Week 6 - Self-Efficacy, Optimism, Hope

Question 1

Elements of Self‐Concept
Self-Esteem

Answer 1

Self‐esteem is the regard or respect that a person has for oneself.

A person with positive feelings regarding the self is said to have high self‐ esteem.

However, self‐esteem can refer to very specific areas as well as a general feeling about the self.
Not always a general feeling - can have different levels of self-esteem in different areas
For instance, a person may have low self‐esteem regarding physical attractiveness and high self‐esteem about ability to do a job well

Question 2

Seligman’s Views on Self-Esteem

Answer 2

self‐esteem is just a meter that reads out the state of the system. It is not an end in itself. When you are doing well in school or work, when you are doing well with the people you love, when you are doing well in play, the meter will register high. When you are doing badly, it will register low

Too much self esteem - ego, narcissism - exists on a continuum

Too little - insecurity, depressive symptoms

Question 3

Self-Efficacy

Answer 3

Albert Bandura (1977) I Think I Can, I Think I Can . . . The Little Engine That Could
Self‐efficacy has produced more research than any other topic in positive psychology

Self‐Efficacy – belief that one’s skills and capabilities are enough to accomplish one’s desired goals in a specific situation (importance of context!!

Belief around our capabilities - context specific

Self-concept affects our efficacy and vice versa

Related to sense of personal control

Question 4

Outcome expectancies – what needs to be done to reach a desired goal

Answer 4

Graduating - expectancies about what needs to be done

Pass classes, apply to graduate

Less important than efficacy expectancies

Question 5

Efficacy expectancies

Answer 5

– an analysis of a person’s own capabilities to complete these necessary actions

Calculate whether you are capable of reaching this goal

Question 6

Childhood Antecedents: Where Does Self‐Efficacy Come From?

Answer 6

Learned human pattern of thinking rather than genetically endowed

Based on social cognitive theory – humans actively shape their lives rather than passively reacting to their environments

Pavlov and skinner - not active participants just passive

Bandura - active

Question 7

Social cognitive theory comes from three ideas:

Answer 7

1 - Humans create cognitive models
Watch parents and others and compare our behavior to them - how they deal with issues

2 - By observing themselves in relation to these cognitive models, people then become skilled at self-regulating their actions as they navigate ongoing environmental events
Choose to be similar or dissimilar whether it worked or not
cognitive reactions influence the surrounding environmental forces that, in turn, shape subsequent thoughts and actions

3 - People and their personalities are a result of these situation‐specific, reciprocal interactions of thoughts & environment
Learn from models, regulate

Question 8

Bandura’s Developmental Ancedents
Where does Self‐Efficacy come from?

Answer 8

Performance experience – refers to previous and related experiences which can influence our perception of competencies. This tends to be the biggest influence.
How did you do the last time you were in this situation - ie. riding a bike

Vicarious experience – refers to the observed performances and experiences of others in similar situations
Social factors - observing other people in a similar situation - upward and downward comparisons
Downward - boosts self-efficacy
Calculating for ourselves based on others

Social persuasion – refers to verbal encouragement or discouragement about a person’s ability to perform. Credibility!
Parenting has an effect on our self-efficacy - what they tell us about ourselves
Parents are credible as children, later they don’t matter as much
Speculation that we will internalize more negative info than positive

Imaginal experience – refers to a person’s ability to imagine his/her success

Physical and emotional states – how one experiences physical and emotional sensations when facing the task/challenge
Make relationship work even though partner sucks

Question 9

Growth Mindset

Answer 9

Self‐efficacy increases

Growth Mindset Growth Mindset: “In a growth mindset, people believe that their most basic abilities can be developed through dedication and hard work—brains and talent are just the starting point. This view creates a love of learning and a resilience that is essential for great accomplishment.” (Carol Dweck, 2015)

Question 10

The Effect of Cancel Culture on Mindset

Answer 10

Affects individual mindset
People canceling also probably have a fixed mindset
Cancel them = dont let them have yet
Contributes to fixed mindset

Question 11

How are self-esteem, self-efficacy and growth mindset related?

Answer 11

When we rely on other people to give self-esteem low self efficacy
High self-efficacy increases a growth mindset

Question 12

Childhood Antecedents: Where Does Self‐Efficacy Come From?

Answer 12

Teachers with high self‐efficacy
Have better relationships with their students
Are more inclusive in situations, including students with differences

Parents with high self‐efficacy ◦
In teens with anorexia nervosa, parent levels of self‐efficacy predicted weight gains
Self‐efficacy “borrowed” from adults

Question 13

Cultural Context and Self‐ Efficacy

Answer 13

Self‐efficacy is influenced by gender roles (American data; Huang, 2013)
Women have higher self‐efficacy in language arts
Men have higher self‐efficacy in math, social sciences, computer sciences ◦

Why? Cultural norms, expectations, stereotype threat ‐ NOT biology

Writing a math test - thinking about the fact that women dont do well in math
Masculinity, not MALE SEX, was correlated with self‐efficacy for technology

Question 14

Individualist and collectivist cultures and self efficacy

Answer 14

US participants rate abilities as high even when performance is poor in math & science

Still feel really good about themselves
In Japanese and Korean participants, low self‐efficacy was found even when performance was good in math

Culture may play a role in the type of persuasion one receives and the modeling that is available

See people like us in roles - affect self-efficacy

Question 15

Some groups have been limited in pursuing goals

Answer 15

Marginalized groups may have been prevented from engaging in certain roles & activities throughout history

Importance of showing diverse leaders so that we can imagine oneself in different situations

Equity, diversity, & inclusion

Question 16

frontal and prefrontal lobes of the human brain evolved to facilitate the prioritization of goals and the planful thinking that are crucial for self-efficacy

Answer 16

When faced with goal-directed tasks, especially the problem solving that is inherent in much of self-efficacy thinking, the right hemisphere of the brain reacts to the dilemmas as relayed by the linguistic and abstract left hemisphere processes

realistic self-efficacy lessen cardiac reactivity and lower blood pressure, thereby facilitating coping.

Question 17

Scales: Can Self‐Efficacy Be Measured?
Situational perspective –

Answer 17

Bandura believes that self‐efficacy should reflect beliefs about using abilities and skills to reach goals in specific circumstances or domains

Scales which assess skills in various domains, e.g., career decisions, alcohol abstinence, internet use, hurricane coping, childbirth, etc. etc. etc.

Betz - 25 item measure that taps confidence in making career decisions

Predict confidence in examining various careers and actual career indecision

Question 18

Scales: Can Self‐Efficacy Be Measured?
Trait perspective

Answer 18

Although Bandura is not a fan, other researchers have developed scales of dispositional self‐efficacy

Self-efficacy experiences involving personal mastery can generalize to actions that transcend any given target behavior and that some people are especially likely to have high self-efficacy expectations across several situations

Self‐Efficacy Scale; New General Self‐Efficacy Scale

23 items to which respondents rate their agreement on a 14 point likert scale
Trying to assess more general self-efficacy-utility is limited

Question 19

Bandura: Situation‐specific measures
Self‐efficacy has predicted:

Answer 19

Lower anxiety
Higher pain tolerance
Better academic performance
More political participation
Effective dental practices
Continuation in smoking cessation treatment
Adoption of exercise and diet regimes

Question 20

Self‐Efficacy’s Influence in Life Arenas
Psychological adjustment

Answer 20

Self-efficacy is implicated in successful coping with a variety of psychological problems

Low self‐efficacy is associated with depression, avoidance, & anxiety

Higher self‐efficacy is associated with overcoming eating disorders and abuse; life satisfaction in a variety of populations

Self‐efficacy may predict success in interpersonal therapy for schizophrenia

Bandura emphasized “enablement factors” - help people to select and structure their environments in ways that set a successful course

Question 21

Self‐Efficacy’s Influence in Life Arenas
Physical health

Answer 21

Self‐efficacy increases health‐related behaviours and decreases unhealthy behaviours

Self‐efficacy helps to maintain these changes

Self‐efficacy has an impact on immune function, susceptibility to infections, neurotransmitters which help with stress management, and endorphins

In individuals with MS, those who developed self‐efficacy had higher quality of life

Self‐efficacy may influence doctors‐ correct diagnoses

Correlation does not equal causation
Could be easier to develop self efficacy if you were never sick

Question 22

Self‐Efficacy’s Influence in Life Arenas
Psychotherapy

Answer 22

Self‐efficacy is a common factor across interventions

Bolsters efficacious thinking

Build successes, use models, allow imagination, verbal persuasion from therapist, lower arousal
Build self-efficacy by choosing to do something where you can be successful

Question 23

Psychotherapy may use one or more of the following five strategies discussed previously for enhancing self-efficacy:

Answer 23

1. Building successes, often through the use of goal setting and the incremental meeting of those goals (Hollon & Beck, 1994)
2. Using models to teach the person to overcome difficulties (e.g., Bandura, 1986)
3. Allowing the person to imagine himself or herself behaving effectively (Kazdin, 1979)
4. Using verbal persuasion by a trustworthy psychotherapist (Ingram, Kendall, & Chen, 1991)
5. Teaching techniques for lowering arousal (e.g., meditation, mindfulness, biofeedback, hypnosis, relaxation) to increase the likelihood of more adaptive, self-efficacious thinking

Question 24

Cultural competence and acculturation
Bicultural self‐efficacy

Answer 24

belief in one’s ability to participate and interact in culture of origin and a second culture

Via language, social relations (understanding norms and nuances), ability to value things from both cultures (ability to value things from both cultural frameworks)

Many benefits!
Participate in two cultures
Reduces acculturative stress - stress that emerges from trying to engage in a new culture

Important for individuals who are not apart of white majority culture - levels of this may affect and individuals willingness to engage within both cultures when obstacles occur

Question 25

Cultural competence and acculturation
Cultural self‐efficacy

Answer 25

– perception of one’s ability to mobilize motivation, cognitive resources, and courses of action necessary in situations characterized by diversity ◦

Comfort interacting in groups that are diverse - move in circles with different people

somewhat different from bicultural self-efficacy as it talks about one’s comfort in navigating a situation in which various groups, some of which may differ from one’s own, are present.

Within a country such as the United States, this type of confidence might encourage more interaction between different cultural groups and subsequently increase empathy and understanding between these groups

Implications for clinicians
Non white people have difficulty going to therapy - therapists are mostly white

Question 26

Collective Self‐Efficacy

Answer 26

Self‐efficacy is often conceptualized at the individual level
BUT – we can also view it as operating on a collective level
Collective self‐efficacy – the extent to which we believe that we can work together to effectively accomplish our shared goals
School and work implications No standard way to assess

Question 27

Learned Optimism

Answer 27

Seligman and Colleagues: A Definition of Learned Optimism
Why did that bad thing happen to me?
Optimist: External, variable, and specific attributions for failure

The optimist explains bad things in such a manner as

(1) to account for the role of other people and environments in producing bad outcomes (i.e., an external attribution),

(2) to interpret the bad event as not likely to happen again (i.e., a variable attribution), and

(3) to constrain the bad outcome to just one performance area and not others (i.e., a specific attribution)

Pessimist: Internal, stable, and global attributions for failure.
Negative outcomes determine one’s attributional explanations.
We can cultivate optimism by consciously challenging any negative self-talk

Question 28

Childhood Antecedents of Learned Optimism

Answer 28

Genetics account for some optimism

Parents model optimism and pessimism – parents who provide safe, coherent environments promote learned optimism

Optimistic parents provide external, variable, and specific explanations

Adaptive excusing…BUT too much of a good thing?

External reasons for failure - no accountability, fixed mindset
Sometimes temporary realistic pessimism may be more beneficial then too much optimism

Trauma and divorce can undermine optimism
Ages in which parental divorce can affect optimism - very young and out of the house - won’t affect
School-age - can affect optimism - can erode our feelings about the future

Question 29

Television can influence pessimism

Answer 29

Sheer quantity
Violence
Tween shows can cause anxiety

Question 30

What Learned Optimism Predicts

Answer 30

Academics, Athletics, Work. Relationships, Coping, Less Depression, Physical Health, Life Satisfaction

Can learn optimism at any age - train yourself to look for the good

Realistic optimists - think good things about the future and what this degree will get me towards

Naive optimists - quit school and become an influencer - naive way of thinking about it

Question 31

Optimism – Scheier & Carver

Answer 31

Defining Optimism as Expectancies of Reaching a Desired Goal

“Stable tendency to believe good, rather than bad, will happen”

Optimism stems from childhood experiences – parental modelling- their form of optimism stems from early childhood experiences that foster trust and secure attachments to parental figures

Question 32

Optimists use problem‐solving and approach‐oriented strategies

Answer 32

Optimists: Planning, positive reframing, seeing the best in situations
Better way to go even if we are not completely realistic thinkers

Pessimists: avoidance, denial
More realistic thinkers than optimists
Die at a younger age, worse physical and mental health

Question 33

Life Orientation Test (LOT‐R) predictions on when optimists do better:

Answer 33

Starting college, work performance, enduring trauma, caring for Alzheimer’s patients, undergoing heart surgeries, coping with cancer, coping in general, dealing with health issues

Question 34

Culture, Optimism, and Pessimism

Answer 34

African Americans use optimism in many ways
Similar to Caucasian samples
Also, buffers racism and discrimination

Interactions of optimism and pessimism in Asian Americans
- Higher pessimism is associated with greater problem solving
- Being more realistic is associated with greater problem solving
- What “works” for Asian Americans is different, not necessarily more effective

Question 35

Gender influences optimism and pessimism

Answer 35

Comparative optimism – good things will happen to me more than for others ◦
Personal optimism – good things will happen to me in general
Men scored higher than women on both of these

Why are men more optimistic?
-Less barriers and more control over their life
-Personal control - easier to be happier
-Women are happier – an optimism of sorts?

Question 36

Hope
A Definition

Answer 36

Hope involves goal‐directed thinking

Pathways thinking – our capacity to find routes to desired goals
Agency thinking – our motivation to use those routes

Intrinsic vs. external motivation
Goals can be short‐term or long‐term, easy or difficult
Emotions depend on the success

Question 37

Childhood Antecedents of Hope

Answer 37

Parents teach pathways and agency

Strong attachment is crucial – secure attachment & hope

Childhood trauma can diminish hope

Even in trauma, high hope individuals are less susceptible to depression

Question 38

What Hope Predicts

Answer 38

Outcomes in academics – better GPAs, student retention, grit

Effective combination of hope with ethnic identity – best predictor of academic success in ethnic minority groups

Physical health, adjustment, psychotherapy

Question 39

Putting Temporal Futures in Perspective

Answer 39

Past, present, and future-oriented ◦
We have focused on the future orientations (Self‐efficacy, optimism, hope) Past orientation – an emphasis on pleasurable views of previous interpersonal relationships ‐ sentimental

Western perspective alters views on past and present orientation

Past orientation can be overly sentimental and hold us back – too cautious ◦

From an Eastern perspective, a past orientation ensures the preservation of tradition

Present orientation – savouring!
Too much present orientation – addiction, injuries from accidents, temptations

Flexibility and capability of switching orientations

Achieving balance helps us be productive with our time

Question 40

Cultural Caveats About Temporal Perspective

Answer 40

Caucasian and Western groups emphasize future Different perspectives of time ◦

Polychronic: time is plentiful, things get done when they need to, many things happen at once

Monochronic: time is linear and sequential
Less temporal concerns in Eastern cultures