Self-efficacy in relation to self-construals and causal attributions

Abstract

The aim of the present study was to examine the relationships among self-efficacy beliefs, self-construals and causal attributions by differentiating among relational, individual, and collective self-construals and self-efficacies and among causal attributions for relational, individual, and collective problem domains in success and failure situations. A total of 342 undergraduate senior and graduate students at Boğaziçi University, Turkey filled out questionnaires on self-efficacy, self-construals and causal attributions. Individual self-efficacy was the lowest, relational and collective were the highest self-efficacy types. Inconsistent with the predictions, the findings of the present study indicated that irrespective of the type of self-aspect, all three self-efficacy beliefs were higher for those who were high on each type of self-aspect. Additionally, most of the causal attributions in success and failure situations were consistent with the expectations for high and low self-efficacious individuals, which relates to the possible importance of different attributional styles on self-efficacy levels. However, contrary to expectations, these attributions were not specific to the self-efficacy type. Additional findings pointed out that for all self-aspects and self-efficacy types, self-enhancing attributions were made for failure situations. Overall, results showed that self-enhancement in failure situations can be a basic tendency that exists for every individual, and internal and unstable (effort) attributions may have different meanings that require further examination for individuals in different life stages and from collectivistic cultures.