Self-efficacy

You know how there are some things you feel like you can confidently accomplish? And how there are some things that make you wonder “Can I do it?” because you think you aren’t good at it, even if you do have some skill?

The belief in your own ability to succeed in a particular task, subject, or area is called self-efficacy. When you have high self-efficacy in something, you believe you are capable of accomplishing the task and feel motivated to engage. This allows you to spend more time on it practicing, and finally getting better at it. But when you have low self-efficacy in something, you may think "I'm not really good at this… this feels impossible” and you don’t feel motivated to start, practice, or finish the task. Your self-efficacy can also vary in different contexts. For example, you might have high self-efficacy when you are presenting to a group you are comfortable with, and have low self-efficacy when you are presenting to others. And here’s the thing about self-efficacy. It is a perception of your ability, which might be completely inaccurate. You can be incredibly competent but still have low self-efficacy. For example, you might have created many exciting personal projects before, but still feel very hesitant to work on an open source project because you think you still aren’t good enough to contribute.

Having low self-efficacy often occurs when someone starts something new and, compared to others around them, they think that they are taking a longer time to learn and improve. However, our self-efficacy is shaped by our past experiences and often comes from having done the task many times before. And everyone has different experiences, especially in tech. But when we look at the people around us, it isn’t easy to see how vastly different everyone’s experiences are, and we may slip into thinking we are not as good as others at this moment.

But research shows that self-efficacy, this belief in whether you can succeed in a particular area, is one of the most important influences in our ability to persist in learning and problem solving. It is often even more important than your existing skill to execute the task.

So, how can you increase your self-efficacy? You can start by tuning into yourself, noticing small successes, and learning from others. We can pay attention and notice when we have low-self efficacy and change that internal dialogue. We can also give ourselves the opportunities to achieve small successes; by continuing to practice, even when things are difficult. We can learn about how others have struggled and succeeded at similar tasks; and get feedback from those with more experience and skill, who can help us develop new strategies and improve.

Self-efficacy levels affect our behavior everyday: from how willing we are to learn a new tool to how much we feel like we belong in tech. So what are some areas in which you have low self-efficacy?

This week, try and notice low self-efficacy in yourself or even others What could you do to improve it? And when you do notice it, remind yourself that self-efficacy grows with experience and persistence through challenges.

Here's a chance for you to practice your computational problem solving skills!

Remote: miro board

In-person: printed worksheets + toy bears (8 per group)