R esearch Proposal Final Project: R esearch Pr

Running Head: WEEK 1

WEEK 1

Week 1 Project

Melissa Soto

PSY3011

South University

Dr Alyssa Gilston

Social Psychology of Self-efficacy

Introduction:

My research topic is the social psychology of self-efficacy. Self-efficacy is referred to the belief an individual has in their capacity to execute a plan according to a situation. Self-efficacy has recently emerged as a broad topic based on the issues of human mastery, control, agency, and competence. Self-efficacy has earned a fixed spot in human social psychology as it is highly associated with several favorable consequences especially human physical and emotional health (Maddux, 2012). Albert Bandura first coined the term self-efficacy in 1977 and described it depends on four main sources of influence. These four sources that develop a positive self-efficacy in a person are Mastery Experiences, Vicarious Experiences, Social Persuasion, and Psychological and Emotional states.

1. Mastery Experiences: 

Mastery Experience or Performance Outcomes is the most influential source of developing self-efficacy. Every time a person takes on a new challenge and succeeds at it, the performance outcome is positive. When a person succeeds at a relatively new and difficult task, it builds a robust belief in his efficacy. Failures, however, achieve the opposite result, especially if the failure happens before a firm self-efficacy sense has been established. Another aspect of this phenomenon is that although a person is not aware of the outcome of the task at hand, he is constantly teaching himself throughout the process that he is capable of acquiring and utilizing new skills. This positive thought process – which one is capable to learn and achieve new things builds self-confidence and inculcates self-efficacy because a major part of achieving anything is believing that you can. 

2. Vicarious Experiences:

Vicarious experience refers to the phenomenon of having social role models and closely associating with them. Bandura (1977) explained how when a person sees other people who possess the same traits and skill set succeed by continuous effort, it raises his belief in his abilities and instills the courage to make sustained effort to succeed at comparable activities. Vicarious experience refers to closely observing others completing their tasks. By having healthy role models (people with healthy levels of self-efficacy), a person can easily absorb some of those positive traits that help him develop healthy self-efficacy as well. Social role models include a teacher, counselor, older sibling, or ideal. 

3. Social Persuasion:

Social persuasion is about receiving positive verbal feedback after a person undertakes a complex task. This reaffirmation instills the confidence in the person that he possesses great capabilities and can achieve similar tasks in the future too. Redmond (2010) explained how self-efficacy relies on the encouragement and discouragement an individual received on his performance. For instance, if a person tells an elementary school student that he is capable of achieving great things, and if he sets his mind and heart into something – he will surely succeed at it, then this is an example of positive social persuasion in action (Krause, 2014). Although verbal persuasion works at all ages, the more positive outcome is when it is administered at an early age and helps in building healthy self-efficacy.

4. Psychological States:

The personal abilities of a person in particular situations are highly influenced by their emotional, physical, and psychological well-being. For instance, when a person is struggling with depression or anxiety, it becomes difficult for them to have a healthy level of well-being. However, it is not impossible to build healthy self-efficacy while suffering from any emotional, physical, or psychological problems. Nevertheless, it is much more convenient to build healthy self-efficacy if a person does not have either of the above-mentioned issues at hand. Self-efficacy is of particular interest to me because it studies and explains human social behavior in detail and what impacts his self-perception. Positive self-perception and external encouragement lead to the development of healthy self-efficacy, which leads to that person achieving greater things in life. Apart from social psychology, self-efficacy has received increased attention in various disciplines including the educational sector. Self-efficacy research overlaps diverse areas such as phobias, social skills, depression, and addiction, which are a few of the most prominent social issues (Livinƫi, 2021). 

References

Maddux, J. E., & Gosselin, J. T. (2012). Self-efficacy. The Guilford Press.

Krause, J. M., & Benavidez, E. A. (2014). Potential influences of exergaming on self-efficacy for physical activity and sport. Journal of Physical Education, Recreation and Dance, 85(4), 15-20.

Livinƫi, R., Gunnesch-Luca, G., & Iliescu, D. (2021). Research self-efficacy: A meta-analysis. Educational Psychologist, 56(3), 215-242.

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Running Head: LITERATURE REVIEW

LITERATURE REVIEW

Literature Review I

Melissa Soto

PSY3011

South University

April 11, 2022

Summary:

1. In a study conducted about the influence of positive and negative search results on the internet on self-efficacy, it was observed that positive results in information searched on the internet led to a linear increase in self-efficacy. Poor information results, however, resulted in its decline. According to the social cognitive theory proposed by Bandura, self-efficacy is one’s belief in his or her capabilities to achieve a certain task. If the outcome is positive, it boosts the spirit, and if it is negative, it declines it. Self-efficacy is of different types. The one associated with the information being searched on the internet is termed specific self-efficacy. Specific self-efficacy is a person’s belief in his abilities to coordinate the cognitive resources, motivation, and the course of action to solve a problem at hand. When a person is browsing the internet, his or her self-efficacy is affected by actual experiences regarding a certain task. Positive experiences lead to favorable information, while negative experience leads to unfavorable information (Chiou et al., 2007).

2. A type of self-efficacy refers to the judgment a person makes about his abilities to achieve a certain task; it is called perceived self-efficacy. In other terms, the expectations a person has from him or herself regarding a certain task and its completion fall under the umbrella of perceived self-efficacy. Therefore, if a person aims to achieve a certain task, it demands not only the possession of certain aptitude but the knowledge of possession of those aptitudes as well. Past performance has a major influence on PSE. Success boosts SEP, while failure diminishes it. SEP happens to have a circular effect – implying that if a student has shown repeated failures in the past, he is less likely to put in the effort and make an achievement in the future, which further diminishes his PSE. It has been observed in the educational sector that doubling leads to a lasting negative PSE effect on the student’s mind. 

A student can assess his or her performance by evaluating others’ performance, and this has proven to be particularly helpful in scenarios where the student had no previous experience. Verbal persuasion has also shown an influence on PSE, such as remarks of encouragement leading to a boost in PSE, while discouragement has a negative impact (Gangloff et al., 2017). 

Analysis:

1. The human brain releases dopamine when we complete a task. The expectation of receiving a reward has a great influence on our minds. Since self-efficacy is the ability where one evaluates his standing regarding a certain task, the positive results lead to dopamine release. Consequently, that person feels happy and confident, and it leads to a boost in his spirit. Success leads to success. Failure, however, can act and have a reverse effect. Similarly, the positive result of any activity makes us feel confident and motivates us to do better in the next task. Resultantly, our next task turns out to be great as well, and even if it does not, we have enough inspiration to redo it and rectify the mistakes. Self-efficacy is of different types, as Bandura explained in his Social Cognitive. 

2. Internet works similarly. If a person has been trying to search for a particular topic or gather the relevant information, he loses spirit if he cannot find it after spending a good time on it. On the contrary, he is impulsive to spend more time and look for more information if he gets the desired results in the first search. Perceived self-efficacy is a type of self-efficacy in which a person makes judgments about his progress and potential regarding a particular situation. He evaluates his caliber and assesses whether he is capable of doing a certain task and succeed at it or not. One of the essential requirements of PSE is the knowledge of whether a person possesses certain abilities to achieve the task he aims to. He can learn about it by comparing his progress and overall caliber to other people and making amendments to his performance. Apart from internal sources of PSE, there are a few other factors that can either boost a person’s PSE or diminish it. Verbal persuasion and previous success are only two of them.

References:

Chiou, W., & Wan, C. (2007). The dynamic change of self-efficacy in information searching on the internet: Influence of valence of experience and prior self-efficacy. The Journal of Psychology, 141(6), 589-603. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.3200/JRLP.141.6.589-604

Gangloff, B., & Mazilescu, C. (2017). Normative characteristics of perceived self-efficacy. Social Sciences, 6(4), 139. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/socsci6040139

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Running Head: LR

LR

Literature Review

Melissa Soto

PSY3011

South University

April 15,2022

Self-efficacy appears to get a more firm place in social psychology but is also becoming more popular in the sociological discipline, typically represented in ideas apart from self-efficacy but dealing with elements including agency, self-control, and achievement motivation. Self-efficacy theory has been recognized as relevant to the explanation and prediction of career-related behaviors such as future organizational and academic accomplishments by several researchers. The increased emphasis on the development of cognitive skills in toddlers has resulted in the presentation of a paradigm of motivated learning wherein self-efficacy plays a fundamental theoretical part. This research has significant ramifications for advising academic and employment psychology principles and methods since it has linked self-efficacy views to professional and school achievement. Multon and colleagues (1991) have worked on a meta-analysis to develop a framework for assessing the extent to which different study variables result from differences in connections found across publications and research. This study explores the proper potential mediators of these interactions and proposes a proposal that self-efficacy beliefs are related to academic achievement and academic persistence. And this research backs up the idea that self-efficacy beliefs can help with academic achievement and commitment. Also, it reveals that self-efficacy beliefs explain around 8 percent of the total variation in students' academic performance and roughly 12 percent of the difference in overall academic perseverance throughout different kinds of academic and student samples, design, and criteria assessments. As a result, the disparities in self-efficacy productivity connections among certain individuals of diverse academic achievement will be much more artefactual than meaningful, according to this research conclusion. This may be because impact size estimations for lesser-achieving students must be derived mostly from post-treatment data, whereas correlation value estimates for higher-achieving students must be derived primarily from which was before or correlation data (Multon et al, 1991). The disparities between the two groups could simply reflect the methods used to calculate effect sizes in each cohort. The study emphasizes the need for accurate self-evaluations and demonstrates that misjudgments, whether positively or negatively, can have harmful implications. Large downplays of self-efficacy, on the other side, may significantly reduce the risk of possibly reward learning projects, restricting skill development.

Since the field's inception, social psychologists have been interested in how the presence of others affects individual task performance. Two lines of research have looked into similar effects: "social facilitation and social loafing", both of which have roots in two of the early social psychology research. This research has shown that social facilitation and loafing can coexist in the very same methodology procedure. It was hypothesized in the study that self-efficacy theory could be a useful theoretical framework for conceptualizing these findings. Participants of the study were provided an evaluation that suggested whether they had done well or failed in order to learn the hypothesis. The ones who were expected to do well after their previous accomplishment, and did so better in front of a public than whilst they were isolated. Subjects, on the other hand, were expected to perform poorly after the previous failure, and they did worse in front of a crowd than when they were alone. Multiple regression techniques were used to evaluate and analyze the data. "Coaction" (high resulting expectancy) subjects fared better than alone and in group (both low resulting expectancy) participants in the high-efficacy form. However, coaction participants did worse than those alone and who performed in group participants and were in the low-efficacy form. It shows that social behavior differs depending upon whether a predicted judgment is favorable or unfavorable, which has important implications for the team's performance models (Sanna, 1992). Humans may adapt tactics to minimize capability as a source of poor performance and to increase potential as a cause of high performance. Investigation into how such mechanisms work when individuals are confronted with the possibility of positive or negative feedback is especially interesting. "Self-efficacy" theory claims to offer an integrated model for analyzing "social facilitation and social loafing". This isn't to say that self-efficacy anticipation and an anticipated appraisal are indeed the sole, or even the most important, role models of achievement in these contexts. Other factors, including cognitions, intrinsically motivated, aim planning, etc., are likely to play a role.

References

Multon, K. D., Brown, S. D., & Lent, R. W. (1991). Relation of self-efficacy beliefs to academic outcomes: A meta-analytic investigation. Journal of counseling psychology, 38(1), 30.

Sanna, L. J. (1992). Self-efficacy theory: Implications for social facilitation and social loafing. Journal of personality and social psychology, 62(5), 774.

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Running Head: REFLECTIVE ANALYSIS

REFLECTIVE ANALYSIS

Reflective Analysis

Melissa Soto

PSY 3011

South University

Apri 28, 2022

Self-efficacy is a person's belief in his or her abilities to achieve a particular task. Enough research has been conducted on the factor determining a person's self-efficacy and having a positive-negative influence on it. Physical activity has been shown to have a positive effect on it. Similarly, in the academic context, certain personality traits (self-esteem and self-efficacy) have been shown to influence a person's scholastic achievements. Academic difficulties during adolescence and high school years have long-term implications on a student's academic performance and failure at this stage often results in academic failure, school drop-out, and difficulty in entering a successful career. Researchers applied a multifaceted approach to studying the role of self-efficacy in students' academic performance. Being proficiently active and possessing great knowledge of a particular discipline are two separate things. Oftentimes students are aware of the required action for a given problem, but cannot bring themselves to execute the actions needed to rectify the problem. To promote such task managing abilities, self-efficacy is required. Students' course selection, academic achievement, and continuance – all have shown a close association with students' academic self-efficacy.

Another study showed the relevance of high academic self-efficacy with high grades early in academic life and lower chances of getting dropped out (Di Giunta et al., 2013). If individuals are provided the sufficient circumstances to develop self-regulatory skills, it shows a positive impact on their academic performance. These skills are also regarded as personality traits. A Big Five model of personality has been proposed by personality researchers which includes agreeableness, emotional stability, extraversion, openness (boldness), and conscientiousness. Among the Big Five, conscientiousness (responsibility, the capability to plan and organize, persistence) and openness (positive attitude and meeting the challenges) are closely related to academic achievement.

Self-efficacy beliefs have also shown a direct association with an individual's happiness and positive attitude. Positive thinking is the foundational and fundamental element of optimism, self-satisfaction, and high self-esteem (Caprara et al., 2006). Whereas happiness is the difference between positive and negative attitudes of the individual. The research was conducted on 664 Italian adolescents in which a structural model based on adolescents’ inter-personal and emotional self-efficacy was designed. These beliefs were associated with the happiness and positive thinking of the individual. Results showed that inter-personal self-efficacy had a direct link with the individual's happiness and positive attitude. Self-efficacy also plays a significant role in determining and differentiating between the positive and negative emotions and their effect on personal relationships, thereby promoting a positive attitude.

Since self-efficacy is strictly about one’s belief, it is not restricted to academic context only. Physical activity has proven to have a positive effect on an individual's mental and physical health. But one question that often worries individuals is the right amount of physical activity that will help them garner the most benefits for physical and psychological health. Scientists and researchers believe all these discussions are pointless if they cannot motivate people for physical activity or exercise. To persuade people of this, they use social cognitive theory. The core variable of interest in social cognitive theory is an individual’s self-efficacy. An individual's capabilities have proven to be influential across a variety of domains. Physical activity participation depends on various factors – social, environmental, psychological, and physical. Self-efficacy is determined to be an important element in the compliance and predictor of this participation.

With the continuance of physical activity and passage of time changes in self-efficacy and behavior of an individual to former factors have also been observed. Self-efficacy is more significant in determining the active participation of the individual in physical activity and choosing the domain than to have in impact an impact on its continuity in the long run. It has also been established that a self of control is important for any form of exercise.

In this context, self-efficacy can be viewed as the nuanced form of self-control in determining the domain of physical activity. This entire discussion and research models show how important self-efficacy is in all aspects of life (McAuley & Blissmer, 2000). Self-efficacy determines one's standard of living, and how well the individual can improve his or her life. The question here arises, how to improve one's self-efficacy if it is low along with self-esteem and self-confidence (basically all personality traits that are essential in improving an individual's self-perception)?

Reference:

McAuley, E., & Blissmer, B. (2000). Self-efficacy determinants and consequences of physical activity. Exerc Sport Sci Rev, 28(2), 85-88.

Caprara, G. V., Steca, P., Gerbino, M., Paciello, M., & Vecchio, G. M. (2006). Looking for adolescents' well-being: Self-efficacy beliefs as determinants of positive thinking and happiness. Epidemiology and Psychiatric Sciences, 15(1), 30-43.

Di Giunta, L., Alessandri, G., Gerbino, M., Kanacri, P. L., Zuffiano, A., & Caprara, G. V. (2013). The determinants of scholastic achievement: The contribution of personality traits, self-esteem, and academic self-efficacy. Learning and individual Differences, 27, 102-108.

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Running Head: SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY OF SELF-EFFICACY

SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY OF SELF-EFFICACY

Social psychology of self-efficacy

Melissa Soto

PSY 3011

South University

April 24,2022

Self-efficacy is a broad literature that discusses the belief of a person about his ability to accomplish. Mastery, control, and human agency are included in this topic and not to mention the issues that are related to mastery, control, and human agency. In social psychological research, self-efficacy has become an important variable because it has a huge impact on human mental and physical health.

The article “Self-efficacy” explains the theory of self-efficacy in social psychology. This article discusses the variables of self-psychology including control, trait agency, and optimism. It also demonstrates the development of self-efficacy in the field of psychology and how social structure can affect this development. A person’s domain-specific judgments of his capacity to accomplish his goals or actions required to obtain desired outcomes are referred to as self-efficacy. Self-efficacy is an assessment of one's ability to perform the necessary acts. It does not just a view that explains if a person will perform these actions to attain the intended goals. Social cognitive theory helps to improve its understanding. Human emotional behavior, motivation, and cognition help us to show how humans interact with the environment. This theory suggests that our behavior, environment, and emotional factors are interlinked. One factor helps to shape another and the other does the same. Our personalities and self-perceptions are social constructs. When they encounter others as a response they constantly change. As a result, these personalities or perceptions never stay exactly the same but they frequently change. A person’s views and personality change with a change in conditions.

In the treatment of psychological disorders, self-efficacy beliefs have been postulated as critical mechanisms of behavior change. However, encouraging results were found when early self-efficacy research looked into this theory in the context of anxiety disorder treatment. Bandura showed that people's willingness to confront their phobias' objects was predicted by changes in self-efficacy beliefs throughout therapy. This willingness to confront their fears was a symptom of recovery. Therefore, preliminary findings suggest that a variety of psychological problems could be treated by interventions aimed at self-efficacy beliefs. Furthermore, studies by different researchers looked into different disorders such as depression, obesity, substance misuse, and a variety of other illnesses and studied the effectiveness of its interventions for the treatment of those diseases. Nonetheless, it is crucial to keep in mind that self-efficacy, as previously stated, is based on a notion of triadic reciprocal determinism, in which environmental, behavioral, and personal factors are entangled (Gallagher, 2012).

However, self-efficacy matters in the field of psychology and in general too. In another review of the article, the importance of self-efficacy is explained and it shows how it develops. Researchers including Bandura explained how psychological states, motivation, and behavior are controlled by self-efficacy. The sources of self-efficacy through which it develops are social modeling, psychological responses, social persuasion, and mastery experiences.

Through mastery experiences, one can develop self-efficacy. It develops successfully when a person performs a task. Failure to do any challenge can weak self-efficacy. Another source is social modeling. When a person witnesses other people accomplishing their goal, the beliefs of the observer raises too and they start to trust their selves and their abilities. People can also be persuaded according to Bandura. When you socially interact and someone encourages you to achieve your goal, your self-doubt decreases. That verbal encouragement helps you to do your best. Last but not least physiological responses are another important source that helps to develop self-efficacy. Personal abilities in a particular situation can be affected by a person’s physical reactions, emotions, stress levels, and mood.

Difficult tasks look like threats to those who have low self-efficacy. They usually avoid challenges and are afraid of commitments. When they experience obstacles, they quit. Thoughts of failure occurred to them because they lack trust and confidence in themselves. For people who overthink and lack confidence, stressful events become difficult to handle. They are less resilient and less likely to recover because of low self-efficacy (Cherry, 2020).

References

Gallagher, M. W. (2012). Self-Efficacy. In Encyclopedia of Human Behavior: Second Edition (2nd ed.). Elsevier Inc. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-375000-6.00312-8

Kendra Cherry. (2020). Self Efficacy and Why Believing in Yourself Matters. Verywellmind, 1–18. https://www.verywellmind.com/what-is-self-efficacy-2795954

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Running Head: SELF-EFFICACY

SELF-EFFICACY

Final Project: The Introduction-Self-efficacy

Melissa Soto

PSY3011

South University

May 14, 2022

Self-efficacy is a belief of a person to achieve his desired goals (Gallagher, 2012). It is a broad literature that discusses mastery, control, and human agency and the related issues. It is an important variable in social psychology because of its relationship with the mental health of a person. The influence of self-efficacy is also on the physical health of a person. This theory tells us how a person perceives things or a situation and what are his responses to those different situations. How a person behaves or acts are discussed in self-efficacy. It is a person’s belief in his abilities to accomplish something. A person needs to have faith and believe in himself because it is important for his physical and mental health. Through, social modeling, social persuasion, and psychological responses self-efficacy can be developed. These sources help to develop self-efficacy (Cherry, 2020).

In 1977, Albert Bandura proposed the concept of self-efficacy. The social-cognitive theory of behavioral change was proposed by Bandura and from this theory, self-efficacy was derived. A unified theory of behavior change was provided by him and his attempt provided a strong theory in the field of psychology. It refers to a belief of an individual to successfully cope with obligations, challenges, and tasks (Gallagher, 2012). Many kinds of research have been conducted to demonstrate the belief of self-efficacy and its positive effects on human life. Psychological disorders can also be treated through self-efficacy. For more than three decades, this theory has been a vibrant area of research. However, there is confusion about the beliefs of self-efficacy. It is not the idea of whether a person will achieve the desired goal or perform these actions. It is positive thinking. Self-efficacy evaluates if a person can perform necessary actions. It represents an evaluation of the perceived capacity of a person and it is not a stable personality trait.

Studies showed that self-efficacy has a huge impact on academic achievements. To thrive in higher education, self-efficacy is considered a personal resource. Through experiences, self-efficacy is increased and through practice, mastery can be achieved. These factors are linked to success in academic performances. Several studies have been conducted on self-efficacy and its influence on academic performance. One study showed the effect of self-efficacy on academic perform

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