Addresses the centrality of the self-efficacy mechanism (SEM) in human agency. SEM precepts influence thought patterns, actions, and emotional arousal. In causal tests, the higher the level of induced self-efficacy, the higher the performance accomplishments and the lower the emotional arousal. The different lines of research reviewed show that the SEM may have wide explanatory power. Perceived self-efficacy helps to account for such diverse phenomena...

Presents an integrative theoretical framework to explain and to predict psychological changes achieved by different modes of treatment. This theory states that psychological procedures, whatever their form, alter the level and strength of self-efficacy. It is hypothesized that expectations of personal efficacy determine whether coping behavior will be initiated, how much effort will be expended, and how long it will be sustained in the face...

In this article we discuss the strategies that people may use to cope with situations that are risky in that they present the possibility for failure and potential threats to self-esteem. Previous research has indicated that anxiety (Sarason, 1980) and explicitly set low expectations (Sherman, Skov, Hervitz, & Stock, 1981) may lead to performance deficits in these situations. Experiment 1 indicates, in contrast, that with...

We try to identify the configurations of beliefs and goals typical of the various kinds of representation of the future: forecasts, hopes and fears, and a particular kind of anticipatory representations that we call `hope-casts' and `fear-casts', which are supposed to imply not only forecasts and either hopes or fears, but also a normative component according to which the expected event `ought' to happen. We...

13 Ss (aged 18–28 yrs) received 17 painful electrical stimulations of medium intensity, alternated with 3 strong stimulations. 13 matched controls received 20 strong stimulations, which followed a predictable pattern because they were of constant intensity. Subjective fear ratings and autonomic responses of skin conductance response, heart rate (HR), and respiration to a warning signal that preceded the unconditioned stimulus/stimuli (UCS) were higher in the...

Objectives: Taylor's theory of cognitive adaptation proposes that adjustment depends on the ability to sustain and modify illusions (i.e. unrealistic optimism, exaggerated perceptions of control, and self‐aggrandizement) that buffer against threats but also against possible future setbacks. Because the question of whether cancer patients show these illusions has received little attention, the present study compared patients' perceptions of optimism, control, and self‐esteem at different stages...

University students who experienced the 1989 California earthquake were asked a few days afterward to estimate the likelihood that they, the typical student at the school, and the average person their age would someday experience each of several negative life events, including being hurt in a natural disaster such as an earthquake. These responses were compared with those of a quasi-experimental control group of students...

The authors compared levels of optimistic and pessimistic bias in the prediction of positive and negative life events between European Americans and Japanese. Study 1 showed that European Americans compared with Japanese were more likely to predict positive events to occur to self than to others. The opposite pattern emerged in the prediction of negative events. Study 2 replicated these cultural differences. Furthermore, positive associations...

In Study 1, over 200 college students estimated how much their own chance of experiencing 42 events differed from the chances of their classmates. Overall, Ss rated their own chances to be significantly above average for positive events and below average for negative events. Cognitive and motivational considerations led to predictions that degree of desirability, perceived probability, personal experience, perceived controllability, and stereotype salience would...

This paper explores a judgmental heuristic in which a person evaluates the frequency of classes or the probability of events by availability, i.e., by the ease with which relevant instances come to mind. In general, availability is correlated with ecological frequency, but it is also affected by other factors. Consequently, the reliance on the availability heuristic leads to systematic biases. Such biases are demonstrated in...