Ch 6 - Self-Efficacy

Question 1

Define self-efficacy

Answer 1

The belief that one has the capability to initiate or sustain a desired behavior

Question 2

Define self-esteem

Answer 2

The belief that one has value and self-worth as a person.

Self-esteem relates to happiness, self-worth, self-respect, and an internal sense of well-being.

Self-esteem increases initiative and resilience.

Question 3

What strategies might coaches use to promote increased self-efficacy and self-esteem?

Answer 3

Helping clients to set small, achievable goals (successful outcomes increase self-efficacy) for behaviors that are highly desired or valued (increases self-esteem)

Question 4

What are the four sources of self-efficacy identified by Bandura?

Answer 4

1 physiological/affective states
2 verbal persuasion
3 vicarious experiences
4 master experiences

Question 5

How do physiological/affective states impact self-efficacy?

Answer 5

How a person feels about the prospect of change impacts their self-efficacy.

If they feel anxious about change they will be more likely to have low self-efficacy than if they are relaxed and confident.

The relationship goes both ways: physiological states affect self-efficacy and vice versa so it is important to work on both simultaneously.

Question 6

What is the definition of eustress and how is it related to flow?

Answer 6

Eustress is good stress

It represents the flow zone

Question 7

How does verbal persuasion impact self-efficacy and how can coaches use it?

Answer 7

Verbal persuasion, the things people say to us

Coaching is one verbal input

AI is a powerful tool for helping clients become persuaded that they have what it takes to do what they want to do

It is easer to sustain a sense of efficacy, especially when struggling with difficulties, if significant others express faith in one’s capabilities than if they convey doubts.

Coaches can communicate confidence in the ability of clients to reach their vision and achieve their goals. When that confidence is heartfelt, sincere, and based on client strengths, it does much to bolster self-efficacy.

According to Bandura it is far easier to discourage someone with our words than to encourage them.

Question 8

How do vicarious experiences impact self-efficacy?

Answer 8

Self-efficacy increases through the vicarious experience of watching others make a change. People develop the belief that they can do that too.

Vicarious experience includes role models and sharing and telling stories.

Role models must be similar to the client. The greater the perceived similarity, the greater impact a vicarious experience will have on self-efficacy.

The more opportunities people have to witness and relate to others who are doing what they want to do, the more likely it is that they will initiate and sustain that behavior themselves.

Question 9

Besides observing role models, What is one type of vicarious experience that can help increase self-efficacy?

Answer 9

Sharing and telling stories

We can use AI to encourage clients to tell stories of past times they have handled similar challenges or of others who have handled similar challenges

If clients can’t come up with their own stories of vicarious experience, coaches can encourage them to do research and field studies. Stories that describe people similar to themselves

Question 10

How do mastery experiences impact self-efficacy?

Answer 10

The successful accomplishment of our goals is one of the most powerful builders of self-efficacy.

Question 11

Of the four sources of self-efficacy identified by Bandura, which is the most powerful source of self-efficacy.

Answer 11

Mastery Experiences

What we actually accomplish ourselves does more than anything else to build self-efficacy.

Question 12

What is the connection between Social Cognitive Theory and self-efficacy?

Answer 12

SCT asserts that human behavior is determined by three factors that interact with each other.

1 Personal Factors: What we believe and how we feel about what we can do - Physiological and Affective states

2 Environmental factors: support networks and role models - Verbal Persuasion and Vicarious Experience

3 Behavioral Factors: what we experience and accomplish - Mastery Experiences

Question 13

Why is it important for coaches to help clients achieve quick wins?

Answer 13

Positive outcomes lead to increased self-efficacy, while negative outcomes lead to decreased self-efficacy.

Coaches should help clients set small, realistic, and achievable goals so clients can have early success and build their self-efficacy.

Question 14

True or False: People with high self-efficacy experience flow more often than people with low self-efficacy?

Answer 14

True.

People with high self-efficacy know how to set goals and design projects that are just within reach.

Question 15

How does treating their behavior change activities as “experiments” help clients build self-efficacy?

Answer 15

Assisting clients to approach their lives as science experiments or living laboratories can free clients to try new things and bounce back from apparent failure. There are no failures in science only learning experiences.

It is “Win-Learn” rather than “win-lose”

If something doesn’t work, we use that data to design new experiments until we find something that does work.

Question 16

How can TTM help coaches increase the frequency and quality of client mastery experiences?

Answer 16

By identifying the TTM stage of change the client is in for a behavior, the coach can help them set stage-appropriate, incremental goals.

The goals should be SMART: specific, measurable, action-based, and time-bound.

Question 17

True or False: Self-esteem represents the bedrock of coaching?

Answer 17

True.
No progress is possible until self-esteem is secure.

People with very low self-esteem may benefit from therapy more than coaching and an appropriate referral should be considered.

Question 18

What is the effect of self-efficacy and self-esteem?

Answer 18

Self-efficacy impacts self-esteem most directly when the behavior is highly desired or valued. Otherwise it has little or no impact.

Question 19

What is the effect of self-esteem on self-efficacy?

Answer 19

Self-esteem has not been shown to increase the likelihood of positive action or specific performance outcomes.

Self-esteem does impact resilience and initiative

In the face of failure or stress, people with high self-esteem seem able to bounce back better than people with low self-esteem.

High self-esteem is also linked to greater initiative.

Question 20

What are some strategies for enhancing self-esteem described in the positive psychology literature?

Answer 20

Positive Past:
Gratitude (the Gratitude visit or letter)
Forgiveness
Satisfaction with domains of life

Positive Present:
Mindfulness
Savoring
Flow

Positive Future:
Vision
Anticipation
Disputation (confront negative, catastrophic reports with a sense of perspective)

Question 21

According to Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi what is flow?

Answer 21

Flow occurs when both challenges and skills are high and equal to each other.

“It is easier to become completely involved in a task if we believe it is doable. If it appears to be beyond our capacity we tend to respond to it by feeling anxious; if the task is too easy we get bored. In either case attention shifts from what needs to be accomplished…”