The belief in one’s own abilities and competencies is known as self-efficacy. Self-efficacy can influence how one feels about themselves. Albert Bandura’s social cognitive theory emphasizes the role of observational learning, social experience, and reciprocal determinism in the development of a personality, and the concept of self-efficacy is important to that theory. This system has a big influence on how people view things and how they react to different situations. Self-efficacy, as proved by Bandura and other researchers, has an impact on everything from psychological states to behavior to motivation. What goals one chooses to pursue, how they go about achieving those goals, and how they evaluate their own performance are all determined by self-efficacy.
Bandura identified mastery experiences as the most significant motivator of self-efficacy among the four sources of self-efficacy (1977). Mastery experiences are those that people have when they take on new challenges and achieve them. According to Wilson et al. (2020), mastery experiences may have the greatest benefits for self-efficacy for two reasons. First, rather than secondhand tales, mastery experiences are based on direct, personal experience. As a result, one can extrapolate their potential in the future by using this direct evidence of prior success. Second, mastery experiences enable people to see direct correlations between effort and good performance, so improving their confidence in their capacity to perform well in specific settings. Vicarious experiences are the second source of self-efficacy. While one witness others are excelling (or failing) at activities, they might estimate their own likelihood of success or failure when conducting similar activities based on how similar or different people view themselves and the person they are observing.
Finally, it is crucial to remember that all individuals learn in different ways. As a result, some students will benefit from reading, while others will benefit from lectures or video, and still, others will benefit from hands-on, tactile encounters. When possible, it is important to present knowledge in a variety of formats so that students can study in the format that best suits them, allowing them to gain more mastery as they progress through their studies.
References
Bandura, A. (1977). Self-efficacy: Toward a unifying theory of behavioral change. Psychological Review, 84(2), 191-215.
Wilson, C., Marks Woolfson, L., & Durkin, K. (2020). School environment and mastery experience as predictors of teachers’ self-efficacy beliefs towards inclusive teaching. International journal of inclusive education, 24(2), 218-234.