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Belief in one's ability to succeed in specific situations or accomplish specific tasks. The confidence that you can do what it takes to reach your goals.
Self-efficacy is belief in your ability to succeed at specific tasks. It's not general confidence but confidence in particular domains—you can have high self-efficacy for some things and low for others.
Developed by Albert Bandura as part of Social Cognitive Theory. Self-efficacy predicts effort, persistence, and achievement. It's domain-specific: you can have high self-efficacy for math but low for public speaking.
Assessed through domain-specific questionnaires asking about confidence in performing particular tasks. General Self-Efficacy scales also exist but are less predictive.
Nisbett, R. E. (2015). Mindware: Tools for Smart Thinking. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux.
Sternberg, R. J. (2020). The Cambridge Handbook of Intelligence (2nd ed.). Cambridge University Press.
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Self-efficacy is belief in your ability to succeed at specific tasks. It's not general confidence but confidence in particular domains—you can have high self-efficacy for some things and low for others.
Primarily through mastery experiences (succeeding at progressively harder tasks). Also through watching similar others succeed, encouragement from trusted people, and managing anxiety.
Self-efficacy is a specific type of confidence—belief you can perform particular tasks. General confidence is broader and less predictive of specific outcomes.
Self-efficacy is "I can do this task." Self-esteem is "I am a worthwhile person." You can have low self-esteem but high self-efficacy in specific areas, or vice versa.
Self-efficacy predicts whether you'll attempt challenges, persist through difficulty, and recover from failure. It's one of the most powerful psychological predictors of achievement.
