Self-Efficacy Theory¶

Theory · All theories
Evidence · 90 claims (57 for, 31 mixed, 2 against) · 66 studies (33 associational, 14 causal, 14 review, 3 quant-synthesis, 1 design, 1 theoretical), q1–q3 · 16 of 66 report an effect size · 88 claims rest on one study

Description¶

Self-efficacy is "people's beliefs in their ability to perform a course of action required to achieve a specific task" (Bandura, 1977). The theory's central claim is specificity: self-efficacy is not a general trait like self-confidence or self-concept, and it is not the same as documented ability. A learner's self-efficacy for "correctly subtracting fractions" is a distinct belief from their self-efficacy for "writing a persuasive essay," even though both might contribute to a broader (and much less predictive) sense of being "good at school" (Seifert & Sutton, 2018). Because self-efficacy beliefs are self-constructed rather than measured, they can diverge from true capability in either direction; the most functional level is at or slightly above actual capacity (Bandura, 1997).

Bandura (1977) identified four sources of self-efficacy, in order of typical strength (Pajares & Schunk, 2001, 2002): (1) prior mastery experience — the strongest source; succeeding at similar tasks raises self-efficacy, failing lowers it — but only if the success is genuine and the task actually meaningful, since success at trivial tasks, or praise for successes a student has not really had, does not raise self-efficacy (Erikson, 1968/1994); younger, elementary-age students in particular draw on a much shorter personal history when judging whether they can succeed again, so building a convincing history of success may require deliberately widening what counts as "the past" for them (Eccles et al., 1998); (2) vicarious experience/modeling — watching a similar peer succeed raises the observer's own expectation that they can succeed too, an effect that is strongest when the observer lacks direct experience of the task and when the model is respected or seen as genuinely comparable in ability (Schunk & Zimmerman, 1997) — overused without any real success of the student's own, or with a model perceived as "out of their league," vicarious mastery can backfire, since students may simply disqualify the model as irrelevant to their own potential; (3) verbal persuasion — a trusted person's encouragement can raise self-efficacy, though its effect is comparatively limited on its own, working mainly to reinforce direct or vicarious experience, and more so when persuasion comes from more than one person (Goddard, Hoy, & Hoy, 2004); and (4) physiological/emotional states — anxiety or bodily stress signals (sweating, racing heart) can be interpreted as evidence of incapability, lowering self-efficacy. Critically, these four sources don't operate directly — a learner interprets each event, and it is that interpretation, not the raw experience, that shapes the belief.

High self-efficacy for a task produces three effects, each with an upside and a downside: it makes learners more willing to choose tasks they feel confident about (which can mean avoiding valuable but unfamiliar challenges); it increases persistence at the task (which is beneficial unless it crowds out other priorities); and it improves coping with stress and recovery from failure (which generalizes to non-academic pursuits as readily as academic ones). When self-efficacy is very low and sustained, it can produce learned helplessness — the belief that effort makes no difference — a phenomenon Seligman (1995) first demonstrated behaviorally: animals repeatedly shocked with no way to escape later failed to escape even once escape became possible simply by moving to the other side of the cage. In people, learned helplessness produces a characteristic attribution pattern — attributing a problem to oneself, generalizing it across many areas of life, and seeing it as permanent ("I'm stupid; I never perform well on any schoolwork, and I never will") — contrasted with a more optimistic pattern that attributes problems to outside, specific, temporary causes ("The teacher made the test too hard this time; it doesn't prove anything about next time or other subjects"). The optimistic pattern closely resembles high self-efficacy's own framing of a setback as limited to a specific, temporary task rather than a stable trait of the self.

Implications¶

Context¶

Requirements¶

Opportunities for learners to actually succeed at meaningfully similar tasks (mastery experience is the strongest, most reliable lever)
Visible peer models roughly similar to the learner in ability, since modeling works by the observer inferring "if they can do it, so can I"

Constraints¶

Self-efficacy theory explains the process of motivation (how beliefs affect behavior) but says little about content — which tasks are intrinsically satisfying rather than merely achievable (Seifert & Sutton, 2018); pairing it with content-focused theories (interest, task value) fills this gap
Persuasion-based interventions ("I know you can do this") are the weakest of the four sources and unlikely to work alone without genuine opportunities for mastery
Self-efficacy beliefs can be miscalibrated (too high or too low relative to true capability), and large discrepancies create their own motivational problems

Target Learners¶

Learners facing a specific, definable task or skill, since self-efficacy is inherently task-specific rather than a global trait
Learners at risk of learned helplessness after repeated failure, where breaking the pattern requires engineered opportunities for genuine, attributable success

Target Learning Objectives¶

Sustained engagement, task persistence, and resilience after setbacks
Willingness to attempt appropriately challenging tasks rather than avoiding them

Theory¶

Supporting¶

Social Learning Theory [+S] — self-efficacy is Bandura's own extension of social learning theory, and modeling (one of the four sources) is a direct application of observational learning

Contradicting / Qualifying¶

Self-efficacy is often used interchangeably with "expectancies for success" in Expectancy-Value Theory, but the two are conceptually distinct: self-efficacy is task-specific, while expectancies for success are typically domain-specific (Park, 2018)

Claims¶

Self-efficacy negatively correlates with cheating, but actual ability does not inversely correlate with dishonesty [+W] — attached 2026-10-11 from Sandra Leaton Gray et al. (2025), which proposed "Combined Theory of Planned Behaviour and Self-Efficacy account of AI-era cheating"; tests this page's relationship.
Three academic self-efficacy profiles (low, moderate, high) are identified among university students with motor disabilities using Latent Profile Analysis [+W] — attached 2026-10-11 from Suriá-Martínez R et al. (2026), which proposed "Multidimensional model of academic self-efficacy comprising Attention, Communication, and Excellence".
In SEM, all three self-efficacy dimensions are positively associated with AI use, with Excellence strongest (β = .47), followed by Communication (β = .31) and Attention (β = .22); the model explains 43% of variance [+M] — attached 2026-10-11 from Suriá-Martínez R et al. (2026), which proposed "Multidimensional model of academic self-efficacy comprising Attention, Communication, and Excellence"; tests this page's relationship.
The High-Perception High-Vigilance profile combines elevated AI use anxiety and STARA awareness with strong capability perceptions and AI creative self-efficacy [~W]
Academic procrastination and learned helplessness positively predict cheating tendency, while academic self-efficacy negatively predicts it among university students [+W]
Self-efficacy has a significant positive effect on motivation among undergraduates using generative AI [+W]
Thoughtless use of generative AI significantly and negatively predicts both self-efficacy and motivation [~W]
Students confident about their mathematical ability are mostly also convinced of the relevance of mathematics, forming a motivational basis; low-confidence students are hard to motivate [+W]
ANN analysis identifies AI learning self-efficacy and perceived usefulness as the strongest and most stable predictors of AI learning anxiety, with only modest advantage over linear benchmarks [+W]
Educational cross-sectional studies link stronger AI reliance or dependence scores with lower academic self-efficacy, higher academic stress, and stronger performance expectations [~W]
Teaching self-efficacy, professional identity, and AI literacy are each significantly associated with AI teaching innovation behavior, with additional links among the mediators [+W]
Early exposure to career pathways in high school is reported to enhance students' self-efficacy and occupational awareness [+W]
Midterm self-efficacy (comfort and confidence) did not differ between conditions after three assignments, though both varied significantly across algorithmic topics [~W]
Higher academic self-efficacy profiles report greater overall academic AI use, with a large effect (η² = .36) [+W]
Faculty attitudes toward AI fall into four profiles—optimistic, critical, critically reflective, and neutral—and optimistic faculty with high AI self-efficacy are more likely to adopt AI [+W]
Perceived usefulness negatively moderates the relationship between academic self-efficacy and academic stress [~W]
Students' self-efficacy for using generative AI increased over the semester, with current self-efficacy significantly higher after the fifth assignment than after the first [+W]
At Time 3, profile membership was significantly associated with Japanese learning self-efficacy and learning burnout, with all three profiles differing pairwise [+W]
Problem-based learning connecting coursework and practice is associated with stronger candidate skill development and self-efficacy [+W]
Self-efficacy and motivation partially mediate the negative relationship between thoughtless GenAI use and self-directed learning, including a sequential SE→MOV pathway [+W]
Students' confidence and readiness correlate mostly with self-efficacy and collaboration rather than with formal instruction [+W]
An online PD program using unplugged explainable machine-learning activities increased K–12 educators' AI self-efficacy from below-moderate to above-moderate levels [+W]
Self-efficacy does not significantly moderate the relationship between AI anxiety and career decisions [-W]
Trust in AI and academic self-efficacy serially mediate the literacy-to-continued-use association (literacy → trust → self-efficacy → use) [+W]
Technological self-efficacy significantly but modestly predicts faculty AI well-being [+W]
Agriculture teachers' self-efficacy is positively related to career persistence indicators such as career commitment and job satisfaction [+W]
Los estudiantes que mejoraron sus niveles de autoeficacia presentaron avances significativos y menor carga cognitiva extrínseca. [+W] — attached 2026-10-15 from Ramírez Ruiz (2018), which proposed "Teoría social cognitiva de la autoeficacia y la agencia humana (Bandura) como marco del andamiaje motivacional"; tests this page's relationship.
Participants induced to hold high self-efficacy show greater improvement in visual discrimination sensitivity than participants induced to hold low self-efficacy [+M] — attached 2026-10-17 from Zacharopoulos G et al. (2014), which proposed "Self-efficacy theory as a social-cognitive account of behavioural change"; tests this page's relationship.
Fake social-comparative feedback combined with fictional malleability information successfully induces large changes in self-efficacy beliefs [+M] — attached 2026-10-17 from Zacharopoulos G et al. (2014), which proposed "Self-efficacy theory as a social-cognitive account of behavioural change".
Learners' perceived self-efficacy during learning moderated the effect of prompts on learning outcomes [+W] — attached 2026-10-19 from Nadja Gentner et al. (2020), which proposed "Aptitude-treatment interaction perspective: state-like self-efficacy during learning as a moderator of instructional support effectiveness".
DBT-based video tutorials significantly raise both task relevance and self-efficacy from before to after training [+M]
Male secondary students report higher self-efficacy than female students after learning from video modeling examples, without higher performance [~W]
Mastery and performance-approach goals positively predict self-efficacy while performance-avoidance goals negatively predict it across all three grade levels [+W]
Performance-avoidance goals negatively predict both self-concept and self-efficacy across all three grade levels [~W]
Narrative instruction leads to higher germane cognitive load and self-efficacy, and lower extraneous cognitive load, than expository instruction [+W]
Lower creative achievements, higher creative self-efficacy, and higher task motivation predict more positive bias in self-assessed creative performance [~W]
Higher divergent thinking, creative self-efficacy, creative self-concept, and task motivation predict more positive self-assessed creative performance [+W]
Teachers' self-efficacy for SRL promotion, but not their attainment value, is positively related to their self-reported SRL promotion when both are modelled simultaneously [+W]
Attributional feedback raises self-efficacy and performance, with ability versus effort feedback credibility depending on learners' capabilities and timing [+W]
Belonging, task relevance, and individual mindset together predict classroom self-efficacy, with belonging the strongest predictor [~W]
Boys rate their mathematics ability under challenge significantly higher than girls at every level of observed mathematics ability, including the highest (p < 0.001) [+W]
ChatGPT use boosts university students' self-efficacy for task resolution, but self-efficacy barely tracks actual performance [~W]
Coping versus mastery model benefits depend on task difficulty and observers' prior success [~W]
Cognitive modeling raised division skill more than didactic instruction while both raised self-efficacy equally, with self-efficacy mediating treatment effects [~W]
Creative Inquiry course produced a significant increase in participants' creative self-efficacy [+W]
Reported teacher self-efficacy for teaching autistic children differs across countries, with relatively high levels in Ireland and the opposite conclusion for German teachers [~W]
In a cross-sectional survey, computer self-efficacy statistically mediates the association between computer anxiety and perceived ease of use of an LMS [+W]
CSE partially mediates anxiety's effect on PEU: the direct ANX–PEU path remains significant but weaker [+W]
Goal orientations moderate self-efficacy perceptions in ways not originally predicted by self-efficacy theory [~W]
Descriptive patterns link infrequently reported experiences to initial self-efficacy: teaching others and no impact were reported by higher self-efficacy students, consulting a teacher by lower [~W]
Lower initial self-efficacy significantly increased the odds of students reporting that getting help from peers increased their self-efficacy [+W]
Individual factors supportive of adolescent creativity include openness to experience, intrinsic motivation, creative self-efficacy, and external attributions for adversity [+W]
Higher initial self-efficacy increased the odds of students reporting that accomplishing the problems increased their self-efficacy [~W]
Prior programming experience significantly predicted Promptly task performance and prompting self-efficacy [+W]
School-family balance is predicted by both academic and parental self-efficacy and in turn predicts school and family satisfaction [+W]
Programming self-efficacy and programming literacy did not significantly moderate the trust–appropriate reliance relationship [~W]
Proximal goals produced higher motivation, skill, self-efficacy, and intrinsic interest than distant or general goals [+W]
Self-efficacy correlates positively with subsequent motivation and performance across cognitive and sport domains [+W]
Children's self-efficacy for planning did not significantly moderate plan quality improvements after feedback [~W]
Self-modeling raised self-efficacy for learning, motivation, and posttest skill among below-grade-level children [+W]
Teacher self-efficacy significantly predicts perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use of GenAI tools [~W]
Verbal short-term memory and academic self-efficacy are positively associated with children's vocabulary [+W]
In the absence of feedback, self-efficacy after problem solving was not associated with invested, expected, or willingness-to-invest effort, and threat was not associated with any effort measure (Experiments 3 and 4) [-W]
Feedback valence affects post-task self-efficacy, challenge, and threat: negative feedback lowers self-efficacy and challenge and raises threat (Experiments 1 and 2) [+M]
The effect of feedback valence on expected effort required is fully mediated by self-efficacy (Experiments 1 and 2) and threat (Experiment 1) [+M]
Writing apprehension and anxiety show strong negative correlations with writing self-efficacy in postsecondary students [+W] — attached 2026-10-20 from Kim M. Mitchell et al. (2023), which proposed "Writing self-efficacy as beliefs about writing ability within Bandura's social cognitive framework of triadic reciprocality".
Writing self-efficacy typically improves over a single academic term but fluctuates and drops when students enter new writing contexts [+W] — attached 2026-10-20 from Kim M. Mitchell et al. (2023), which proposed "Writing self-efficacy as beliefs about writing ability within Bandura's social cognitive framework of triadic reciprocality".
Teacher self-efficacy shows positive links with patterns of teacher behavior and practices related to classroom quality [+W] — attached 2026-10-21 from M. Zee (2016), which proposed "Teacher self-efficacy as an organizing framework for classroom processes, student adjustment, and teacher well-being"; tests this page's relationship.
Providing feedback on lesson plans amplifies the intervention effect on teacher self-efficacy (large effect, near-significant) [+W] — attached 2026-10-21 from Mok et al. (2022), which proposed "Individual support activities taxonomy linking mentoring activities to Bandura's sources of self-efficacy".
No individual support activity other than feedback on lesson plans significantly moderated the intervention effect [~W] — attached 2026-10-21 from Mok et al. (2022), which proposed "Individual support activities taxonomy linking mentoring activities to Bandura's sources of self-efficacy".
Preservice teachers report higher self-efficacy for inclusive education than in-service teachers [~W]
Time management interventions show conflicting evidence for raising self-efficacy [~W]
Both GLA groups showed a large, significant increase in pipetting self-efficacy, with no difference between conditions [+W]
Country and school level moderate the relationship between CMSE and many correlates [~W]
Teacher burnout dimensions show the strongest correlations with CMSE among teacher-level psychometric constructs [~W]
Teachers with higher self-efficacy report higher instructional quality at the individual teacher level, with congruent domain-specific associations [+W] — attached 2026-10-22 from Holzberger et al. (2021), which proposed "Multilevel motivation-to-performance framework: teacher self-efficacy modeled at both individual and school level with context effects and cross-level interactions"; tests this page's relationship.
Higher education teachers' self-efficacy beliefs at semester start positively predict students' end-of-course overall rating, learning, and joy, and negatively predict boredom [~W]
Teachers with higher self-efficacy are rated by students as showing better classroom management, more cognitive activation, and greater support [~W]
More teaching experience is associated with lower teacher self-efficacy and somewhat lower student-rated classroom management and student self-efficacy [~W]
Self-efficacy mediates the relation between environmental antecedents and achievement emotions in e-learning, supporting the control-value theory mediation structure [+W]
Gender, teaching experience, and educational level covary with TSE and burnout levels at Time 1 [~W]
In a structural equation model, self-efficacy for procedural knowledge positively predicts intended use of retrieval practice, while perceived cost negatively predicts reported use [+W]
Students' externalizing behavior is negatively associated with teachers' self-efficacy for instructional strategies, behavior management, student engagement, and emotional support [+W] — attached 2026-10-24 from M. Zee et al. (2016), which proposed "Dyadic perspective on teacher self-efficacy".
Students' internalizing behavior predicts lower teacher self-efficacy for instructional strategies and emotional support but higher self-efficacy for behavior management [+W] — attached 2026-10-24 from M. Zee et al. (2016), which proposed "Dyadic perspective on teacher self-efficacy".
Teachers' perceived classroom misbehavior exacerbates the negative association between externalizing student behavior and self-efficacy for behavior management [+W] — attached 2026-10-24 from M. Zee et al. (2016), which proposed "Dyadic perspective on teacher self-efficacy".
In Grades 7-9, transcription contributes to writing quality indirectly through planning and self-efficacy [+W]
Student-reported teacher neuroticism negatively predicts student performance self-efficacy, with effects that differ across mathematics and English [~W]
Planning and self-efficacy contributed more to text generation in Grades 7-9, transcription more in Grades 4-6 [~W]
Most variance in teachers' self-efficacy toward individual students occurs within teachers rather than between teachers [~W]

The evidence by question¶

Does a learner's belief that they can succeed at a task predict whether they start and persist, and which goals and feedback raise it? Learners' task-specific self-efficacy beliefs predict whether they initiate, persist through, and recover from difficulty on academic tasks. [+M]
Which instruction raises learners' self-efficacy: close goals, feedback on progress, guided practice? Proximal goals and ability attributional feedback for early learning raise self-efficacy more than distant goals and effort feedback, by a review's report of earlier studies [+M]

Social Learning Theory — self-efficacy is Bandura's own theoretical extension, adding a cognitive, belief-based mediator to observational learning
Self-Determination Theory — both treat perceived competence as central to motivation, though SDT frames it as one of three basic psychological needs (alongside autonomy and relatedness) rather than a task-specific belief
Self-Regulated Learning — self-efficacy beliefs shape whether a learner persists with self-regulatory strategies after an initial setback
Expectancy-Value Theory — shares the "expectancy" component but frames it as domain-general rather than task-specific
ARCS Model of Motivational Design — the Confidence category is a direct, practitioner-facing operationalization of self-efficacy-building tactics
Locus of Control — a related but distinct cognitive factor: self-efficacy is belief in one's own task-specific ability, while locus of control is a broader belief about whether outcomes generally are controlled by one's own effort or by external forces
Bandura's social learning theory: four fundamental requirements for people to learn and model behavior
Bandura's four self-efficacy building experiences framework
Bandura's four sources of self-efficacy as a framework for educator practice with marginalised students
Teacher belief efficacy as self-efficacy plus outcome expectancy (Bandura-based two-component construct)
Expectancy-value account of homework effort and motivation

Examples¶

Key Sources¶

Bandura, A. (1977). Self-efficacy: Toward a unifying theory of behavioral change. Psychological Review, 84, 191–215. doi:10.1037/0033-295x.84.2.191
Bandura, A. (1997). Self-efficacy: The exercise of control. Freeman.
Seifert, K., & Sutton, R. (2018). Motivation theories on learning. In R. West (Ed.), Foundations of Learning and Instructional Design Technology. EdTech Books. https://edtechbooks.org/lidtfoundations/motivation_theories_on_learning
Park, S. W. (2018). Motivation theories and instructional design. In R. West (Ed.), Foundations of Learning and Instructional Design Technology. EdTech Books. https://edtechbooks.org/lidtfoundations/motivation_theories_and_instructional_design
Pajares, F., & Schunk, D. H. (2001, 2002). Self-beliefs and school success: Self-efficacy, self-concept, and school achievement. In R. Riding & S. Rayner (Eds.), Perception (pp. 239-266). Ablex.
Seligman, M. E. P. (1995). The optimistic child. Houghton Mifflin.
Erikson, E. H. (1968/1994). Identity: Youth and crisis. W. W. Norton.
Eccles, J. S., Wigfield, A., & Schiefele, U. (1998). Motivation to succeed. In W. Damon & N. Eisenberg (Eds.), Handbook of child psychology (5th ed., Vol. 3, pp. 1017-1095). Wiley.
Schunk, D. H., & Zimmerman, B. J. (1997). Social origins of self-regulatory competence. Educational Psychologist, 32(4), 195-208. doi:10.1207/s15326985ep3204_1
Goddard, R. D., Hoy, W. K., & Hoy, A. W. (2004). Collective efficacy beliefs: Theoretical developments, empirical evidence, and future directions. Educational Researcher, 33(3), 3-13.
Arduini-Van Hoose, N. (2020). Self-efficacy theory. In Educational psychology. Retrieved from https://edpsych.pressbooks.sunycreate.cloud. CC BY-NC-SA 4.0.

Page metadata

Field	Value
`type`	`theory`
`title`	`Self-Efficacy Theory`
`description`	`Self-Efficacy Theory holds that a learner's task-specific belief in their own capability to succeed — distinct from general self-confidence or actual ability — is one of the strongest drivers of motivation, task choice, persistence, and resilience.`
`status`	`review`
`canonical`	`True`
`generated`	by `claude/unspecified` on `2026-08-29`
`trust`	unverified — no one has confirmed this page's content

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