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
Albert BanduraAmong the types of thoughts that affect action, none is more central or pervasive than people's judgments of their capabilities to deal effectively with different realities
Albert BanduraMost of the images of reality on which we base our actions are really based on vicarious experience.
Albert BanduraSelf efficacious children tend to attribute their successes to ability, but ability attributions affect performance indirectly through perceived self-efficacy
Albert BanduraCoping with the demands of everyday life would be exceedingly trying if one could arrive at solutions to problems only by actually performing possible options and suffering the consequences.
Albert BanduraBehavior must also be adequately assessed under appropriate circumstances. Ill-defined global measures of perceived self-efficacy or defective assessments of performance will yield discordances. Disparities will also arise when efficacy is judged for performances in actual situations but performance is measured in simulated situations that are easier to deal with than the actualities
Albert Bandura