Could the knowledge of the construct of self-efficacy affect the student's aptitude to a certain task?

Question

I am a tutor for children with learning disabilities and i have read that they have lower levels of perceived self-efficacy than students without this learning disabilities. I decided to deepen the construct of self-efficacy reading something of Bandura and i found that the perception of our efficacy can influence our behaviour and performance outcomes (Bandura, 1977).

So i asked to myself: if people - with or without learning disabilities - knew that they have thoughts (sometimes latent) about their abilities, it would affect their attitude to a certain task? In another way: Could, just the knowledge of self-efficacy, have some influence?

Answer 1

Bandura and Cervone (1983) posit: "Those who have a low sense of self-efficacy may be easily discouraged by failure, whereas those who are assured of their capabilities for goal attainment intensify their efforts when their performances fall short and persist until they succeed" (p. 1018). The same paper also provides empirical evidence for this claim.

Accordingly, the answer to your question is yes. However, it seems more appropriate to speak of "sense" instead of "knowledge" when referring to the self-efficacy.

References

Bandura, A., & Cervone, D. (1983). Self-evaluative and self-efficacy mechanisms governing the motivational effects of goal systems. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 45(5), 1017–1028. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.45.5.1017