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

Self-appraisals are influenced by evaluative reactions of others.

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

Freedom [should not be] conceived negatively as exemption from social influences or situational constraints. Rather...positively as the exercise of self-influence to bring about desired results.

Coping 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.

Expected outcomes contribute to motivation independently of self-efficacy beliefs when outcomes are not completely controlled by quality of performance. This occurs when extraneous factors also affect outcomes, or outcomes are socially tied to a minimum level of performance so that some variations in quality of performance above and below the standard do not produce differential outcomes

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