By Reneé Yackley and Mary Defilippis

Albert BanduraBorn in 1925 in CanadaGraduated from the University of

British Columbia with the Bolocan Award in Psychology in 1949

Received M.A. in 1951 from University of Iowa, Ph.D, in 1952

In 1953, he began his career at Stanford University

His initial research focused on social modeling

In the 1960’s, he began his studies on children’s development of self-regulatory capabilities

President of the American Psychology Association

Self-EfficacyThrough the regulation of behavior, one

observes one’s actions and evaluate one’s performances.

The affects of self-efficacy appraisals as a means of motivation

Bandura believed that it would be better to have too high of an estimation of one’s own abilities rather than too low, and a higher estimation would be beneficial.

Low self-efficacy can lead to depression and unnecessary doubt.

His experiments were not so much focused on the child’s success, but more on their estimation of their own capabilities.

Important Terms Self-Efficacy: the belief in one’s

capabilities to organize and execute the courses of action required to manage prospective situations

Self-Concept: a cognitive appraisal, integrated across various dimensions, that individuals attribute to themselves, typically accompanied by self-evaluative judgment of self-worth

Social Cognitive Theory: human achievement depends on interactions between one’s behaviors, personal factors, and environmental conditions

Model Similarity: observing others succeed can realize observers’ self-efficacy and motivate them to perform the task if they think they will be successful and vice-versa

Self-Reflection: how you think about and evaluate your own experiences and thought processes (Bandura calls this the most unique human characteristic)

Self-Esteem: success over pretensions

The Sources of Self-Efficacy Appraisals

Actual Performance: past success to build belief in one’s capabilities

Verbal Persuasion: efficacy created and developed as a result of the social messages they receive from others

Vicarious Experience: secondary source of efficacy through the experience of the effects produced by the actions of others

Our Experiment

3rd graders at Holy FamilyWe tested their self-efficacy in relation to

their self-concept as a readerWhich of the sources of self-efficacy

appraisals will have the most influence on the child?

Does the child’s self-concept correlate to his self-efficacy?

Our HypothesisLike Bandura, we also believe that actual performance will

have the most influence on the child, because once the child has accomplished the task, his next decision will be based on that experience.

Procedure

We had three books, which were of three different levels: easy, medium-hard and hard

There were 2 groups of 4 children individually observed and 1 group of 5, observed together

Group 1: Actual Performance

Group 2: Verbal Persuasion

Group 3: Vicarious Experience

Group 1: Experience RubricName and Age

Do you like reading?

Do your parents read to you a lot? How often?

Do you read by yourself a lot? How often?

What is your favorite book?

Would you consider yourself a good student?

Savannah (Age 8)

yes no Yes, every night

Judy Moody Yes

Emily (Age 8)

yes No, they let me read alone

Yes, some every day

Magic Treehouse

Yes

Thessaly (Age 8)

Only when I am in a good mood

Not really, b/c we don’t have enough time

Well…yeah, like three times a week

How the Grinch Stole Christmas

Mmhmm

William (Age 9)

yeah No I read by myself a lot

Magic Treehouse

yes

Group 1: Actual Performance Rubric

Name and Age Do you think you are very good reader, an “okay” reader, or not a very good reader at all?

Child’s 1st Prediction

Treatment: Actual Performance

Child’s 2nd Prediction

Savannah (Age 8) Very good Hard, I read chapter books and I read very often

good performance Hard, because I like reading about science

Emily (Age 8) Very good, I can get through some fast. I read the words smoothly.

Medium Slow, but good performance

Medium

Thessaly (Age 8) An “okay” reader, b/c I don’t know how to pronounce some words

Medium, b/c I’m an “okay” reader

Good, messes up a little

Maybe a different one if I were better

William (Age 9) A very good reader, I read smoothly

Hard, the other two are too easy for me

Slow, but good Hard

Group 2: Experience RubricName and Age

Do you like reading?

Do your parents read to you a lot? How often?

Do you read by yourself a lot? How often?

What is your favorite book?

Would you consider yourself a good student?

Katrina Maria(Age 8 ½)

I love reading

No I read by myself a lot, like 10 a day

Paint the Wind

Yeah, I get A’s and B’s

Jenna (Age 8)

yes Yes, once a week

Yes. My parents make me, so once a week also

Jenny B. Jones

Yes

Bryce (Age 8)

Yes Yes, every night

Sometimes, twice a week

Jenny B. Jones

Yes

William (Age 9)

Yes No Yes, 3 times a day

Bunnicula Yes

Group 3: Verbal Persuasion RubricName and Age

Do you think you are very good reader, an “okay” reader, or not a very good reader at all?

Child’s 1st Prediction

Treatment: Verbal Persuasion

Child’s 2nd Prediction

Actual Performance

Child’s 3rd Prediction

Katrina Maria (Age 8 ½)

An okay reader, b/c I don’t really know

Hard, so I can see if I am a really good reader

Needed no convincing to choose hard

Good performance

Hard, b/c just by reading the introduction it got me interested

Jenna (Age 8) A very good reader, b/c I read a lot

Medium, b/c it looks fun

Responded positively

Hard Slow, stumbled but pretty good

Medium, b/c it looks fun

Bryce (Age 8) A very good reader, I won 2nd place in a reading contest

Medium, b/c I don’t know very hard words

Responded positively

Try Harder Pretty good Hard, at first I thought it’d be too hard but I could read it good enough

William (Age 9) Okay, sometimes I read by myself more than three times

Easy Responded Positively

Medium Good performance

Medium, it’s really good and they talk about bears

Group 3: Experience RubricName and Age

Do you like reading?

Do your parents read to you a lot? How often?

Do you read by yourself a lot? How often?

What is your favorite book?

Would you consider yourself a good student?

Joshua (Age 9) GUINEA PIG

Yes Yes, 2 hours a day

Yes, I hour Spiderwick Yes

Benjamin (Age 8)

Yes Yes, 2 hours or 1 hour

Yes, 2 hours a day

Believe it or not “Sleeping Booty”

yes

Tiffany (Age 8) Yeah Yes, whenever Mrs. Pulido assigns us reading homework

Yes, when I go to the library I pick two books

Lucy’s Quiet Book

A little

Britton (Age 8) Yes Sometimes, my mother reads to my brother more than she reads to me

Yes, 3 to 4 times a week

God’s Little Princess: Devotional Bible

Yes

Jorge (Age 9) Yes Yes Yes, 1 hour every day

Pirates Don’t Wear Pink Sunglasses

Yes

Group 3: Vicarious Experience Name and Age Treatment:

Vicarious Experience

Do you think you are very good reader, an “okay” reader, or not a very good reader at all?

Child’s 1st Prediction

Actual Performance

Child’s 2nd Prediction

Benjamin (Age 8)

Saw Guinea Pig choose Medium and do very well

A very good reader

Medium, sometimes I can read harder than this one

Good performance

Different—the Harder

Tiffany (Age 8) Saw Guinea Pig choose Medium and do very well

An ‘okay’ reader, b/c I read a few books to my mom and she says I do well

(grabs medium before we even started questioning her) Medium, b/c I am an okay reader

Pretty good Medium

Britton (Age 8) Saw Guinea Pig choose Medium and do very well

An okay reader Medium, good reader but not that good

Good performance

Medium

Jorge (Age 9) Saw Guinea Pig choose Medium and do very well

A very good reader

Hard, b/c other boys chose medium [Joshua and Benjamin]

Okay Medium

Our Conclusion…Unlike our hypothesis that actual

performance would have the most influence, verbal persuasion and vicarious experience seemed to have a stronger impact on their self-efficacy.

Critical Questions Would there be a difference in

results when testing boys and girls? Do different sources of self-efficacy

appraisals have more of an influence on different ages?

Would different authority figures have different results?

Would results be different with more children tested?

What would be the difference in results between a public school and a private school?

What motivates self-efficacy for a disabled child?

Nature vs. Nurture

Rousseau Bandura Locke

MERRY CHRISTMAS!