Most Of The Images Of Reality On

If You Look At Our Theories Of Social Pathology And Then At The Dismal Conditions In Which Children Grow Up In Our Ghettos, You Would Predict That All Of Them Would Be On Drugs Or Psychological Basket Cases. Yet If You Use Criteria Like Gainful Employment, Forming Partnerships And Life Without Crime, You Will Find That Most Of Those Kids Make It.

What People Think, Believe, And Feel Affects How They Behave. The Natural And Extrinsic Effects Of Their Actions, In Turn, Partly Determine Their Thought Patterns And Affective Reactions.

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

The Content Of Most Textbooks Is Perishable, But The Tools Of Self-directedness Serve One Well Over Time.

Reasonably Accurate Appraisal Of One's Own Capabilities Is, Therefore, Of Considerable Value In Successful Functioning. Large Misjudgments Of Personal Efficacy In Either Direction Have Consequences. People Who Grossly Overestimate Their Capabilities Undertake Activities That Are Clearly Beyond Their Reach. As A Result, They Get Themselves Into Considerable Difficulties, Undermine Their Credibility, And Suffer Needless Failures. Some Of The Missteps, Of Course, Can Produce Serious, Irreparable Harm