Perceived Self-inefficacy Predicts Avoidance Of

People Who Are Burdened By Acute Misgivings About Their Coping Capabilities Suffer Much Distress And Expend Much Effort In Defensive Action... They Cannot Get Themselves To Do Things They Find Subjectively Threatening Even Though They Are Objectively Safe. They May Even Shun Easily Manageable Activities Because They See Them As Leading To More Threatening Events Over Which They Will Be Unable To Exercise Adequate Control.

People Judge Their Capabilities Partly By Comparing Their Performances With Those Of Others

Self-efficacy Is The Belief In One's Capabilities To Organize And Execute The Sources Of Action Required To Manage Prospective Situations.

Misbeliefs In One's Inefficacy May Retard Development Of The Very Subskills Upon Which More Complex Performances Depend

People Infer High Self-efficacy From Successes Achieved Through Minimal Effort On Difficult Tasks, But They Infer Low Self-efficacy If They Had To Work Hard Under Favorable Conditions To Master Relatively Easy Tasks