Perceived self-efficacy influences the types of causal attributions people make for their performances

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

One cannot afford to be a realist.

Most of the images of reality on which we base our actions are really based on vicarious experience.

Self-appraisals of efficacy are reasonably accurate, but they diverge from action because people do not know fully what they will have to do, lack information for regulating their effort, or are hindered by external factors from doing what they can

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

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