Morony et al.
Self-belief constructs
Self-efficacy: a person’s belief in their ability to bring about desired specific outcomes.
o Domain-specific
o Not relative to others
Self-concept: positively correlated with self-efficacy, and reflects a more general
sense of how well a person thinks she/he performs at a school subject or set of tasks.
Measures of self-concept reflect a student’s self-comparison to his or her immediate
peers (i.e., frames of reference) and involve cognitive and affective evaluations of the
self.
o Big fish little pond effect
o Can also be measured in relation to critical skills underlying mathematics
competence – namely memory and reasoning
Anxiety: self-efficacy and self-concept in their negative form (collectively, self-doubt)
are highly related to anxiety, which refers to one’s physiological and affective
responses when performing or thinking about a task. Mathematics anxiety can be
thought of as a domain-specific anxiety related to, or directed toward, mathematics.
o Several mechanisms have been postulated for the negative relationship
between mathematics anxiety and mathematics self-concept and self-efficacy.
Firstly, students who find mathematics anxiety-producing may seek to
avoid those negative feelings by avoiding mathematics, thereby
avoiding the practice needed to achieve mastery.
Second, those who are already struggling with mathematics will find it
less enjoyable than those who are able to master it.
Third, the anxious feelings use up working memory capacity, leaving
fewer resources for anxious students to solve problems resulting in
negative effects on performance. The anxious feelings will feed into
self-concept (e.g., I think I am not good at mathematics).
Confidence: hoe zeker ben je van je antwoord dat je net hebt gegeven?
Evaluation: hoeveel vragen denk je dat je goed geantwoord hebt?
Verschil self-concept en confidence
The main difference between these two constructs is in terms of the frames of
reference – confidence judgments are made in relationship to the just-completed task
whereas self-concept involves comparison with other people. Another difference is in
terms of domain specificity, with self-concept being specific in the sense that it is
closely linked to a particular academic domain (English, mathematics, science). In
contrast, confidence is more general in the sense that empirical evidence points to a
strong confidence factor.
Verschil self-efficacy en confidence
One difference is in timing: the self-efficacy question is asked prior to a (hypothetical)
cognitive act and confidence is asked immediately after answering a cognitive item.
Whereas self-efficacy refers to a person’s perception of their ability to conduct a
particular behavior, self-confidence reflects a degree of certainty about a perception,
event, or outcome.
Hypotheses
The three measures that are expected to load on a Confidence/Evaluation factor all
involve evaluations of competence.
The second latent dimension we expect to emerge is the Self-beliefs. This dimension
follows from Lee’s (2009) findings regarding the relationship between self-efficacy,
self-concept and anxiety, and it represents the affective elements of selfdoubt and
anxiety.
Self-belief constructs
Self-efficacy: a person’s belief in their ability to bring about desired specific outcomes.
o Domain-specific
o Not relative to others
Self-concept: positively correlated with self-efficacy, and reflects a more general
sense of how well a person thinks she/he performs at a school subject or set of tasks.
Measures of self-concept reflect a student’s self-comparison to his or her immediate
peers (i.e., frames of reference) and involve cognitive and affective evaluations of the
self.
o Big fish little pond effect
o Can also be measured in relation to critical skills underlying mathematics
competence – namely memory and reasoning
Anxiety: self-efficacy and self-concept in their negative form (collectively, self-doubt)
are highly related to anxiety, which refers to one’s physiological and affective
responses when performing or thinking about a task. Mathematics anxiety can be
thought of as a domain-specific anxiety related to, or directed toward, mathematics.
o Several mechanisms have been postulated for the negative relationship
between mathematics anxiety and mathematics self-concept and self-efficacy.
Firstly, students who find mathematics anxiety-producing may seek to
avoid those negative feelings by avoiding mathematics, thereby
avoiding the practice needed to achieve mastery.
Second, those who are already struggling with mathematics will find it
less enjoyable than those who are able to master it.
Third, the anxious feelings use up working memory capacity, leaving
fewer resources for anxious students to solve problems resulting in
negative effects on performance. The anxious feelings will feed into
self-concept (e.g., I think I am not good at mathematics).
Confidence: hoe zeker ben je van je antwoord dat je net hebt gegeven?
Evaluation: hoeveel vragen denk je dat je goed geantwoord hebt?
Verschil self-concept en confidence
The main difference between these two constructs is in terms of the frames of
reference – confidence judgments are made in relationship to the just-completed task
whereas self-concept involves comparison with other people. Another difference is in
terms of domain specificity, with self-concept being specific in the sense that it is
closely linked to a particular academic domain (English, mathematics, science). In
contrast, confidence is more general in the sense that empirical evidence points to a
strong confidence factor.
Verschil self-efficacy en confidence
One difference is in timing: the self-efficacy question is asked prior to a (hypothetical)
cognitive act and confidence is asked immediately after answering a cognitive item.
Whereas self-efficacy refers to a person’s perception of their ability to conduct a
particular behavior, self-confidence reflects a degree of certainty about a perception,
event, or outcome.
Hypotheses
The three measures that are expected to load on a Confidence/Evaluation factor all
involve evaluations of competence.
The second latent dimension we expect to emerge is the Self-beliefs. This dimension
follows from Lee’s (2009) findings regarding the relationship between self-efficacy,
self-concept and anxiety, and it represents the affective elements of selfdoubt and
anxiety.
