Expected outcomes contribute to motivation independently of self-efficacy beliefs when outcomes are not completely controlled by quality of performance. This occurs when extraneous factors also affect outcomes, or outcomes are socially tied to a minimum level of performance so that some variations in quality of performance above and below the standard do not produce differential outcomes
Albert BanduraStudents judge how well they might do in a chemistry course from knowing how peers, who performed comparably to them in physics, fared in chemistry
Albert BanduraPeople regulate their level and distribution of effort in accordance with the effects they expect their actions to have. As a result, their behavior is better predicted from their beliefs than from the actual consequences of their actions
Albert BanduraExcept for events that carry great weight, it is not experience per se, but how they match expectations, that governs their emotional impact
Albert BanduraSuch knowledge is probably gained in several ways. One process undoubtedly operates through social comparison of success and failure experiences. Children repeatedly observe their own behavior and the attainments of others
Albert Bandura