Given A Sufficient Level Of Perceived Self-efficacy

From The Social Cognitive Perspective, It Is Mainly Perceived Inefficacy To Cope With Potentially Aversive Events That Makes Them Fearsome. To The Extent That People Believe They Can Prevent, Terminate, Or Lessen The Severity Of Aversive Events, They Have Little Reason To Be Perturbed By Them. But If They Believe They Are Unable To Manage Threats Safely, They Have Much Cause For Apprehension.

People Infer High Self-efficacy From Successes Achieved Through Minimal Effort On Difficult Tasks, But They Infer Low Self-efficacy If They Had To Work Hard Under Favorable Conditions To Master Relatively Easy Tasks

Because Of Such Conjointedness, Behavior That Exerts No Effect Whatsoever On Outcomes Is Developed And Consistently Performed

Comparative Appraisals Of Efficacy Require Not Only Evaluation Of One;s Own Performances But Also Knowledge Of How Others Do, Cognizance Of Nonability Determinants Of Their Performances, And Some Understanding That It Is Others, Like Oneself, Who Provide The Most Informative Social Criterion For Comparison

For Many Activities, People Cannot Rely Solely On Themselves In Evaluating Their Ability Level Because Such Judgments Require Inferences From Probabilistic Indicants Of Talent About Which They May Have Limited Knowledge. Self-appraisals Are, Therefore, Partly Based On The Opinions Of Others Who Presumably Possess Evaluative Competence