I have been reflecting on our brief discussion of anxiety… and made a few new connections: “Anxiety is caused by experience” and “My thinking causes me to have anxiety.” Anxiety is based on experiences. Experience shapes cognition, which facilitates anxiety. I am curious: How does anxiety affect my self-efficacy? Is it easier for a child to change cognitive thinking, than an adolescent or an adult? If the strongest way to change behavior is through participant modeling, then How can we desensitize students from anxiety? I have also been pondering teacher anxiety… and the correlation between their anxiety about student behavior versus their anxiety about student performance. Michael suggested that the teacher’s past experiences will shape whether their anxiety will be connected or separate. Because teachers experience pressure from parents, evaluations, and student standardized test scores, should we desensitize teachers? If so, how?
I admit that my low efficacy in my 16-year old’s driving ability could cause him to have low efficacy. I was certainly aware of this idea when homeschooling. My students would not have been able to learn a fraction of what they did if I approached a new topic/concept with the attitude of "I don't have confidence that you'll be able to read, or master these multiplication facts." In fact, my confidence in their ability often encouraged them to face new concepts where they initially lacked efficacy. However, I believe that driving is different. My son is very confident in is abilities… perhaps overly confident for someone who has only had a license for a month! My confidence in his driving is not only based on my experiences in the passenger seat with him as the driver, but also in research on cognitive development of 16-year-olds. Research indicates that 16-year old brains are not fully developed, especially the frontal lobe where executive functioning occurs. The more experiences he obtains behind the wheel will lead to improved foresight and quicker reaction time, which equates to better overall driving abilities. Research confirms. https://newsroom.aaa.com/2014/10/experience-matters-age-young-adult-driver-safety/
For now, I will continue my rule of “No passengers while driving.” https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/192524 “Our data indicate that the risk of fatal injury for a 16- or 17-year-old driver increases with the number of passengers. This result supports the inclusion of restrictions on carrying passengers in graduated licensing systems for young drivers.”
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Reading Bandura’s article, Negative Self-Efficacy and Goal Effects Revisited (2003), I learned that there are several ways to alter perceived self-efficacy. One way is to introduce a trivial factor devoid of any relevant information whatsoever but that can bias perceived self-efficacy. The higher the perceived self-efficacy is, the longer the individual will persevere on difficult and unsolvable problems. Another way to redirect means of influence and alter efficacy beliefs is to use observational means. Efficacy enhancement merely through observing models and visualization of threatening activities are ways to alter efficacy beliefs without the intervention of experiences. This is seen in Bandura’s experiment with the individuals who were terrified of snakes. The patients with snake phobia were helped more by observing other people with snake phobia and were learning to handle snakes, more than observing psychologists who were handling the snakes trying to verbally reassure the patients. Perceived self-efficacy is a strong predictor of coping behavior whereas anxiety and coping behavior essentially disappear when the influence of perceived self-efficacy is administered.
One conclusion I found interesting: “Bogus information produces different levels of perceived self-efficacy, especially in corresponding changes in pain tolerance.” The greater the change in perceived self-efficacy, the larger the change in pain tolerance! The example provided in the article referred to physical pain, but I wonder, would this apply to emotional pain, or mental pain, or the pain of school demands or peer pressure?
Bandura claims, “Children’s perceived efficacy to regulate their learning activities and master academic subjects raise academic aspirations and final grades independently of their prior grades in the subject matter and the academic aspirations the parents hold for their children.” If true, HOW could educators increase students’ perceived efficacy so that all children perform well? How do we practically alter our classroom approach to help children achieve success? Even at a minimal level, what practical things can we do to draw them into the cycle of efficacy? Bandura also states, “The higher a person’s self-efficacy and the greater their discontent with just matching their past performance, the higher their performance output.” For a person to perform at a higher level, a person must be motivated to perform at a higher level. What specific things can we do in the classroom to increase student efficacy?
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