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SELF-EFFICACY: THE EXERCISE OF CONTROL
Albert Bandura
An outline composed by Gio Valiante
Emory University
CHAPTER 11 - COLLECTIVE EFFICACY
"Perceived collective efficacy is defined s a group's shared belief in its conjoint
capabilities to organize and execute the courses of action required to produce given
levels of attainments" (477).
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The collective belief centers on the groups operative capabilities
Interactive dynamics create an emergent property that is more than
the sum of its individual attributes.
Several factors contribute to interactive effects
o Mix of knowledge and competencies
o How the group is structured
o How well it is led
o How the members interact with each other (undermining or
building)
GAUGING COLLECTIVE EFFICACY (478)
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There are two approaches to the measurement and evaluation of
collective efficacy
o Aggregate members appraisals of their personal capabilities for
the functions they perform in the group
o Aggregate members' appraisals of their groups capabilities as a
whole
o Beliefs of personal efficacy are not detached from the larger
social system
 For instance, a quarterback considers his offensive line,
receivers, etc.
o The two indices of collective efficacy are at least moderately
coordinated
Perceived collective efficacy is not a monolithic group attribute
o Teachers at differing grade levels face different challenges that
vary in amenability to personal control
o Individuals occupying different roles or positions in the same
social system may differ somewhat in their in how they view
their groups collective efficacy
Collective efficacy is of course rooted in self-efficacy
o A group of elf-doubters is not molded into a collectively
efficacious force
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A weak link that has to perform interdependently can spell
group failure
o A group of highly efficacious individuals may perform poorly
if they do not work well together
Beliefs of collective efficacy predict level of group performance
o The stronger the beliefs they hold about their collective
capabilities, the more they achieve
o Schools, organizations, and athletic teams
 Bandura (1993) did a collective efficacy study of 79
schools .
 The stronger the staffs' shared belief in their
instructional efficacy, the better the school performed
academically
o
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Political Efficacy (483)
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Perceived political efficacy involve peoples beliefs that they can
influence the political system
o Personal efficacy needed to produce results by effort and use
of capabilities
o How amenable social systems are to change by individual and
collective influence
o Individuals who judge themselves powerless effect little effort
or change
Structure of Political Efficacy Beliefs (485)
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Social cognitive theory posits that political activity is better explained
and predicted by particularized efficacy beliefs that bear on
legislative activities
o Locus of control is non predictive of political action
o General, global measures are weakly predictive
Human survival in the nuclear age requires the inhabitants of nations
to challenge the military doctrines and justifications for nuclear
weapons.
o Those who choose to get involved in nuclear disarmament
activities have higher collective efficacy than those who
remain inactive
o It is easier to exert collective efficacy in close knit
communities
Participatory Dilemmas in Collective Action (488)
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Significant social changes are typically spearheaded by a minority
bearing the full burden
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Social activism is a dynamic, not static affair
Group success brings benefits to the participants
People derive self-respect from challenging social practices
that violate their ethical standards
A strong sense of camaraderie provides sustaining
interpersonal rewards at a time when the tangible benefits of
social change may be long in coming
The more a persons well being and identity are tied to a group,
the stronger are the felt obligations to the cause.
Joint Impact of Efficacy and System Trust on Political Activism (490)
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People who believe that they can help to achieve desired futures will
act on that belief regardless of whether they hold the political system
in high or low regard.
Those who are active within the political system believe they can
influence it
Research on political efficacy must therefore assess not only a multi
faceted efficacy belief system, but also different forms of political
activism at different levels of government systems.
Development of Political and System Trust (491)
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Beliefs that one can influence the government start early in life.
o Listening to adults model political attitudes
o Their ability to influence adults and/or teachers at school may
play a part
o Adult females feel less politically efficacious than adult males
Electronic Campaigning and the Political Process (492)
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Political parties and commercial interests with a lot of financial clout
are increasingly orchestrating legislative activities over the media
airwaves
o Talk radio
o Television call in media
o The media coverage of campaigns has shifted from political
issues to tactics of electoral races
 It is a negative state of affairs that frustrating peoples
and see politics as manipulative
 Computer politicking does not regulate quality of
political discourse or interchanges
o In this era of electronic campaigning, image politics
orchestrated by pollsters, computer programmers, and image
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makers has become the major source for influencing the
electorate
 It is easier to buy an image than to earn it through good
deeds
The more voters rely on television for their information the
more their voting decisions are influenced by candidates image
qualities rather than by their positions on issues
Collective Efficacy and Militant Social Action (497)
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It is often said that hopelessness breeds militant social action
o Evidence disputes this
o For people living under inequities, comparatively few take
action
o The challenging question is why mos people subject to
maltreatment and dismal living conditions acquiesce
Magnitude of civil disorder is governed by three sets of factors
o Level of social discontent arising form economic decline,
oppression, and social inequities
o Traditional acceptance of force to achieve social change
o Third factor is the balance of coercive power between military,
police, industry and labor
People are not empty vessels shuffled about by external forces
o People are proactive
o Groups resort to protesting when they believe the payoff
outweighs the penalties
o Militant activism is instigated by detrimental conditions
People who lead protests and who are activists are generally
o Better educated
o Have greater self- pride
o Have stronger beliefs in their ability to shape events
o Favor coercive measures
o *in most nations, protests are led by university students, not
the underprivileged
Building Community-Wide Efficacy for Social Change (500)
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shaping the social future through institutional change is a long,
tortuous process
o The challenge is to build a community wide sense of efficacy
o Alinsky was a masterful community organizer
 His approach to collective enablement was founded on
self- reliance
 "Never do anything for someone that they can do for
themselves" (500).
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Social power comes in three forms
 Political power
 The power of money
 The power of numbers
The role of community organizer
o Not to solve their problems but to
o Help them develop capabilities to solve their own problems
o Serves as a community enabler
o Construct a self- directing community that unifies, enables, and
motivates its residents
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ENABLEMENT BY MEDIA MODES OF INFLUENCE (504)
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An uninformed public is apt to be an ineffective if not an apathetic
one
o The media shapes how people think about issues
o The general public must be informed, motivated, and its
collective efforts channeled
o Effective use of the media is, thus, in integral part of collective
efforts.
Media Use for Policy Initiatives (505)
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The responsiveness of the media to the public interest will depend
partly on the strength of the public voice. Therefore a good part of
media advocacy is devoted to building coalitions and teaching
community groups how to promote their policy initiative through a
variety of media outlets.
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Entertainment Media in Social Change (505)
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Burgeoning population growth is by far the most urgent global
problem
o Produces environmental degradation
o Global ecosystem cannot sustain the high consumption
o Curbing that growth is imperative for survival
Many factors give rise to large families
o Children help support parents in later years
o Male resistance to contraception
o Efforts to bring down the population growth must include not
only strategies and benefits relative to family planning, but
must also include the role and status of women in societies in
which they are treated subserviently.
o Dramatic serials are effective vehicles for reaching vast
numbers of people
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ENABLEMENT FOR SOCIOCULTURAL CHANGE (511)
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The benefits of change carry social costs...some entrenched customs
are forfeited
Obstacles to Social Change (511)
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New practices usually threaten existing status and power relations
If change were instantly beneficial change would be welcome
Obstacles to change can be constructed by privileged social groups
Properties of Efficacious Model of Diffusion (513)
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If effective programs are to be adopted, people must be equipped with
the
o Skills
o Beliefs of personal efficacy
o Incentives
Successful models of social diffusion have (4) four phases
o Selecting an optimal sight for introducing innovation
 Some sectors are more receptive than others
o Creating the necessary preconditions for change
 Increasing awareness of benefits of change and
innovations
o Implementing an effective program for change
 Mere attitude change is not enough and has met with
little success
 Fostering the desired behavior is also desirable
 "After people behave in new ways, their attitudes
accommodate to their actions" (513).
o Using successful examples to disperse innovations to other
settings
 If new patterns of behavior are to be acquired, potential
adopters must be provided with emulatable models to
impart the necessary knowledge, value, and skills
Social Impact of Innovations (516)
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Innovations can have a profound impact on society
o Create new industries
o Alter institutional practices
o Restructure how people live their lives
o When new technologies are introduces without addressing the
social conditions that control access to them, they may in fact
exacerbate social problems
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Verdicts about the worth of an innovations ultimately rest on
value systems.
Self-efficacy theory approaches the issue of inequitable distribution
of benefits in terms of creating equitable opportunity to make use of
innovations
o Opportunities ought to be expanded to all members
o The structuring of social agencies to endure access to
opportunities should be considered as much a part of the
innovation as the technology itself
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Communications Innovations and Social Diffusion of Ideas and Social
Practices (517)
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Social cognitive theory analyzes social diffusion of ideas, values, and
social practices in terms of (3) three constituent processes and the
psychosocial factors that govern them
o Acquisition of knowledge
 Symbolic modeling by print media, radio and television
 Innovations that are difficult to understand are given
less consideration
 Informal personal channels
o Adoption of behavioral practices
 Environmental inducements
 Adoptive behavior
 Modeled benefit increase adoption of new behaviors
 Necessary resources
 both personal and social well being are served by
weariness to new practices
o Diffusion through various social networks
 Kinship, friends, colleagues, occupational colleagues . . .
 More likely to learn new ideas and practices from
contact with different casual acquaintances than from
the same, close circles.
 People with many social ties are more apt to adopt
innovation
 Different social networks transmit differing innovations
and news.
UNDERMINERS OF COLLECTIVE EFFICACY (520)
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The accelerated pace of informational and technological change and
extension of global interdependence
o The need for shared purposes to keep the earth habitable is
crucial
o Many factors undermine the development of collective efficacy
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Transnational interdependence (where people are
affected by events very far away).
 The major challenge to leadership is to forge a national
sense of self--efficacy to take advantage of globalization
while minimizing the price to local cultures
Modern life is increasingly regulated by complex physical
technologies that most people neither understand nor believe
they can do much to influence
The social machinery of society is no less challenging
Social fragmentation along racial, religious and ethnic lines
Advanced telecommunications are spreading idea, values, and
styles of behavior transnationally at an unprecedented rate
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Factional Efficacy and Gridlocking of Social Initiatives (524)
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"Clearly there exists a paradox to be explained. The rise of narrowinterest groups flexing their factional efficacy does not jibe well with
the diagnosis of growing public apathy and feelings of helplessness"
(524).
o In the absence of shared imperatives, growing factional
efficacy can be undermining of collective efficacy
Bidirectionality of Social Influence (524)
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Human influence, whether individual or collective, is a two way
process
o Social transactions are rarely unilateral
o The less control that people bring to influence on their own
lives, the more control they relinquish to others
o As a society, we enjoy the benefits left by those before us who
collectively fought inhumanities and worked for social reforms
that permit us better lives. Our own collective efficacy will, in
turn, shape how future generations live their lives.
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