Al Mayadeen English

  • Ar
  • Es
  • x
Al Mayadeen English

Slogan

  • News
    • Politics
    • Economy
    • Sports
    • Arts&Culture
    • Health
    • Miscellaneous
    • Technology
    • Environment
  • Articles
    • Opinion
    • Analysis
    • Blog
    • Features
  • Videos
    • NewsFeed
    • Video Features
    • Explainers
    • TV
    • Digital Series
  • Infographs
  • In Pictures
  • • LIVE
News
  • Politics
  • Economy
  • Sports
  • Arts&Culture
  • Health
  • Miscellaneous
  • Technology
  • Environment
Articles
  • Opinion
  • Analysis
  • Blog
  • Features
Videos
  • NewsFeed
  • Video Features
  • Explainers
  • TV
  • Digital Series
Infographs
In Pictures
  • Africa
  • Asia
  • Asia-Pacific
  • Europe
  • Latin America
  • MENA
  • Palestine
  • US & Canada
BREAKING
Al-Saadi: There were concerns that Lahham would be placed under administrative detention.
Al-Saadi: The Israeli occupation authorities could not prove any allegations leveled against Nasser Lahham.
Lawyer Oussama al-Saadi: The oppressive Israeli measures of delaying Lahham's release had vengeful motives.
Nasser Lahham's lawyer said the journalist was released without any conditions or restrictions, adding that the conditions in which he was kept were terrible.
The Israeli occupation authorities release Al Mayadeen Palestine bureau chief Nasser al-Lahham.
Local Syrian sources: An Israeli airstrike targeted a tank and artillery battalion in the city of Izraa in the Daraa countryside
Al Mayadeen's correspondent in eastern Lebanon: 12 martyrs and 5 wounded in Israeli raids targeting the outskirts of Wadi Fa'ra in the northern Bekaa Valley
Local Syrian sources: More than 10 Israeli raids targeted Sweida, with information about more than five casualties from the Internal Security Forces
Local Syrian sources: Initial reports indicate that approximately 15 people were killed or wounded at the al-Radwan family's guest house in Sweida following a direct exchange of gunfire
Israeli media, citing Israeli political sources, reported that the Shas movement is expected to withdraw from the government within less than 24 hours

"Self-Efficacy" Predicts Success, Not Self-Confidence

  • By Al Mayadeen
  • Source: Agencies
  • 25 Sep 2021 15:54
4 Min Read

While self-confidence entails 'strong beliefs,' self-efficacy entails 'strong positive beliefs' - and the more you have it, the more likely you are to succeed.

  • x
  • Don't fake it till you make it - believe that you can do it. 

Any psychologist would know how much Albert Bandura has revolutionized today's psychology with his social learning theory. Through his studies on how a great deal of learning comes from modeling and observing, Bandura was able to draw the line between self-efficacy and self-confidence: 

“Confidence is a nondescript term that refers to strength of belief but does not necessarily specify what the certainty is about. I can be supremely confident that I will fail at an endeavor.”

 

- Albert Bandura, 'Self-Efficacy: The Exercise of Control.'

While self-confidence refers to the certainty of a belief within, self-efficacy runs from a place in the human mind which largely refers to one's belief that they are able to succeed. In other words: if confidence is belief, self-efficacy is positive belief. 

Self-efficacy is built on a set of hypotheses that are largely connected to the way one views himself - through a "third" eye as though they're watching themselves on a mental screen. Envisioning success, receiving words of affirmation and compliments, having relatable role models and reflecting on one's own past experiences are all ways proposed by Bandura through which one is able to sustain self-efficacy.

People who score high on self-efficacy tend to set higher goals, be more optimistic, and they tend to perform more challenging tasks. 

However, self-efficacy does not only deal with executing decisions and mustering effort: it also deals with failure. According to Bandura, "People who have a sense of self-efficacy bounce back from failure; they approach things in terms of how to handle them rather than worrying about what can go wrong.” Many people avoid trial because they are afraid of error; however, people with self-efficacy come to muster effort and manage their fears and negative emotions. 

Furthermore, self-efficacy has been attributed to a number of benefits that affect productivity, temperament and performance. As individuals face failure or adversity, people with high self-efficacy tend to recover and try again - a quality characterized by resilience. They tend to have healthier lifestyle habits, better performance and productivity at work and educational achievement.

Four Doors to Success 

Beliefs of self-efficacy, according to Albert Bandura, are crystallized through four main channels: master experiences, vicarious experiences, social persuasion, and emotional, physical and psychological states.

Practice makes perfect - which is why mastering experience is a reference point to how much one may believe they can achieve. We believe that we are able to achieve a task when we refer to a time in the past when we were able to. The keyword here is practice - the more we try to hit a target, the closer we come to the bullseye. While positive experiences reinforce this channel, mistakes and failures undermine it. 

Vicarious experiences - in other words, having social role models, is explained by Bandura's idea that "Seeing people similar to oneself succeed by sustained effort raises observers' beliefs that they too possess the capabilities to master comparable activities to succeed." The outside affects the inner, and thus who we surround ourselves with contributes to our framework of self-beliefs. Thus, surrounding ourselves with positive role models, especially those who have high self-efficacy, rubs off on us.

It's all about the compliments. Social persuasion, or positive verbal feedback, is a positive reinforcer for completing the most challenging of tasks and it enhances one's ability to perform. It leads one to believe that they have what it takes to succeed in the task they are taking on. Essentially, it is encouragement - the earlier we are exposed to it, the higher the self-efficacy we attain as we grow older. 

Although a large part of our trust in our abilities comes from social learning, our inner state also plays a role. Our emotional, physical, and psychological states are a factor: Feeling healthy and powerful affects our beliefs, while depression and anxiety may pose as setbacks. However, this does not mean that self-efficacy cannot co-exist with emotional disorders - studies suggest the opposite. Depression and self-efficacy can co-exist, which is a prime reason why many anxious, unhappy people happen to also be successful. 

When it comes to success, the recipe is simple: try, and learn from failure. Bandura, though, made it even simpler for industrial-organizational and clinical psychologists. The theory has broken traditional ideas of simply having the confidence, and turned positive psychology into trend of the season - and many seasons to come. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  • Psychology
  • Self-esteem
  • Self-confidence
  • depression

Most Read

Hezbollah SG reveals war details on Al Mayadeen for the first time

Hezbollah SG reveals war details on Al Mayadeen for the first time

  • Politics
  • 8 Jul 2025
Yemen Navy sinks ETERNITY C ship, shares footage of operation

Yemen Navy sinks ETERNITY C ship, shares footage of operation

  • Politics
  • 9 Jul 2025
This satellite image from Planet Labs PBC shows damage after an Iranian attack at the al Udeid Airbase outside of Doha, Qatar, June 25, 2025 (Planet Labs PBC via AP)

Satellite images show Iran attack damaged US comms dome in Qatari base

  • Politics
  • 11 Jul 2025
An Israeli soldier abandons an excavator during an ambush by al-Qassam Brigades. Arabic text reads "The moment the soldier fled", July, 10, 2025 (Al Qassam Military Media)

Israeli media rue al-Qassam footage, alarmed by fighters among troops

  • Politics
  • 11 Jul 2025

Coverage

All
The Ummah's Martyrs

Read Next

All
Syrian government forces deploy at the Mazraa village on the outskirts of city of Sweida, where clashes erupted between Bedouin clans and Druze factions, southern Syria, Monday, July 14, 2025 (AP)
Politics

Gulf-backed negotiations underway in Syria's Sweida to end clashes

UN: 798 Palestinians killed while trying to reach aid in Gaza
Palestine

UN: 798 Palestinians killed while trying to reach aid in Gaza

A damaged car is seen at a field that was hit in an Israeli airstrike in Nabi Sheet village, in Lebanon's eastern Bekaa Valley, Wednesday, August 21, 2024 (AP)
Politics

Hezbollah condemns Israeli Bekaa massacre, urges action from Lebanon

Palestinians walk next to the closed humanitarian aid distribution center of UNRWA, the UN agency helping Palestinian refugees in Jabaliya, Gaza Strip, on Tuesday, April 29, 2025 (AP)
Politics

Israeli regime cuts electricity, water supplies to UNRWA Gaza offices

Al Mayadeen English

Al Mayadeen is an Arab Independent Media Satellite Channel.

All Rights Reserved

  • x
  • Privacy Policy
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Authors
Android
iOS