Final Integrative Research Paper

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Final Integrative Paper Personality was one of my first classes as a Graduate student and I enjoyed it thoroughly. This class was essential and beneficial for me to become a successful counselor. This course also took me on a journey that helped me in an active and meaningful way to develop my own personal theory about the concept of self-efficacy that lies at the center of Albert Bandura’s self-cognitive theory that will impact the counseling services I will be providing related to Marriage and Family Counseling. Self-efficacy stood out to me in this course because Bandura’s theory emphasizes the role of observational learning, social experience, and reciprocal determinism in the development of personality. According to Bandura,…show more content…
Bandura explains, “The most effective way of developing a strong sense of efficacy is through mastery experiences” (Bandura, 1994). By performing a task successfully it strengthens our sense of self-efficacy. However, failing to adequately deal with a task or challenge can undermine and weaken self-efficacy. Witnessing other people successfully completing a task is another important source of self-efficacy. According to Bandura, “seeing people similar to oneself succeed by sustained effort raises observers beliefs they too possess the capabilities master comparable activities to succeed” (Bandura, 1994). Bandura asserts people could be persuaded to believe they have the skills and capabilities to succeed and getting verbal encouragement from others helps people overcome self-doubt and focus on giving their best effort to the task at hand. Our own responses and emotional reactions to situations also play an important role in self-efficacy. Moods, emotional states, physical reactions, and stress levels can all impact how a person feels about their personal abilities in a particular situation. For example, a person who becomes extremely nervous before speaking in public may develop a weak sense of self-efficacy in these situations. However, Bandura says "it is not the sheer intensity of emotional and physical reactions that is important…show more content…
I believe if I have a strong sense of self-efficacy I can better help clients to develop a strong sense of self-efficacy if they do not have one. For example, a client may be struggling with what career to pursue that will help better support his or her family. Some clients prefer to pursue a protected career in which they were exposed to by family or friends. This may limit their options because his or her desire is influenced by their self-efficacy or the confidence he or she may have performing in a particular domain. If a client does not have a strong sense of self-efficacy for a specific domain, he or she will not consider it as a possibility. Therefore, a component of my counseling strategy would be to help strengthen a client’s self-efficacy in a specific career or skill domain they feel would help better benefit their

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