Perceived Self-efficacy In Coping With Potential Threats

The Adequacy Of Performance Attainments Depends Upon The Personal Standards Against Which They Are Judged

Students Judge How Well They Might Do In A Chemistry Course From Knowing How Peers, Who Performed Comparably To Them In Physics, Fared In Chemistry

People Are Much More Likely To Act On Their Self-percepts Of Efficacy Inferred From Many Sources Of Information Rather Than Rely Primarily On Visceral Cues. This Is Not Surprising Because Self Knowledge Based On Information About One's Coping Skills, Past Accomplishments, And Social Comparison Is Considerably More Indicative Of Capability Than The Indefinite Stirrings Of The Viscera

Accomplishment Is Socially Judged By Ill Defined Criteria So That One Has To Rely On Others To Find Out How One Is Doing.

People Who Underestimate Their Capabilities Also Bear Costs, Although, As Already Noted, These Are More Likely To Take Self-limiting Rather Than Aversive Forms. By Failing To Cultivate Personal Potentialities And Constricting Their Activities, Such Persons Cut Themselves Off From Many Rewarding Experiences. Should They Attempt Tasks Having Evaluative Significance, They Create Internal Obstacles To Effective Performance By Approaching Them With Unnerving Self-doubts