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- Vol 4 RE: Chapter 5
academic self-efficacysocial cognitive theoryefficacy-performance correspondencetask-specific beliefsself-regulationpersistencestrategy usemastery experiencesJournal article Evidence summaryAt a glance
Pajares reviews self-efficacy within Bandura’s social cognitive theory and its contribution to academic motivation and self-regulation. Self-efficacy is a person’s judgement of capability to perform a particular task under particular conditions, not general self-esteem, outcome expectation, or a broad claim of confidence.
Key ideas
Across academic domains, well-matched efficacy beliefs predict choices, effort, persistence, emotional reactions, strategy use, and performance, often beyond prior achievement or related motivational measures. The review stresses methodological correspondence: a specific judgement about solving algebra problems should be compared with performance on those problems, whereas global scales can obscure relationships. Efficacy beliefs may be inaccurate and do not replace knowledge or skill, but they influence whether learners use what they possess and persist long enough to improve. For educators, productive support combines attainable challenge, strategy instruction, credible feedback, successful experience, models, and opportunities to interpret progress.
Why it matters
Empty praise or lowering standards may not build robust self-efficacy because beliefs become useful when grounded in growing competence.
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Edition abbreviations
- TE
- Teacher Edition
- PE
- Practice Edition
- RE
- Research Edition
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