Cultural Differences in Self-Efficacy

Self-efficacy is the belief in one’s ability to organize and execute the actions necessary to manage a situation ("What Is Self-Efficacy?", n.d.). Self-efficacy allows divergent thinking because cognitive limits are not set in place.

Bandura has studied self-efficacy, which is the extent or strength of one’s belief in one’s own ability to complete tasks and reach goals. Self-efficacy can affect all types of behaviors like academics, social and recreational. A child might have the ability to accomplish a task, but if they do not feel like they are capable of doing so, then they may fail or may not attempt the task. For example, in a study difficult math problems were given to children with

Self-efficacy can be described as the level self-confidence that a person has when they try to do something. It is important in making a behavioral change because people need to envision themselves succeeding.

In this paper, I will present my findings about the two testing (Cognitive Ability Test

Bandura focused on perceived self-efficacy, which he defines as a belief in one’s own capability to organize and execute the course of action required to attain a goal. (Bandura, 1977).

In this chapter, Rivera outlines and describes three existing theories: Bandura’s Theory of Self-Efficacy, Vygotsky’s Constructivist Theory, and Social Interdependence Theory. She also refers to multiple sources and explains their opinions about these theories. She goes one step further to clarify how these theories directly correlate with her research topic.

Albert Bandura states “self-efficacy is the belief that one’s ability to influence events that affect one’s life and have control over the way these events are experienced. The theory of self-efficacy is a significant concept in the field of positive psychology since it has a direct relationship with the explanation on how a people’s cognition can affect how they think, behave, and motivate themselves. Albert Bandura presents his views on positive psychology in his chapter “An Agentic Perspective on Positive Psychology”. Albert Bandura states that the concept of self-efficacy is not an ability that certain individuals possess, instead he claims that all persons are capable of utilizing self-efficacy to control their circumstances. In Bandura’s

Bandura A, Cervone D (1983). Self-evaluative and self efficacy mechanisms governing the motivational effects of goal systems. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 45 (5): 1017-1028.

Virtually all people can identify goals they want to accomplish, things they would like to change, and things they would like to achieve. However, most people also realize that putting these plans into action is not quite so simple. Bandura and others have found that an individual’s self-efficacy plays a major role in how goals, tasks, and challenges are approached.

They also make a point that culturally competent nurses “lead to equitable, evidence based health care delivery.” In the article “Cultural Self-Efficacy of Second Degree Nursing Students in Providing Care to Immigrants” by Miskin PHN, PHDs Matthews, Wallace, and Fox agree with the idea of Diaz, Clarke and Gautas article. They say that “the weak sense of confidence among nursing students, when it comes to trans-cultural nursing, indicates the need for greater emphasis on culturally congruent care across nursing curricula, including second degree pre-licensure nursing programs.”

The concept of interest is self-efficacy. This began in 1977 with Bandura’s social learning theory that was renamed social cognitive theory in 1986, of which self-efficacy was one of the major concepts of his theory. Self-efficacy makes a difference in how people will feel, think, behave, and motivate themselves. A low sense of self-efficacy can be associated with stress, anxiety, depression, and feelings of helplessness. Such individuals also have low self-esteem and become pessimistic about their accomplishments and personal development. In thinking terms, a strong sense of efficacy facilitates cognitive processes and performance in a variety of settings, including the quality of decision-making and academic achievement. When it comes to behavior, self-efficacy can be said to influence people’s choice of activities as self-efficacy levels can foster or decrease a person’s motivation. People with high self-efficacy approach difficult tasks as challenges and do not try to avoid them. People’s self-efficacy beliefs determine their level of motivation, as reflected in how much effort they will

Self-efficacy beliefs are considered as the foundation of human agency. They influence many aspects of human functioning (i.e., the exercise of human agency), such as one’s choice of tasks, goal setting, motivation level, investment level, psycho-affective states, and accomplishments. They influence “people’s goals and aspirations, how well they motivate themselves, and their perseverance in the face of difficulties and adversity” (Bandura, 2006). Also, self-efficacy beliefs “shape people’s outcome expectations” and determine how opportunities and impediments are viewed” (Bandura, 2006, p.171). Self-efficacy beliefs are not a stable character traits of an individual, but rather, an active and learned system of beliefs held in context (Bandura,1997).

The participants who were involved in this experiment were Drake University students’ enrolled in Introduction to Psychology Lab. The students’ age ranged from 18-23 years old. In total there were 10 participants, 5 of which were male and 5 were female.

Through defining self-efficacy it involve a person’s judgment about being able to complete particular task on their own and informs the belief of a student’s idea in saying “I can” or “I cannot” (net). There is always a confusion in between the two terms of self-esteem and self-efficacy, the differences between these two is when self-esteem is how an individual feel about their worth or value and self-efficacy is the confidence of an individual’s performance within specific class activities (net). In order to understand if a student has a low sense of self-efficacy towards class activities is determined through their avoidance of their interaction towards an assigned task, whereas with high self-efficacy students they are more likely to engage

During the course of experiment, all ten participants will be assigned individual seats. On each seat, each participant would be provided with a booklet of media images that the particular group is supposed to view and give feedback upon. Each booklet would consist of 10 media images of either skinny/muscular models or neutral images, depending upon the group number. All participants will be allocated five minutes to view and observe all five images. After they are done viewing the images, each participant will be provided with a feedback form. This form would look as