self efficacy

• self efficacy

  the belief that a person has in order to make a behaviour change
• 4 main elements of self efficacy

  mastery experiences

  vicarious experiences

  social persuasion

  emotional states
• mastery experiences

  -experience gained from taking on a new challenge

  -this strengthens our belief in our ability for similar challenges in the future
• vicarious experiences

  -observing role models can increase self efficacy

  -the more similar the model is to ourselves then they more likely we are to identify with them and to change behaviours
• social persuasion

  -encouragement from others

  -the impact this has depends on the credibility of the persuader.
• emotional states

  -a person needs to be emotionally well to maintain high levels of self efficacy

  -stress and anxiety can have a negative effect on self efficacy, and can make use feel as if we are incapable
• eval

  + STRETCHER et al found evidence for a link between high self efficacy and health related behaviour change. - interventions can increase self efficacy and lead to behaviour change
• eval

  + the theory can be applied to design effective behaviour change programmes.

  mastery experiences suggest that long term goals should be broken down to prevent low self efficacy
• eval

  --the concept may not be as valid as what it is made to be as self efficacy is closely linked with other concepts such as self esteem, self worth.

  JUDGE et al 2002 found self efficacy, locus of control and self esteem are all closely linked and that they are all aspects of a higher order construct called core self evaluation
• eval

  --high self efficacy can lead to overconfidence and can cause a person to put in less effort as they think they will succeed.
• MARLATT et al

  found that interventions should target self efficacy to reduce self harm through achievable targets and by identifying triggering situations.
• BANDURA and ADAMS

  the belief that a person can successfully engage in a behaviour to produce the desired outcome
• eval - self efficacy is not static and can change on a day to day basis - showing the possible ineffectiveness of it