Self-Efficacy and Academic Motivation

Academic motivation is discussed in terms of self-efficacy, an individual's judgments of his or her capabilities to perform given actions. After presenting an overview of self-efficacy theory, I contrast self-efficacy with related constructs (perceived control, outcome expectations, perceived value of outcomes, attributions, and selfconcept) and discuss some efficacy research relevant to academic motivation. Studies of the effects of person variables (goal setting and information processing) and situation variables (models, attributional feedback, and rewards) on self-efficacy and motivation are reviewed. In conjunction with this discussion, I mention substantive issues that need to be addressed in the self-efficacy research and summarize evidence on the utility of self-efficacy for predicting motivational outcomes. Areas for future research are suggested. Article: The concept of personal expectancy has a rich history in psychological theory on human motivation (Atkinson, 1957; Rotter, 1966; Weiner, 1979). Research conducted within various theoretical traditions supports the idea that expectancy can influence behavioral instigation, direction, effort, and persistence (Bandura, 1986; Locke & Latham, 1990; Weiner, 1985). In this article, I discuss academic motivation in terms of one type of personal expectancy: self-efficacy, defined as "People's judgments of their capabilities to organize and execute courses of action required to attain designated types of performances" (Bandura, 1986, p. 391). Since Bandura's (1977) seminal article on selfefficacy, much research has clarified and extended the role of self-efficacy as a mechanism underlying behavioral change, maintenance, and generalization. For example, there is evidence that self-efficacy predicts such diverse outcomes as academic achievements, social skills, smoking cessation, pain tolerance, athletic performances, career choices, assertiveness, coping with feared events, recovery from heart attack, and sales performance (Bandura, 1986). After presenting an overview of self-efficacy theory and comparison of self-efficacy with related constructs, I discuss some self-efficacy research relevant to academic motivation, pointing out substantive issues that need to be addressed. I conclude with recommendations for future research. SELF-EFFICACY THEORY Antecedents and Consequences Bandura (1977) hypothesized that self-efficacy affects an individual's choice of activities, effort, and persistence. People who have a low sense of efficacy for accomplishing a task may avoid it; those who believe they are capable should participate readily. Individuals who feel efficacious are hypothesized to work harder and persist longer when they encounter difficulties than those who doubt their capabilities. Self-efficacy theory postulates that people acquire information to appraise efficacy from their performance accomplishments, vicarious (observational) experiences, forms of persuasion, and physiological indexes. An individual's own performances offer the most reliable guides for assessing efficacy. Successes raise efficacy and failure lowers it, but once a strong sense of efficacy is developed, a failure may not have much impact (Bandura, 1986). An individual also acquires capability information from knowledge of others. Similar others offer the best basis for comparison (Schunk, 1989b). Observing similar peers perform a task conveys to observers that they too are capable of accomplishing it. Information acquired vicariously typically has a weaker effect on self-efficacy than performance-based information; a vicarious increase in efficacy can be negated by subsequent failures. Students often receive persuasory information that they possess the capabilities to perform a task (e.g., "You can do this"). Positive persuasory feedback enhances self-efficacy, but this increase will be temporary if subsequent efforts turn out poorly. Students also derive efficacy information from physiological indexes (e.g., heart rate and sweating). Bodily symptoms signaling anxiety might be interpreted to indicate a lack of skills. Information acquired from these sources does not automatically influence efficacy; rather, it is cognitively appraised (Bandura, 1986). Efficacy appraisal is an inferential process in which persons weigh and combine the contributions of such personal and situational factors as their perceived ability, the difficulty of the task, amount of effort expended, amount of external assistance received, number and pattern of successes and failures, their perceived similarity to models, and persuader credibility (Schunk, 1989b). Self-efficacy is not the only influence on behavior; it is not necessarily the most important. Behavior is a function of many variables. In achievement settings some other important variables are skills, outcome expectations, and the perceived value of outcomes (Schunk, 1989b). High self-efficacy will not produce competent performances when requisite skills are lacking. Outcome expectations, or beliefs concerning the probable outcomes of actions, are important because individuals are not motivated to act in ways they believe will result in negative outcomes. Perceived value of outcomes refers to how much people desire certain outcomes relative to others. Given adequate skills, positive outcome expectations, and personally valued outcomes, self-efficacy is hypothesized to influence the choice and direction of much human behavior (Bandura, 1989b). Schunk (1989b) discussed how self-efficacy might operate during academic learning. At the start of an activity, students differ in their beliefs about their capabilities to acquire knowledge, perform skills, master the material, and so forth. Initial self-efficacy varies as a function of aptitude (e.g., abilities and attitudes) and prior experience. Such personal factors as goal setting and information processing, along with situational factors (e.g., rewards and teacher feedback), affect students while they are working. From these factors students derive cues signaling how well they are learning, which they use to assess efficacy for further learning. Motivation is enhanced when students perceive they are making progress in learning. In turn, as students work on tasks and become more skillful, they maintain a sense of self-efficacy for performing well.