Four Ways Sel-efficacy Affects Behavior and Learning

There are ways self-efficacy affects behavior and learning. The first one is choice of activities. Children will choose tasks and activities they believe they can do  and avoid those they believe they won't be good at. I developed my child's self-efficacy through choice of activity by allowing her to decide what she wanted to do. For example in the 5th grade she had to choose between choir and band. I let her decide which one she participated in. The same in high school. I let her choose what clubs to be a part of.

The second way self-efficacy affects behavior and learning is through goals. When children have high self-efficacy in a certain area they will set high goals. For example, my daughter knew she was good at art so she set high goals for her art and achieved them. Most specifically she met the goal of taking AP art and when she got back the art she submitted for the class she ended up getting more credit than she thought she would which raised her self-efficacy.

The third way self-efficacy affects behavior and learning is effort and persistence. When children work on a task they have self-efficacy in they apply more effort and are more likely to persist when they encounter obstacles. For example, when my child was young she took piano lessons. She never really liked taking piano lessons and wouldn't practice or put effort into it. When I took her out of piano lessons and had her focus on art she put the effort into learning techniques of art and was persistent in finding ways to improve her art abilities and types of art she likes and is best at.

The last way self-efficacy affects behavior and learning is in achievement. When children have a realistic sense of their abilities they develop self-efficacy in the area they know they are good at. Even if they try something they aren't very good at it develops their self-efficacy and self-esteem as they realize they've learned something about themselves.

By allowing my child to pick activities she knew she was good at, helping her set and achieve obtainable goals, supporting her in her efforts and achievements I helped my child build a healthy self-efficacy in an environment she felt safe to build it in. I'm confident you can too.