The presence of many interacting influences, including the attainments of others, create further leeway in how one's performances and outcomes are cognitively appraised

For many activities, people cannot rely solely on themselves in evaluating their ability level because such judgments require inferences from probabilistic indicants of talent about which they may have limited knowledge. Self-appraisals are, therefore, partly based on the opinions of others who presumably possess evaluative competence

If there is any characteristic that is distinctly human, it is the capability for reflective self-consciousness.

Measures of self-precept must be tailored to the domain of psychological functioning being explored.

Accurate processing of information about outcomes is no simple task under the variable conditions of everyday life . . . usually, many factors enter into determining what effects, if any, given actions will have, Actions, therefore, produce outcomes probabilistically rather than certainly. Depending on the particular conjunction of factors, the same course of action may produce given outcomes regularly, occasionally, or only infrequently

People who regard themselves as highly efficacious act, think, and feel differently from those who perceive themselves as inefficacious. They produce their own future, rather than simply foretell it.

People judge their capabilities partly by comparing their performances with those of others