Finally, we should comment on the nature of goals within
SCCT’s performance model. Whereas our interest and choice mod-
els involved choice-content goals(for instance, the type of career field
one intends to pursue), the performance model emphasizes perfor-
mance goals,referring to the level of attainment toward which one
aspires within a given performance domain. The two goal variants
are intimately related yet unique. Choice-content goals orient peo-
ple toward a particular activity domain (such as an engineering
major), whereas the quality of their subsequent attainments de-
pends, in part, on their performance goals (for instance, the grades
they strive toward in particular courses). A number of properties of
goals help determine their impact on behavior. For instance, goals
that are specific, set close in time to actual behavior, and broken into
subgoals tend to be more influential than goals that are vague, distal,
or global (Bandura, 1986; Locke & Latham, 1990).
Summary. SCCT views occupational and academic performance
(and persistence) as being affected in important ways by ability, self-
efficacy, outcome expectations, and performance goals. Self-efficacy
plays an especially important role in determining how people em-
ploy their abilities. Thus people may be at risk for occupational or
academic failure or other difficulties when their abilities fail to cor-
respond with the abilities required in an occupation or course of
study or when their self-efficacy beliefs substantially underestimate
or exaggerate their current performance capabilities. The implica-
tions for working with persons with substandard abilities or inaccu-
rate efficacy beliefs are discussed more fully in a subsequent section
of this chapter, as are developmentally oriented strategies for pro-
moting accurate and robust efficacy beliefs.
Empirical Support for the Theory
Research on, or relevant to, SCCT has expanded at an impressive
rate in recent years. Self-efficacy has been the single most popular
topic of inquiry; many studies examine the relation of self-efficacy
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