Perceived self-inefficacy predicts avoidance of academic activities whereas anxiety does not

Gaining insight into one's underlying motives, it seems, is more like a belief conversion than a self-discovery process

If self-efficacy is lacking, people tend to behave ineffectually, even though they know what to do.

Perceived self-efficacy and beliefs about the locus of outcome causality must be distinguished

People's conceptions about themselves and the nature of things are developed and verified through four different processes: direct experience of the effects produced by their actions, vicarious experience of the effects produced by somebody else's actions, judgments voiced by others, and derivation of further knowledge from what they already know by using rules of inference

Stringent standards of self-evaluation [can] make otherwise objective successes seem to be personal failures

Reasonably accurate appraisal of one's own capabilities is, therefore, of considerable value in successful functioning. Large misjudgments of personal efficacy in either direction have consequences. People who grossly overestimate their capabilities undertake activities that are clearly beyond their reach. As a result, they get themselves into considerable difficulties, undermine their credibility, and suffer needless failures. Some of the missteps, of course, can produce serious, irreparable harm