • Actual Performance: past success to build belief in one’s capabilities • Verbal Persuasion: efficacy created and developed as a result of the social messages they receive from others • Vicarious Experience: secondary source of efficacy through the experience of the effects produced by the actions of others

6. Our Experiment • 3rd graders at Holy Family • We tested their self-efficacy in relation to their self-concept as a reader • Which of the sources of self-efficacy appraisals will have the most influence on the child? • Does the child’s self-concept correlate to his self-efficacy?

7. Our Hypothesis • Like Bandura, we also believe that actual performance will have the most influence on the child, because once the child has accomplished the task, his next decision will be based on that experience.

8. Procedure • We had three books, which were of three different levels: easy, medium-hard and hard • There were 2 groups of 4 children individually observed and 1 group of 5, observed together • Group 1: Actual Performance • Group 2: Verbal Persuasion • Group 3: Vicarious Experience

9. Group 1: Experience Rubric

10. Group 1: Actual Performance Rubric

11. Group 2: Experience Rubric

12. Group 3: Verbal Persuasion Rubric

13. Group 3: Experience Rubric

14. Group 3: Vicarious Experience

15. Our Conclusion… • Unlike our hypothesis that actual performance would have the most influence, verbal persuasion and vicarious experience seemed to have a stronger impact on their self-efficacy.

16. Critical Questions • Would there be a difference in results when testing boys and girls? • Do different sources of self-efficacy appraisals have more of an influence on different ages? • Would different authority figures have different results? • Would results be different with more children tested? • What would be the difference in results between a public school and a private school? • What motivates self-efficacy for a disabled child?

17. Nature vs. Nurture Rousseau Bandura Locke

18. MERRY CHRISTMAS!