I agree with Ryan that self-efficacy is not the sole predictor of human behavior. I found myself reflecting on my own perceptions of my efficacy within specific tasks or hobbies and how that translates to my value of those actions. The most pertinent personal example that comes to mind is my history with Statistics classes. I took Psych Stats in undergrad because it was required of my major; I began the semester with high self-efficacy for the course, as I was a good math student in high school and I figured that this application wouldn’t be too difficult. However, as the semester progressed, it became very clear that we weren’t going to learn the material in applied settings, and I would have no context under which I would perceive the material as important to my study. With the increase in difficulty of the class and the lack of connection the subject held to my study interest, I began to think that I was just bad at stats and that was that. Thus, I focused my energy on my other classes, and scraped by in the stats class for the sake of my GPA. Now, I’m taking Intro Stats this semester with a previously-developed low sense of self-efficacy for the subject. However, the difference this time is that I have some research background to which I can apply the information I’m learning in the class, therefore increasing my interest in the subject and slowly increasing my sense of self-efficacy. TL;DR, My interest in research has caused me to increase my self-efficacy in a subject about which I previously held a fixed negative mindset.
Bandura discusses the relationship between interest and self-efficacy in “Self-efficacy mechanism in human agency” (1982, p. 133-135). He explores the various outcomes of using incentives in increasing interest and self-efficacy, and explains that one’s interest in accomplishing tasks can be rooted in the desire for recognition (extrinsic motivation) or the desire to meet a personal goal (intrinsic motivation). Therefore, while it is clear that interest and self-efficacy mutually impact one another, factors such as the type of motivational interest make it difficult to predict the impact that one’s self-efficacy may have on their future choices: as Ryan pointed out, people with similar levels of self-efficacy for a particular task cannot always be expected to pursue the same activities. Bandura acknowledges that motivational theories employ self-efficacy as part of their models along with factors such as interest and social response in order to give greater context surrounding the choices people make. Herein lies the murky waters of human variability.
Bandura discusses the relationship between interest and self-efficacy in “Self-efficacy mechanism in human agency” (1982, p. 133-135). He explores the various outcomes of using incentives in increasing interest and self-efficacy, and explains that one’s interest in accomplishing tasks can be rooted in the desire for recognition (extrinsic motivation) or the desire to meet a personal goal (intrinsic motivation). Therefore, while it is clear that interest and self-efficacy mutually impact one another, factors such as the type of motivational interest make it difficult to predict the impact that one’s self-efficacy may have on their future choices: as Ryan pointed out, people with similar levels of self-efficacy for a particular task cannot always be expected to pursue the same activities. Bandura acknowledges that motivational theories employ self-efficacy as part of their models along with factors such as interest and social response in order to give greater context surrounding the choices people make. Herein lies the murky waters of human variability.
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