| Abstract: | The intent of this research was to determine whether an individual's sense of self-efficacy in a social situation influenced his or her causal attributions for outcomes. Male and female subjects were selected on the basis of high- or low-efficacy expectations for a social interaction and were provided with either positive or negative feedback on their social performance. The predicted self-efficacy-outcome interaction emerged, though only on the most salient causal factors. Feedback that was inconsistent with perceptions of efficacy was more likely to be attributed to external factors than was expectancy consistent information. Perceptions of self-efficacy were also associated with anxiety, raising the possibility that the self-efficacy-attribution relation was mediated by arousal. Causal explanations were collected in an open-ended pilot assessment process. The causal factor that emerged in this social task were compared to those identified in earlier studies of social situations. |
