Psychology cannot tell people how they ought to live their lives. It can however, provide them with the means for effecting personal and social change.

Self-doubt creates the impetus for learning but hinders adept use of previously established skills

Convictions that outcomes are determined by one's own actions can be either demoralizing or heartening, depending on the level of self-judged efficacy. People who regard outcomes as personally determined, but who lack the requisite skills, would experience low self-efficacy and view the activities with a sense of futility

The evaluative habits developed in sibling interactions undoubtedly affect the salience and choice of comparative referents in self-ability evaluations in later life

[Children] receive direct instruction from time to time about the appropriateness of various social comparisons

It is no more informative to speak of self-efficacy in global terms than to speak of nonspecific social behavior

People who are burdened by acute misgivings about their coping capabilities suffer much distress and expend much effort in defensive action... they cannot get themselves to do things they find subjectively threatening even though they are objectively safe. They may even shun easily manageable activities because they see them as leading to more threatening events over which they will be unable to exercise adequate control.