The relationship between self-perception and external factors : self-efficacy and self construals

3 Introduction.4 Method. 16 Results.26 Discussion. 30 Figures. 35 Appendix. 36 Acknowledgments. 42 References. 44 The Relationship between Self-Perception and External Factors: Self-Efficacy and Self-Construals 3 Abstract The objective of this thesis is to fill an extant gap in the literature on self-efficacy, or one’s perception of one’s ability to perform a specific task, and its relationship to the two types of self-construals. A self-construal refers to how individuals perceive themselves with respect to a particular group, class, organization, or more generally stated, community. People with an independent self-construal tend to focus on the “I”, whereas people with interdependent selfconstrual prefer to think in terms of “We” with respect to a community (Markus & Kitayama, 1991). I primed 36 participants using scenario tasks that were found to foster either an independent self-construal mindset or interdependent self-construal mindset during a preliminary study and tested their self-construal level using the individualism-collectivism scale (Singelis, 1995). Levels of self-efficacy for a puzzle task were then measured by asking participants to self-report how confident they were in their ability to complete each of the five brain-teasers they were given. Participants were also randomized to a high or low anchor statement. The anchor statements were used to give the participants a point of reference by telling them that most people who had previously attempted the puzzle tasks either had been successful at completing all five or hadn’t been successful at completing all five. I first hypothesized that self-construal types would affect self-efficacy level. Results showed that independent self-construal participants who were given a high anchor statement self-reported significantly higher selfefficacy scores for the puzzles (M=46.33, SD=8.09) than interdependent self-construal participants who were also given a high anchor statement (M=34.2, SD=16.36, p=.024). This finding indicates a relationship between self-construal and self-efficacy and suggests that further research should be performed to examine the possible implications of this relationship. I also hypothesized that self-construal type would affect task performance and persistence however, noThe objective of this thesis is to fill an extant gap in the literature on self-efficacy, or one’s perception of one’s ability to perform a specific task, and its relationship to the two types of self-construals. A self-construal refers to how individuals perceive themselves with respect to a particular group, class, organization, or more generally stated, community. People with an independent self-construal tend to focus on the “I”, whereas people with interdependent selfconstrual prefer to think in terms of “We” with respect to a community (Markus & Kitayama, 1991). I primed 36 participants using scenario tasks that were found to foster either an independent self-construal mindset or interdependent self-construal mindset during a preliminary study and tested their self-construal level using the individualism-collectivism scale (Singelis, 1995). Levels of self-efficacy for a puzzle task were then measured by asking participants to self-report how confident they were in their ability to complete each of the five brain-teasers they were given. Participants were also randomized to a high or low anchor statement. The anchor statements were used to give the participants a point of reference by telling them that most people who had previously attempted the puzzle tasks either had been successful at completing all five or hadn’t been successful at completing all five. I first hypothesized that self-construal types would affect self-efficacy level. Results showed that independent self-construal participants who were given a high anchor statement self-reported significantly higher selfefficacy scores for the puzzles (M=46.33, SD=8.09) than interdependent self-construal participants who were also given a high anchor statement (M=34.2, SD=16.36, p=.024). This finding indicates a relationship between self-construal and self-efficacy and suggests that further research should be performed to examine the possible implications of this relationship. I also hypothesized that self-construal type would affect task performance and persistence however, no significant effect was found. Limitations and further directions of research are discussed. The Relationship between Self-Perception and External Factors: Self-Efficacy and Self-Construals 4 Introduction Self-efficacy, or one’s perceived ability to accomplish a designated behavior (Bandura, 1977), predicts persistency on tasks that require sustained cognitive effort (Bandura & Cervone, 1983, 1986; Cervone & Peake, 1986). Self-efficacy research originated to explain people’s ability to perform challenging behaviors. Such behaviors were found to be influenced by the person in question’s observation of other people’s successes or failures (Bandura, 1977). Self-efficacy is part of the Social Cognitive Theory; in that individuals with a higher level of self-efficacy are more likely to imitate a model’s behavior compared to the less efficacious individuals (Bandura, 1986). Bandura found that self-efficacy can be enhanced by witnessing the success of other individuals (1977). One’s self-construal is formed either by using others as a tool for comparison or by using others to define themselves as part of one group or another (Markus & Kitayama, 1991). Both self-efficacy and self-construal are perceptions of the self. However, they do not solely depend on introspection and actually rely heavily on the observation and consideration of other individuals, which is a key link that indicates that they are actually interrelated. This thesis seeks to support the conceptual idea that there should be a relationship between one’s self-construal and their level of self-efficacy. Understanding the interaction between self-construal and self-efficacy is important because, as I will discuss in-depth later on, high levels of self-efficacy have been shown to facilitate task successes and overall psychological wellbeing. Therefore, insight about what elements enhance self-efficacy is valuable and applicable to a wide variety of situations. Accomplishing tasks in a multicultural environment, for example, might be an example of a situation particularly relevant to this thesis because self-construal is often discussed in a cultural context (Markus & Kitayama, 1991). The Relationship between Self-Perception and External Factors: Self-Efficacy and Self-Construals 5 Self-efficacy and self-construal have been examined together in earlier research. For instance, a study on cultural differences and self-efficacy’s effect on coping with job demands by Schaubroeck et al. (2000) used bank tellers from Hong Kong to represent their interdependent sample and bank tellers from America to represent their independent sample. China has been found to be a collectivist society, which means that its citizens typically display an interdependent self-construal and America has been found to be an individualistic society, which means that its citizens typically display an independent self-construal (Markus & Kitayama, 1991). Their sample age mean was 24.8 years old (89% female and 11% male). Job control, job self-efficacy, job demands, and psychological symptoms such as anxiety and depression were all measured by the same scales which were sent to the 556 participants, 436 surveys were returned (207 from Hong Kong and 229 from America). Their results found that a higher perception of job control alleviated the effects of job demands in regards to the psychological symptoms measures for the American tellers with high job self-efficacy but aggravated the effects of job demands on American tellers with low self-efficacy. However, in the Hong Kong sample, the three way interaction between job demands, job control, and job self-efficacy did not predict effects on psychological symptoms (Schaubroeck et al., 2000). This study suggests that self-construal types can affect the way in which self-efficacy works because self-efficacy was found to mediate the effects of job demands on psychological factors for independent selfconstruals, depending on perception of job control. However, it did not have that affect for interdependent self-construals. But in this study, self-efficacy and self-construal work in congruence with other factors and both self-efficacy and self-construal types serve as independent variables. Prior research has not yet investigated how self-construal directly affects