ABSTRACT
Grounded in social cognitive theory, self-efficacy refers to one’s ‘beliefs in one’s capability to organize and execute the courses of action required to produce given attainments’. Bandura also proposed that self-efficacy beliefs may vary along the dimensions of level, strength, and generality. Self-efficacy level refers to the varying degrees of task complexity with which one may be faced, ranging from the least demanding through to the most challenging pursuits or activities. An appreciation of the sources of self-efficacy beliefs provides valuable insight into the ways through which researchers and practitioners might intervene to bolster athletes’ or exercisers’ beliefs in their capabilities. The effects of self-efficacy on performance and behaviour are clearly complex. The vast majority of recent findings relating to the negative within-subjects effects of self-efficacy on performance have been focused on people’s task-related self-efficacy perceptions about their own capability and have often been conducted within laboratory settings.
