New on Noba – Self-Efficacy
Posted May 7, 2014
The Noba catalogue has a terrific new addition from Jim Maddux and Evan Kleiman of George Mason University – Self-Efficacy.
“A concept that was first introduced by Albert Bandura in 1977, self-efficacy refers to a person’s beliefs that he or she is able to effectively perform the tasks needed to attain a valued goal. Since then, self-efficacy has become one of the most thoroughly researched concepts in psychology. Just about every important domain of human behavior has been investigated using self-efficacy theory. Self-efficacy does not refer to your abilities but rather to your beliefs about what you can do with your abilities. Also, self-efficacy is not a trait—there are not certain types of people with high self-efficacies and others with low self-efficacies. Rather, people have self-efficacy beliefs about specific goals and life domains. For example, if you believe that you have the skills necessary to do well in school and believe you can use those skills to excel, then you have high academic self-efficacy . . .
Self-efficacious adolescents perform better at school and self-efficacious adults perform better at work. These individuals have happier romantic relationships and work better in teams. People with strong self-efficacies have better health than those with weak self-efficacies; they are more likely to engage in behaviors that prevent health problems and actually increase their health. They are more likely to begin and continue exercise, have safer sex, and eat better foods. Higher self-efficacy is also useful for getting out of bad habits. People with strong self-efficacies are able to lose weight, quit smoking, and cut down on alcohol consumption more successfully than can people with low self-efficacies. As illustrated by the well-known children’s book The Little Engine That Could telling yourself “I think I can” can be a powerful motivator and can increase your chances for success.”
For more on Self-Efficacy - its study and influence on all our lives – treat yourself to the full chapter at --
http://noba.to/bmv4hd6p
