Self-modeling and children's cognitive skill learning.

Bandura (1982, 1986) contended that psychological procedures change behavior in part by creating and strengthening perceived self-efficacy, or personal beliefs about one's performance capabilities in a given domain. Self-efficacy influences choice of activities, effort expended, persistence, and task accomplishments. Individuals acquire information about their self-efficacy through their actual performances, vicarious (observational) experiences, forms of persuasion, and physiological indexes (e.g., heart rate, sweating).