The processing of certain information sustains self-efficacy. Albert Bandura’s social-cognitive theory posits four sources of information:
We would develop self-efficacy beliefs mostly through our performance achievements, i.e., through experiences of the results obtained. Our performances constitute the main self-efficacy information as they are lived experiences of our own skiing ability. These achievements are about the differentiation by level of difficulty of the performances that we estimate to be able to perform.
Self-efficacy increases when we perceive our ability to achieve performances of increasing difficulty. Successes increase self-efficacy and failures decrease it, particularly when these occur when the perception of self-efficacy is not yet firm. It should be noted that a sense of efficacy is not developed by achieving easy successes. If we experience only achievable performances, we will become accustomed to quick results and, quite possibly, will become discouraged at the first failure.
In previous experiences, we estimate the effects of our actions. The reflection and interpretation of these effects collaborate in the creation of our personal efficacy related to the executions performed. If we obtained positive experiences of success, will most probably increase our self-efficacy beliefs and, on the contrary, if we experienced failures, these will decrease our perceived self-efficacy.
Verbal persuasion is a strategy to stimulate belief in the ability to achieve the proposed objectives. Attending to our conviction about our capabilities and potentialities when facing a difficulty that is surmountable promotes our sense of personal efficacy by listening others’ persuasion. Enhancing our own capabilities by being convinced by others improves our perception of self-efficacy. If we are verbally persuaded that we not only possess the capabilities, but that we are also capable of achieving the proposed objectives, we will surely make a greater effort than one who doubts his own skiing abilities. The reverse will be true for those who have been convinced that they do not possess the necessary attributes for skiing.
To develop self-efficacy, we rely on the information we receive from our instructor, coach, friends, family, or other people. The success of verbal persuasion depends on the credibility and reputation of the person exercising it. Positive and constant feedback helps in the development of our effectiveness, but only to a certain level. It should be clarified that the use of false positive feedback, while producing a momentary placebo effect, may eventually improve immediate performance intensity, but does not influence perceived self-efficacy in the long term.
Changes in efficacy beliefs regulate motivation and action. If we do not achieve the proposed goals and continue to be told that it is due to our lack of effort, we may become demoralized, but will continue to try. It the instructor or coach continues to persuade us that we possess the capabilities despite experiencing continual failure will cause us to doubt them. Verbal persuasion is a component of teaching that produces a certain effect, but it does not replace it. The more confidence we have in the person who verbally persuades us, the more our own sense of efficacy increases.
We have a tendency to believe the opinion of those who have experience and knowledge in skiing by observing the behavior of many others skiers. If we allow ourselves to be persuaded about performances that are within our reach may find that we are capable of achieving them through determination and perseverance. Sometimes we resist being persuaded based on the fact that no one knows our own capabilities as well as ourselves. Instructors and coaches with a high sense of efficacy continue to verbally persuade learners and athletes even when they show resistance; those professionals with low self-efficacy come to the conclusion that further insistence is not warranted.
The method of verbal persuasion indicates how much efficacy beliefs influence, directly or indirectly, human functioning through their effect on other causal factors. During teaching, the use of persuasive feedback interspersed with evaluative feedback collaborates in the acquisition and consolidation of perceived self-efficacy. The evaluative judgments made by instructors and coaches directly influence the self-evaluation of learners and athletes.
Vicarious experience is gained by observing the behavior of others. We model ourselves on other skiers whom we can observe and learn from. By observing the success or failure of others, we develop a social comparison process which impacts our own self-efficacy beliefs. Vicarious experiences intervene in our own expectation of what we are capable of doing, the consequences of our actions, and the use of this information to compare our own behavior with that of others. By observing other skiers making an effort to achieve success, we will be more likely to achieve it ourselves through our own belief in efficacy. Conversely, if we notice that skiers with the same characteristics as us are striving and failing to achieve results, our self-perception of efficacy is likely to be negatively affected.
Watching other skiers of similar level achieve good performances increases our self-efficacy because we are convinced that if others can do it, we can do it too. Paying attention to the performances of skiers in the same group has a persuasive force that influences our sense of efficacy. When we convince ourselves that our own performances are better than those of the average of the group to which we belong, we increase our sense of efficacy, but reduce it otherwise. Contemplating the failure of others at a similar level promotes a natural acceptance of our own failure. Therefore, to increase the instructional value of the sense of self-efficacy in learners and athletes, both instructor and coach must pay attention to orienting the vicarious experience toward certain models.
In addition, we tend to observe the successes of others, but not the effort and perseverance that made it possible to achieve them. This perspective induces us the belief that success is only achieved by those who possess the skills to achieve it. Of course, our own skiing abilities influence achievement, but factors such as motivation, commitment, and persistence should not be underestimated. Social comparison sometimes has a detrimental effect on self-esteem. To avoid this situation, we should compare with ourselves as a reference to establish the progress achieved, thus avoiding the detestable equations with others.
The physiological state, or emotional arousal, influences the perception of self-efficacy. We could be guided by our physiological states in our self-assessment of our ability to cope with a situation. These states would directly affect our self-efficacy belief. Somatic indicators such as stress, tension, fatigue, perspiration, or mood itself affect the recognition of self-efficacy. It is not the intensity of these indicators but how we interpret them. If we take them as a personal incompatibility to the task to be performed, we tend to decrease our self-efficacy, while if we believe them to be normal and passing symptoms, we are prone to increase it.
If we feel emotionally affected by the situation, our level of optimism about solving it declines. If we experience stress and anxiety, we will tend to lose self-confidence and become fragile in the face of failure. Our degree of control over emotional activation and perceived effort is directly involved in our conviction of self-efficacy.
When perceiving the increase of the heartbeat before a competition, an athlete may worry, attributing it to the risk that the situation generates; while another may attribute it to the fact of activating himself emotionally to achieve a state of personal readiness before the start. The athlete, faced with the imminent start of the descent, experiences a state of anticipatory anxiety, or visceral agitation, but knows that this is normal due to the situation: once the descent has started, he knows what he must do.
The beginner skier, on the other hand, experiences constant anxiety because he is not always aware of what he knows, what he can do, or what he should do because, for him, the activity is all about novelty. A particularly effective way to regulate these emotional states is to control events with one’s own behavior. The achievement of valued changes produces satisfaction and the solution of controllable problems relieves stress. By concentrating on the controllable aspects of our own skiing, the uncontrollable ones seem easier to tolerate.
We have the tendency to ski according to our mood: when we are in a good mood we choose ambitious performances, whereas we would not do so when we are not. In the same way this mood is proportionally related to self-efficacy: the better the mood, the greater the sense of efficacy and, when in a negative mood, we are prone to underestimate our capabilities. Optimism, unaccompanied by a sense of efficacy to be able to produce the desired results, would, along with coping efforts in the face of repeated unfavorable events, be impossible to sustain in the long run. If we do not fall into discouragement, or recover quickly from it, would not do so because we have an optimistic disposition but because of our conviction of knowing how to manage events effectively, favoring the development of an optimistic attitude toward what might happen in the future.
