Self Efficacy and Agency

GROUP 23 B:
KYLENE HATTON, LACI JETER, ZOIRETH PEREZ, LYNSIE HOUSE

Definitions
Self-efficacy is a persons belief in their capabilities to produce designated levels
of performance that exercise influence over events that affect their lives.
Human agency is the capacity to coordinate learning skills, motivation, and
emotions to reach your goals.
Self-efficacy plays a big role in human agency. Self-efficacy exercises influence
over life events thus affecting their external actions.
(Woolfolk, 2013)

Self-Efficacy, Self-Concept, Self-Esteem

Self-efficacy is a future oriented way for assessing an

individuals competence in performing a specific task.
Self-concept is more of an all-encompassing term that contains
many perceptions of self including self-efficacy.
Self-concept is developed from external and internal
comparisons, whereas self-efficacy focuses solely on an
individuals ability to accomplish a task.
Self-esteem focuses on judgements of self-worth.
There is no direct correlation between self-efficacy and selfesteem because self-efficacy is focused solely on judgements of
competence.
An example between the lack of correlation between selfefficacy and self-esteem is that an individual can have a low
self-efficacy for playing basketball but still have a high selfesteem because their life does not require being skilled at
basketball.

(Woolfolk, 2013)

Sources of Self Efficacy

Mastery Experiences are our own, direct experiences. They are the
most powerful source of efficacy. Whether or not an individual has
succeeded or failed in the past can determine the confidence they
have repeating the action in the future.

Physiological and Emotional Arousals influence efficacy either

positively or negatively, depending on the stimulus. (e.g., anxiousness
or worry will lower efficacy, interest or excitement will raise efficacy)

Vicarious Experiences are accomplishments modeled by someone that

an individual looks up to. Seeing other people that an individual
identifies with succeed on a similar task or goal can boost their
confidence in their own abilities.

Social Persuasion is defined as a pep talk or specific performance

feedback. Encouragement, feedback, and guidance from a trusted
source can push an individual to make an effort or try harder to
succeed.

Here is a 5 minute video about some

sources of self-efficacy for further
explanantion:

Yildirim, C.(2011).

Role of Self Efficacy in Learning

Influences motivation through goal setting

o high sense of self efficacy = higher
goals, higher levels of achievement
o low sense of self efficacy = low
standards, low focus on goals, avoidance

It is important for students to

o adopt short term goals in order to more
easily judge their progress
o are taught specific learning strategies to
help them focus
o receive awards based on achievement,
not just engagement
(Woolfolk, 2013)

Encouraging Self-Efficacy in Students

Emphasize students progress in a particular area.

Examples
o Revisit material from previous reviews- doing this will allow your students to view how easy it
is now.
o As students learn more, encourage them to improve their projects.
o Students portfolios should contain examples of particularly good work.

Set learning goals for your students, and model a mastery orientation for them.
Examples
o Students progress and improvement should be recognized.
o Communicate your own experiences on your developed abilities in a given area and provide
different models of achievement that are similar to your students.
o Stories about students that have overcome physical, mental, or economic challenges can be
encouraging for your students.
o Hold your students at high levels and dont excuse failure because a student has problems
outside school. As a teacher, you should help your students succeed in school.

Encouraging Self-Efficacy in Students

Cont.
Make specific suggestions for improvement, and revise grades when improvements are
made.
Examples
o Students work should be returned with comments on what the student did right, what they did
wrong, and why they could have made the mistakes.
o Give your students the opportunity to experiment peer editing.
When students revise their work, show them how their higher grade reflects greater competence
and raises their class average.
Stress connections between past efforts and past accomplishments.
Examples
o Hold conversations with each of your students where you ask them to reflect on the way they
have solved difficult problems.
o Confront self-defeating, failure-avoiding strategies directly.
(Woolfolk, 2013)

How does self-efficacy influence student

achievement?
The link between self-efficacy and
student achievement is one in itself.
Students with high self-efficacy can
achieve more in their academics and
personal life. Higher self-efficacy leads
to higher efforts and more persistence.
On the other hand, students with a lower
sense of self-efficacy will struggle and
are less likely to achieve goals.
Student achievement and self-efficacy is
not used to compare one student to
another- it is used to show that each
student their ability to achieve more if
they set their minds to have a strong
self-efficacy.
Rutledge, P. (2012)

Teachers Sense of Self Efficacy

Teachers belief that he or she can reach even
difficult students to help them learn
Teachers with high self-efficacy:
are optimistic about student learning
set higher goals for themselves and students
work harder to reach goals
reteach when necessary
persist in the face of problems
have greater job satisfaction
Efficacy grows from hands-on, real success with
students, not just cheerleading from colleagues and
professors
(Woolfolk, 2013)

Point/Counterpoint of High Levels of

Teacher Efficacy
Point: Higher efficacy is better than lower.
-Teachers that have a higher sense of efficacy usually are more enthusiastic and
happen to spend more time teaching subject areas where their sense of efficacy
is higher, and tend to avoid subjects where they sense of efficacy is lower.
-Teachers that have a higher sense of efficacy tend to be more open to new
ideas, and seem to be more willing to experiment with new methods that help
better their students needs.
-Higher efficacy teachers happen to be less critical towards students, and more
persistent in following-up on incorrect student answers.
-Teachers with high efficacy seem to select strategies that support students
learning instead of those that simply cover the curriculum.
-Teachers with high efficacy tend to be more active by monitoring seatwork and
maintaining academic focus, respond more quickly to students misbehavior.

Point/Counterpoint of High Levels of

Teacher Efficacy Cont.
Counterpoint:There are problems with high efficacy.
-Beginning teachers with excessive optimism might encounter interferences with
their ability to accurately judge their own effectiveness. A study conducted by
Carol Weinstein (1998) on student teachers found that they had a sense of
unrealistic optimism, in which they believed that problems experienced by
others would not happen to them. They seemed unrealistically optimistic with
problems that had to do with discipline.
-Teachers with high efficacy sometimes tend to resist acquiring new knowledge and
skills because they tend to stick with what works. They seem to do this because
they have developed a way of teaching that has proved a sense of mastery.
-Teachers with overconfident efficacy may quickly give-up if their tasks provide
more difficulty than they first thought.
(Woolfolk, 2013)

Self-Efficacy Overview
In case you have any questions,
here is a YouTube video to give
you another brief overview of
self-efficacy in the form of
pictures. The author of this
video has bipolar disorder and
made it as an example of how
possessing high-self efficacy
has helped him through the
years.

Falasco, J. (2011)

References
Falasco, J. (2011, October 20). SELF-EFFICACY ,Albert Bandura. Retrieved
April 3, 2015, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BWo7F5zcObM
Rutledge, P. (2012, August 28). The Positive Side of Video Games: Part III.
Retrieved April 3, 2015.
Woolfolk, A. E. (2013). Educational Psychology (12th ed.). Boston: Pearson
Yildirim, C. (2011, May 24). Self Efficacy: Its Role and Sources. Retrieved
April 3, 2015, from https://youtu.be/wrzzbaomLmc