Psychology I / Humanistic and Social-Cognitive Views
Practice question · Multiple choice

A skilled surgeon is confident she can perform an operation well while privately regarding herself as an unworthy person. Why does that combination make sense under Bandura's framework, when it sounds contradictory?

Hints
  1. Ask what each belief is about. Are they about the same thing?
  2. "I can do this operation" and "I am worth something" - do these have the same subject?
Show the answer

D. Because self-efficacy is domain-specific and self-esteem is global.

Why

The contradiction dissolves once the two beliefs have different objects: efficacy is always efficacy at something and varies within one person across domains, where esteem is a global evaluation. The distinction earns its place practically, efficacy responds to mastery experiences, which is why graded exposure works, and global esteem is far less tractable.

Read the lesson: Humanistic and Social-Cognitive Views →

Practise Humanistic and Social-Cognitive Views

The app has 5 more questions on this lesson, and keeps your place in the course. Psychology I is free to start.

More questions on Humanistic and Social-Cognitive Views