Self-efficacy is a more generalized
capacity of the individual and their way of organizing their coping skills in
regard to demands and circumstances (Reeve). A simpler way of explaining this
is to describe self-efficacy as a person’s way of judging how well or poorly they
can cope with a given situation (Reeve). Self-efficacy is a critical part of
Expectancy-Value Theory because if a person does not understand how to cope with
a multitude of circumstances, then how are they supposed to move forward in
life. Now, self-efficacy is not the same as ability, in order to be competent
then someone needs to have ability and the capacity to interpret these skills effectively
(Reeve). Self-efficacy beliefs come from two things, causes and histories. These
beliefs arise from someone’s personal history, their observations of similar
people, verbal persuasions, and physiological symptoms (Reeve).
In Dean’s case his self-efficacy is strong but in some circumstances
his way of coping is very poor. An example of this is when Dean is on a mission
to get his brother’s soul back. In his mission he turns to Death, making a deal
with him to get his brother’s soul back. This is poor coping skill shows that
he doesn’t have the strongest self-efficacy at this moment in time. From his personal
history we can see that in the past Dean has not had the best coping skills
when it comes to his family. Even when his brother doesn’t want is soul back
Dean continues to fight because he believes that it is the best course of
action for his brother’s well-being. Also, from the people he has been around
his whole life there is no reason as to why this coping response isn’t as bizarre
as one might think. Being around his father, who constantly put his life on the
line for his kids doing things that a normal person wouldn’t do. This plays
into Dean’s self-efficacy beliefs because someone’s personal history plays a
huge part in how those beliefs develop.
Self-efficacy also can affect someone’s behavior. Self-efficacy
beliefs affect a person’s choices, the amount of effort they put into things, the
quality of their thinking and decision making, and their emotional reactions in
relation to stress and anxiety (Reeve). As a continuation of what happened
during the time that Dean made the deal with Death, he had to take over Death’s
job and wear his ring for 24 hours. So, Dean had to go along with a reaper and
take the lives of those that were on a predetermined list to die, one of those
being a little girl only twelve years old. When confronted with the fact that
he has to take the life of this child Dean decides not to, this causes a domino
effect and causes people to die that weren’t supposed to die. Now, this choice was
affected by Dean’s self-efficacy. The reason this choice was affected by Dean’s
self-efficacy because his physiological response, visibly becoming upset and
his heart racing with the idea that he is going to have to see this child die,
causing him not to take the child. In the end of the episode Dean can’t handle
wearing the ring of Death for 24 hours and takes it off, which he believes
makes it that his deal with Death isn’t complete. But, in reality Death decides
to fulfill their deal because Dean learned a valuable lesson about life and
death. After learning this lesson, Dean’s self-efficacy is affected, and he
begins to learn that the choices that he makes build up to create his personal
history which in turn becomes part of his self-efficacy beliefs.
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