self-efficacy

n. Perceived self-efficacy is concerned with people's beliefs in their ability to influence events that affect their lives. This core belief is the foundation of human motivation, performance accomplishments, and emotional well-being. Unless people believe they can produce desired effects by their actions, they have little incentive to undertake activities or to persevere in the face of difficulties. Perceived efficacy operates in three different forms. In individual efficacy, people bring their influence to bear on their own functioning and on environmental events. However, in many spheres of functioning, people do not have direct control over conditions that affect their lives. They exercise proxy efficacy by influencing others who have the resources, knowledge, and means to act on their behalf to secure the outcomes they desire. People do not live their lives in isolation. Many of the things they seek are achievable only by working together through interdependent effort. In the exercise of perceived collective efficacy, they pool their knowledge, skills, and resources and act in concert to shape their future. – AB