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GROUP ASSIGNMENT# 2

RESEARCH METHODS-1

GROUP # 6

GROUP MEMBERS
Asma Khalid 22BP105

Assignment making(editing, formatting)

relationship of self efficacy and depression

Theories of depression

Iqra Iman 22BP102

Self efficacy, theories of self efficacy

Areeba 22BP104

Self efficacy, theories of self efficacy

Ramsha Arshad 22BP106

Depression, types of depression

Amna Jabbar 22BP107

Depression, types of depression

Hina Umar 22BP113

Relationship of self efficacy and depression

Submitted to: Ma’am Anam

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Relationship between self efficacy and depression

Self efficacy

Self-efficacy refers to an individual’s belief in his or her capacity to execute behaviors necessary

to produce specific performance attainments (Bandura, 1977, 1986, 1997). Self-efficacy reflects

confidence in the ability to exert control over one’s own motivation, behavior, and social

environment. These cognitive self-evaluations influence all manner of human experience,

including the goals for which people strive, the amount of energy expended toward goal

achievement, and likelihood of attaining particular levels of behavioral performance. Unlike

traditional psychological constructs, self-efficacy beliefs are hypothesized to vary depending on

the domain of functioning and circumstances surrounding the occurrence of behavior.

According to Bandura, self-efficacy is part of the self-system comprised of a person’s attitudes,

abilities, and cognitive skills. This system plays a major role in how we perceive and respond to

different situations. Self-efficacy is an essential part of this self-system.

The Role of Self-Efficacy

Virtually all people can identify goals they want to accomplish, things they would like to change,

and things they would like to achieve. However, most people also realize that putting these plans

into action is not quite so simple. Bandura and others have found that an individual’s self-

efficacy plays a major role in how goals, tasks, and challenges are approached.

People with a strong sense of self-efficacy:

1. Develop deeper interest in the activities in which they participate

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2. Form a stronger sense of commitment to their interests and activities

3. Recover quickly from setbacks and disappointments

4. View challenging problems as tasks to be mastered

People with a weak sense of self-efficacy:

1. Avoid challenging tasks

2. Believe that difficult tasks and situations are beyond their capabilities

3. Focus on personal failings and negative outcomes

4. Quickly lose confidence in personal abilities

Theories of self efficacy

Bandura’s theory of self efficacy

The term ‘self-efficacy” was first coined by psychologist Albert Bandura (1977) a Canadian-

American psychologist and a professor at Stanford University. Albert Bandura (1977) states

individuals develop their self-efficacy beliefs by interpreting information from four main sources

of influence.

1. Mastery Experiences (Performance Outcomes)

The most influential source is the interpreted result of one’s previous performance, or mastery

experience. When talking about Mastery experiences, this refers to the experiences one gains

when they take on a new challenge and are successful at doing so.

“Mastery experiences are the most influential source of efficacy information because they

provide the most authentic evidence of whether one can muster whatever it takes to succeed.
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Success builds a robust belief in one’s personal efficacy. Failures undermine it, especially if

failures occur before a sense of efficacy is firmly established” (Bandura, 1997).

2. Vicarious Experiences (Social Role Models)

The second important source of self-efficacy is through the vicarious experiences provided by

social models. When one has positive role models in their life (especially those who display a

healthy level of self-efficacy) – one is more likely to absorb at least a few of those positive

beliefs about the self.

Bandura (1977) posits that “Seeing people similar to oneself succeed by sustained effort raises

observers’ beliefs that they too possess the capabilities to master comparable activities to

succeed.”

3. Social Persuasion

Receiving positive verbal feedback while undertaking a complex task persuades a person to

believe that they have the skills and capabilities to succeed.

“Self-efficacy is influence by encouragement and discouragement pertaining to an individual’s

performance or ability to perform” (Redmond, 2010)

4. Emotional and Physiological States

The emotional, physical, and psychological well-being of a person can influence how a they feel

about their personal abilities in a particular situation.

However, Bandura (1977) states, “it is not the sheer intensity of emotional and physical reactions

that is important but rather how they are perceived and interpreted. People who have a high sense
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of efficacy are likely to view their state of affective arousal as an energizing facilitator of

performance, whereas those who are beset by self- doubts regard their arousal as a debilitator.”

Bandura wasn’t the only psychologist to delve into researching self-efficacy. One example of

another influential self-efficacy researcher is James Maddux, who is actually responsible for

suggesting the existence of a fifth main source of self-efficacy: imaginal experiences, or

visualization (Maddux and Meier, 1995).

Imaginal Experiences/Visualization

James Maddux (2013) has suggested a fifth route to self efficacy through “imaginal

experiences”, the art of visualizing yourself behaving effectively or successfully in a given

situation”.

Imaginal experiences (or visualization) is basically someone attempting to portray their goals as

achievable. It’s like the old saying that goes “it’s so close you can almost taste it” – visualization

is about putting yourself (in your head) in a pole position to being capable of achieving anything

one sets their mind to. With this method, in order to enhance one’s own self-efficacy or that of a

child, the focus needs to be on painting a picture – making success seem as the most likely

outcome (Maddux and Meier, 1995).

By painting oneself or others in a favorable position, Maddux (1995) hypothesized that the levels

of self-efficacy in said individual would rise given that they are now more susceptible – after

portraying themselves at the finish line – to believe in themselves.

Depression
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Depression is a mood disorder which prevents individuals from leading a normal life, at work

socially or within their family. Seligman (1973) referred to depression as the ‘common cold’ of

psychiatry because of its frequency of diagnosis.

It causes severe symptoms that affect how you feel, think, and handle daily activities, such as

sleeping, eating, or working. To be diagnosed with depression, the symptoms must be present for

at least two weeks.

Types of depression

1. Major depression which includes symptoms of depression most of the time for at

least 2 weeks that typically interfere with one’s ability to work, sleep, study, and

eat.

2. Persistent depressive disorder (also called dysthymia), which often includes less

severe symptoms of depression that last much longer, typically for at least 2

years.

3. Prenatal depression which occurs when a woman experiences major depression

during pregnancy or after delivery (postpartum depression).

4. Seasonal affective disorder which comes and goes with the seasons, typically

starting in late fall and early winter and going away during spring and summer.

5. Depression with symptoms of psychosis which is a severe form of depression

where a person experiences psychosis symptoms, such as delusions (disturbing,

false fixed beliefs) or hallucinations (hearing or seeing things that others do not

see or hear).
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Individuals with bipolar disorder (formerly called manic depression or manic-depressive illness)

also experience depressive episodes, in which they feel sad, indifferent, or hopeless, combined

with a very low activity level. But a person with bipolar disorder also experiences manic

episodes, or unusually elevated moods in which the individual might feel very happy, irritable, or

“up,” with a marked increase in activity level.

Psychodynamic Theory

During the 1960’s psychodynamic theories dominated psychology and psychiatry. Depression

was understood in terms of: Inwardly directed anger (Freud, 1917), Introjection of love object

loss, super-ego demands (Freud, 1917), Excessive narcissistic, oral and/or anal personality need

(Chodoff, 1972), Loss of self-esteem (Bibring, 1953; Fenichel, 1968), and Deprivation in the

mother child relationship during the first year (Kleine, 1934).

Freud’s psychoanalytic theory is an example of the psychodynamic approach. Freud (1917)

prosed that many cases of depression were due to biological factors. However, Freud also argued

that some cases of depression could be linked to loss or rejection by a parent. Depression is like

grief, in that it often occurs as a reaction to the loss of an important relationship.

However, there is an important difference, because depressed people regard themselves as

worthless. What happens is that the individual identifies with the lost person, so that repressed

anger towards the lost person is directed inwards towards the self. The inner directed anger

reduces the individual’s self-esteem, and makes him/her vulnerable to experiencing depression in

the future.

Beck’s (1967) Theory

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One major cognitive theorist is Aaron Beck. He studied people suffering from depression and

found that they appraised events in a negative way. Beck (1967) identified three mechanisms that

he thought were responsible for depression: The cognitive triad (of negative automatic thinking),

Negative self schemas, Errors in Logic (i.e. faulty information processing)

The cognitive triad are three forms of negative (i.e. helpless and critical) thinking that are typical

of individuals with depression: namely negative thoughts about the self, the world and the future.

These thoughts tended to be automatic in depressed people as they occurred spontaneously.

Beck believed that depression prone individuals develop a negative self-schema. They possess a

set of beliefs and expectations about themselves that are essentially negative and pessimistic.

Beck claimed that negative schemas may be acquired in childhood as a result of a traumatic

event. Experiences that might contribute to negative schemas include: Death of a parent or

sibling, Parental rejection, criticism, overprotection, neglect or abuse, Bullying at school or

exclusion from peer group.

However, a negative self-schema predisposes the individual to depression, and therefore

someone who has acquired a cognitive triad will not necessarily develop depression. Some kind

of stressful life event is required to activate this negative schema later in life. Once the negative

schema are activated a number of illogical thoughts or cognitive biases seem to dominate

thinking.

Beck (1967) identified a number of systematic negative bias’ in information processing known

as logical errors or faulty thinking. These illogical thought patterns are self-defeating, and can

cause great anxiety or depression for the individual. For example:

1. Arbitrary Inference. Drawing a negative conclusion in the absence of supporting data.

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2. Selective Abstraction. Focusing on the worst aspects of any situation.

3. Magnification and Minimisation. If they have a problem they make it appear bigger than

it is. If they have a solution they make it smaller.

4. Personalization. Negative events are interpreted as their fault.

5. Dichotomous Thinking. Everything is seen as black and white. There is no in between.

Such thoughts exacerbate, and are exacerbated by the cognitive triad. Beck believed these

thoughts or this way of thinking become automatic. When a person’s stream of automatic

thoughts is very negative you would expect a person to become depressed. Quite often these

negative thoughts will persist even in the face of contrary evidence.

Relationship between self efficacy and depression

Citation
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Cetinkaya, L. (2019). The relationship between perceived parental control and internet addiction:

A cross-sectional study among adolescents. Contemporary Educational Technology, 10(1), 55-

74. https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1203208.