Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Self Efficacy and Motivation

Self efficacy and motivation are intrinsically related in that one cannot exist without the other. Self-efficacy, as defined by Burger (1997) is “the belief that one can have an impact on their environment,” (p. 416). The individual, being high in self-efficacy, believes that they can have control and influence over their environment and their behavior, in essence they purport that if they do something, there is a high chance that they will succeed.

Motivation is related to believes of self-efficacy in that, the individual will not be inclined, or motivated, to act, make a change, or respond, if he or she does not feel that they are likely to achieve their desired results. Therefore, the relation that exists between these two is likely to be seen as: one who is high in self-efficacy is also likely to be highly motivated, vise versa, the individual who lacks self-efficacy has little motivation to change.

When utilizing these ideas in the counseling process, it is important to understand that the client is unlikely to work unless the client believes that it will. Therefore, unless the client perceived counseling as helpful and expects a positive outcome, i.e. self-efficacy, they will not be appropriately engaged in or motivated throughout the process.

Those who subscribe to the behaviorists model would likely fail to consider the underlying motivates or past experiences that have caused a lack of self-efficacy or motivation, as little time is spent trying to uncover the true cause of the client’s issue (Burger, 1997). Instead the behaviorist would begin to work with the client in changing the behaviors from the here and now. Additionally, behaviorists believe that self-efficacy is influenced by environment, rather than intrinsically, and therefore will vary from one environment to the next (Pervin, Cervone & Oliver, 2005). Therefore, if a client presents with a lack of motivation to find a job because he or she fears that they would never be called for an interview, the behaviorist would begin working on this issue directly, not analyzing his or her past experiences with interviewing. The behaviorist would insist on changing the client’s environment for submitting an application or resume, eg. via Internet instead of in-person, or even changing the job or area of the state where the client applies to. This is can also be effective when working with clients in a domestic abuse shelter, the population this writer currently serves. Often the women report feeling stigmatized by their past experiences, believing that everyone knows who they are, that they have been abused, and judge them as being weak and helpless. Because of this perception, the women feel that they will not succeed in their own apartments in the same city or in jobs related to their previous work. However, they own feel more positively about moving out of their previous city or in obtaining employment in an area different than their previous work. While the counselors are aware of the client’s past, this becomes irrelevant when working with them to increase their self-efficacy, motivating them to find housing and employment, and eventually assisting them in becoming independent again.

Conversely, the social-cognitive counselor believes that self-efficacy is intrinsic and influenced by past experiences, social settings, and behaviors (Pervin, Cervone & Oliver, 2005). Additionally, social-cognitive counselors go into the past in an effort to understand the client’s perceptions and work towards increasing both their self-efficacy and motivation. For the social-cognitivist, the client is only motivated to achieve things that are important to them and they believe that they can successfully attain. Therefore, when working with the client fearful of applying for jobs, the counselor would explore the client’s desire for obtaining a new job, and then also reflect on past experiences where the client did succeed in achieving something that he or she set out to get. Additionally, when working with abuse survivors, the counselor would focus on the client’s desire to become independent of the abuser, additionally set to prove that she is worthy and capable, and also stress the strength that she has in surviving the abuser and also in getting out of the relationship. All these processes would be designed to increase motivation assure that the client is doing that which she really wants to do, and elevating her sense of self-efficacy.

Stephanie Lowrance-Henckel

References

Burger, J.M. (1997). Personality. Brooks/Cole Publishing, Pacific Grove, CA.Pervin, L., Cervone, D., & Oliver, J. (2005). Theories of Personality (9th ed.).New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons, Inc

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Enjoyed reading your post.

Agree that self-efficacy beliefs influence an individuals thought patterns and emotional reactions. As stated, “perceived self efficacy is the perception that one can perform the tasks required by a situation or cope with a situation”(Pervin, Cervone & Oliver,2005, 329).

In regards to online learning in the helping professions, the learner would be more likely to be successful with a positive perception of self-efficacy than a negative one. In other words, if the learner feels well able to perform the tasks required for success and well able to cope with the demands of on line learning, he or she is more likely to succeed and less likely to feel depressed or anxious. If the learner perceives inefficacy in regards to online learning, or threatened by the situation, the learner is likely to feel high levels of anxiety (Pervin et al., 2005). For example, if a learner feels threatened or inadequate regarding his or her posts in the courseroom, the experience of posting is likely to create anxiety. If the learner feels that he or she is unable to achieve a desired, rewarding outcome, such as a desired grade or completion of the program, depression is likely to result. Those individuals prone to depression, however, have also been noted to have excessively high or demanding standards for themselves. For example, the individual may expect themselves to only receive perfect grades, 100% on all assignments. When this is not achieved, the individual may resort to self blame, enhancing negative self-efficacy, which can develop into a self defeating cycle of behavior (Pervin et al., 2005).

Possible solutions to assist an individual with perceived low self-efficacy is to change these perceptions through modeling and guided mastery (Pervin et al., 2005), thus allowing the individual to acquire new thought patterns and behavior. As cited in Pervin et al, (2005), “strong self-efficacy judgments were associated with higher probabilities of successful task performance” (334). Once the learner perceives him or herself as able to perform the tasks involved, the more likely the learner is to succeed.

Sharon Walker

References:

Pervin, L., Cervone, D., and Oliver, J. (2005). Theories of personality (9th ed.). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley and Sons, Inc., 329-334.