Self-efficacy
Belief in one's capability to carry out the actions needed for a specific task or goal. It is built mainly through mastery experiences, watching others like oneself succeed, persuasion and managing physical arousal.
What drives it
It decides whether someone tries, how long they persist and how they interpret difficulty. Low efficacy makes a task feel like a threat; high efficacy makes it a challenge.
How it shows
Work
High efficacy: takes the task, sets their own milestones, treats setbacks as information. Low efficacy: 'I'm not sure I'm the right person', asks for repeated confirmation, procrastinates on tasks within their skill. Efficacy is domain-specific: the same person can be confident pitching to investors and frozen in a performance review.
Relationships
Low efficacy about conflict produces avoidance; low efficacy about parenting produces deferral to the other parent.
Self
Notice the first thought when given a new task: 'I can work this out' or 'I'll probably mess this up'. Notice which areas get which thought.
What tells it apart
Self-esteem: Self-esteem is global worth; efficacy is task capability. A confident surgeon can hate themselves, and a person with good self-esteem can freely admit they cannot code.
Locus of control: Locus of control is whether outcomes depend on one's actions at all; efficacy is whether one can perform the actions. Someone may agree effort determines results yet doubt they can put in the effort.
Optimism bias: Optimism expects good outcomes generally; efficacy is confidence in one's own capacity. Watch whether the person expects things to go well or expects to make them go well.
A test
Ask the person to rate their confidence on a specific task and then watch how persistent they are when it becomes hard.
Questions to carry
- When the task got hard, how long did the person keep going, and what did they say about their ability?
- Where did my confidence for this kind of task come from: something I did, someone I watched, or someone telling me?
How strong the research is
strong
Where it comes from
Albert Bandura, 1977.