Self-efficacy was proposed by Bandura. Bandura's definition of self-efficacy refers to "the degree of confidence that people have in their ability to use the skills they possess to complete a certain work behavior." Bandura believes that in addition to outcome expectations, there is also an efficacy expectation. Outcome expectations refer to people's speculation that a certain behavior of theirs will lead to a certain result. If a person predicts that a specific behavior will lead to a specific result, then this behavior may be activated and selected.

Development

Bandura pointed out in his motivation theory that human behavior is affected by the result factors and antecedent factors of the behavior. The result factor of behavior is what is usually called reinforcement, but his view of reinforcement is different from traditional behaviorism's view of reinforcement. He believes that relevant information can be obtained and new behaviors can be formed without reinforcement during learning. Reinforcement can stimulate and maintain behavioral motivation to control and regulate human behavior.