Self efficacy

Self efficacy is a persons personal judgment of their performance capabilities for a particular type of taks at a particular point in time and is closely linked to expecatations for success. According to Bandura, there are four principal sources of information for self efficacy judgements in academic situations. Actual experience, vicarious experience, verbal persuasion, and physiological arousal.

Actual experience is typically when success raises efficacy appraisals and failures lower them.

Vicarious experience is when a child is sometimes persuaded that they can do something by watching another child do something. In a study done in 1985, children who were having problems with addition and observed a peer had higher self efficacy for learning the procedure.

Verbal Persuasion is when a parent or teacher can sometimes persuade children that they are able to acheive some goal. In some circumstances, encouragment can bolster a child's self-confidence for a new task.

Physiological arousal for example, is when a student gets sweaty palms during a math test in the past, she may lose the confidence ability to perform in this instance.

People tend to avoid tasks and situations that they believe exceed their capabilities. Individuals with relatively high self efficacy tend to set higher goals for themselves. Students who are not confident that they can complete a task often become anxious or preoccupied with feeling of incompetence and concerns about failing.

In my reading about self efficacy and minority students, it states that: "Minority children with various sociocultural backgrounds attend schools predicated on mainstream, largely middle class, largely white Anglo Saxon assumptions. Such children acquire deficits in self esteem when they fail to master essential instrumentalities in this context. This self esteem is damaged not only by actual failure but also by negative perceptions and low expectations of them by teachers and other students." "The equation is direct - lack of instrumental competence in this setting-negative self esteem and poor self concept- incompentent school performance: equals alienation and dropout.