Where Does Self-Efficacy Come From?
Bandura posits 4 sources of self-efficacy. I’ll try to relate them to the graduate school experience • Success experiences most graduate students have had success as undergraduates and earlier. However, graduate school can hand you one of the first tastes of harsh, negative feedback. The key is weathering these setbacks and convincing yourself that you can handle them emotionally. Those who do so prove to themselves that they can handle anything. • Role models positive role models make you feel likely that you can do it, too. Hence the effectiveness of dissertation support groups and good dissertation advising. • Being told by others that you are capable of succeeding. Again, support systems, including a helpful department, encouraging advisor, dissertation group or coach can make a big difference in whether you can stick with it. • Your own view of your emotional reactions. It’s not just whether you react to stress, but how you think of your own reaction, that influences your ability
