| Revista INFAD 2012 |
ISSN EDICIÓN EN PAPEL: 0214-9877 |
| Nº1, Vol. 2, pp. 227-234 | doi: en trámite |
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Relationship between self-efficacy and self-concepts
in university students
Rossella Falanga / Maria Elvira De Caroli
/ Elisabetta Sagone. pp. 227-234
Abstract
The purpose of this investigation was focused on the relationship between self-efficacy (Bandura, 1997), regarding the beliefs to be able to recognize the needs and beliefs of the others (emphatic self-efficacy) and to establish good relationships (social self-efficacy), and Self-concepts (Actual and Social Self), analyzed evoking the Self-Discrepancy Theory (Higgins, 1987). We used empathic and social self-efficacy measures and semantic differential technique to explore Actual and Social Self in a sample of 76 psychology Italian students at University of Catania. Results showed that psychology students reached on average levels in emphatic and social self-efficacy and expressed a very similar representation of Self-concepts, in terms of Self-Discrepancy Theory. In addition, the more the psychology students perceived themselves efficient at understanding the feelings and emotions of the others and cultivating good relations, the more they expressed a positive representation of Actual and Social Self; further, students with on and above average levels of emphatic and social self-efficacy showed a more positive representation of Actual and Social Self than those with under average. Future implications on the important role played by Self-concepts on other psychological dimensions were discussed.
Keywords: empathic and social self-efficacy, representation of Self, university students.
