The performances of others are often selected as standards for self-improvement of abilities

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

People judge their capabilities partly by comparing their performances with those of others

Moral justification is a powerful disengagement mechanism. Destructive conduct is made personally and socially acceptable by portraying it in the service of moral ends. This is why most appeals against violent means usually fall on deaf ears.

Moreover, joint occurrences tend to be better recalled than instances when the effect does not occur. The proneness to remember confirming instances, but to overlook disconfirming ones, further serves to convert, in thought, coincidences into causalities.

The adequacy of performance attainments depends upon the personal standards against which they are judged

People who regard themselves as highly efficacious act, think, and feel differently from those who perceive themselves as inefficacious. They produce their own future, rather than simply foretell it.