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Without confidence in ones ability, an individual cannot perform to his or her

potential. It is even possible that someone with lesser ability, but with confidence,
can outperform this person because belief in oneself can be a powerful influence.
What is this sense of confidence? Albert Bandura refers to situation-specific selfconfidence as self-efficacy which is the strength of an individuals belief that he
or she can successfully perform a given activity. The concept of self-efficacy has
often been used interchangeably with the concept of self-esteem which is the
process of evaluating the self; however, self-efficacy is more accurately described
as a precursor to self-esteem and is mediated by the individuals self-attributions.
Generally, a model for understanding self-efficacy is to consider an athlete faced
with a specific situation. For instance, a baseball player is in a clinch situation: it
is the bottom of the ninth with two outs, the bases are loaded, and a grand slam
will win the game. Under these conditions, the batter will have thoughts about his
ability to hit a home run. These thoughts, or attributions, are based on his
appraisal of causality in similar situations. In particular, if the batter has hit
previous home runs in tense situations, the batter will consider whether those
outcomes were due to his effort or due to lucky circumstances, whether the cause
is stable, and whether he has control of the outcome. If he believes success is
due to his effort, is stable, and is controllable, his self-efficacy in the situation will
be high. Self-efficacy has been shown to influence performance; therefore, the
higher the batters self-efficacy regarding this specific situation, the more likely
he is to hit the grand slam. In turn, the outcome of hitting the grand slam affects
future attributions and increases self-efficacy, thus creating an ongoing positive
cycle. Of course, this process can also occur in a negative cycle.
What creates self-efficacy?
The individuals self-efficacy about a given situation tends to be derived from
several sources of potential attributions. Previous performance experiences are
the most significant source of attributions that affects the development of selfefficacy. For example, a golfer makes his putt on the last three holes, his belief
that he can make the next putt is increased. However, if he did not make the last
three putts, this his belief in his ability to putt is decreased.
Another source of information that affects self-efficacy is observing others
performing a specific task, referred to as vicarious experiences. If an athlete
observes someone successfully perform a specific behavior that appears to be
within the athletes skill range, the athletes self-efficacy regarding that behavior
may increase. This is a weaker relationship than previous performance
experiences possibly because as observed behaviors become more complex and
out of the athletes skill level, it does not enhance self-efficacy.
Other sources of information include verbal persuasion and the athletes
physiological state of arousal; however, these sources have not been empirically
shown to have much impact on self-efficacy. The lack of impact from verbal
persuasion may be due to recent previous performance experience tending to

override the verbal persuasion. In other words, if an athlete just had a bad
performance experience, she may be less likely to listen to a coachs persuasion
that she is capable of performing a specific task. However, from cognitive theory,
we know that if persuasion is logically based, then it can be more effective. For
instance, if the coach uses examples of specific past performances or related
skills, then the athletes self-efficacy may be influenced. However, the research
evidence is not strong in this area
. Finally, the athletes physiological state of arousal has not been particularly
significant in predicting changes in self-efficacy possibly because level of arousal
can be interpreted negatively or positively by different individuals.
How is self-efficacy increased?
1) Building Upon Successful Experiences. Given that we know the
components of self-efficacy and the sources of information that change selfefficacy, we are capable of developing strategies to increase self-efficacy. For
instance, previous performance is the strongest factor affecting self-efficacy;
therefore, a coach may want to set up situations that provide for successful
experiences for the athlete. An effective method can be to break down more
complex skills into smaller, more specific components that challenge the athlete
but are within his or her current ability level. The martial arts are an example of a
systematic approach to this concept. For each belt rank in the martial arts,
certain skills are taught starting with basic skills and building upon those skills
until the more complex skills are learned at the higher belt level. For instance, a
student is first taught simple kicks, then the kicks may be combined with
extension techniques to obtain distance, then basic jump kicks are taught, and
finally, the more complex jump kicks are taught. The skills at each level are
challenging but not overwhelming to the athlete. This allows the athlete to have
successful experiences which increases self-efficacy.
2) Observations of Peers' Success. Another method of increasing self-efficacy
is having an athlete observe others successfully performing a skill. However, it is
not enough to observe the skill but also believe that she has the ability to copy
what she observed. If she is watching an elite figure skater do a triple loop she is
not going to believe that she can copy it, but if she observes a friend with similar
abilities do a spin she may have greater belief in her ability to copy the
technique.
3) Specific Positive Feedback. Verbal persuasion can also be used to increase
self-efficacy either in combination with the above methods or alone. Generally,
with verbal persuasion it is important to be give very specific feedback which is
best related to previous performance so as to convince the athlete of his or her
ability to accomplish a task. Therefore, saying You can do it! is not as effective
as saying You successfully jumped 24 inches, you can do 26 inches.
4) Psychological Skills Training. Finally, helping the athlete to learn to find and

maintain his optimal level of physiological intensity to successfully perform can


increase his belief in his ability. This can be done by teaching relaxation
techniques to decrease intensity and self-talk to increase or decrease intensity
level as needed.

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