Teachers, too, have been found to give differential treatment to males and females. Gifted females are less often encouraged to pursue the study of math and science subjects than males. This is not to say that all teachers are biased in their opinions of their students' achievement. There are many educators, male and female, who successfully cultivate high self-esteem and achievement with their students, some specifically with their female pupils. For whatever reason, gifted females may hold poor perceptions of their mathematics and science abilities.
Perceptions are a learned trait.
An external factor is one that a subject is unable to control, such as task difficulty or chance, and an internal factor is one that is able to be controlled by the subject, such as ability or effort. Stability was measured as the consistency of a characteristic over time. Ability and task difficulty were seen as stable, effort and chance were considered variable. Heller and Ziegler quoted Bandura's belief that for the most positive of situations to occur, success must be attributed to ability, and failure to chance or lack of effort, therefore causing a higher degree of self-efficacy. The training was considered successful although it did have some limitations.