Social cognitive theory rejects the dichotomous conception of self as agent and self as object. Acting on the environment and acting on oneself entail shifting the perspective of the same agent rather than reifying different selves regulating each other or transforming the self from agent to object

People behave agentically, but they produce theories that afford people very little agency.

Forceful actions arising from erroneous beliefs often create social effects that confirm the misbeliefs

We are more heavily invested in the theories of failure than we are in the theories of success.

Moreover, joint occurrences tend to be better recalled than instances when the effect does not occur. The proneness to remember confirming instances, but to overlook disconfirming ones, further serves to convert, in thought, coincidences into causalities.

Incongruities between self-efficacy and action may stem from misperceptions of task demands, as well as from faulty self-knowledge

Ironically, it is the talented who have high aspirations, which are possible but exceedingly difficult to realize, who are especially vulnerable to self-dissatisfaction despite notable achievements.