Regression analyses show that self-efficacy contributes to achievement behavior beyond the effects of cognitive skills

How children learn to use diverse sources of efficacy information in developing a stable and accurate sense of personal efficacy is a matter of considerable interest

Even noteworthy performance attainments do not necessarily boost perceived self-efficacy

A problem of future research is to clarify how young children learn what type of social comparative information is most useful for efficacy evaluation

Students judge how well they might do in a chemistry course from knowing how peers, who performed comparably to them in physics, fared in chemistry

Such 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

People’s beliefs about their abilities have a profound effect on those abilities.