Albert Bandura and Self-efficacy

It's been enlightening reading for the last few days as I strive to understand Albert Bandura, the founder of social cognitive theory and his writings on self-efficay. It has opened for me a new window to perceive the world and myself.

Bandura advances a theory of human functioning in which people are viewed as self-organising,proactive,self-reflecting and self-regulating rather than as reactive organisms shaped and sheperded by environmental forces or driven by concealed inner impulses.The key arch of his theory are self-efficacy beliefs,'people's judgements of their capabilities to organize and execute courses of action required to attain designated types of performance'. self-efficacy beliefs provide the foundation of all motivation and accomplishment and touch every aspect of our lives. One of the main findings of Bandura is that people are guided by what they believe than what is objectively true. belief and reality are seldom matched and individuals are guided by their beliefs when they encounter the world.

experiencing self / remembering self

What makes us? are we made by our experiences from moment to moment or are we the sum total of our memories. daniel kahneman says that what we remember of our experiences are only its emotional highs and lows and its endings which have little connection with our actual experiences from moment to moment. seligman in contrast puts his emphasis on the remembering self. to him, we are our memories rather than the sum total of our experiences. only advances in neurosciences can throw more light on these varying approaches.

Vijayadasami - an auspicious day for beginnings

i have not been into blogging for months. forgot even my username and password. indolence is the cause and i assume responsibility. today, is vijayadasami, celebrated in most parts of india as the day of victory when the Goddess slayed the demon and in other places as signifying the victory of ram over ravan. what is amazing is that these celebrations have been continuing in this land for many centuries. this morning is also the time to make new beginnings by offering prayers before goddess saraswathi who is the goddess of learning and knowledge.

on this auspicious day i shall resume blogging and share myself with the millions of this virutal world.