Self-Concept and Efficacy

According to Bandura (1997), self-efficacy is defined as “people's beliefs in their capabilities to produce desired effects by their own actions” (p. vii). In more general terms, self-efficacy is defined as an individual's own beliefs about what he or she is capable of doing. An individual's ability to actually achieve a goal is related to whether or not he or she believes that the goal can be successfully achieved (Bandura, 1986). Self-efficacy is usually specific to certain areas, meaning that an individual believes that he or she is more capable in some areas than in others (e.g., first grade student may have high self-efficacy for correctly completing addition problems but low self-efficacy for correctly solving multiplication problems). Individuals develop their sense of self-efficacy through direct ...