Review | Self-Efficacy by Albert Bandura

Alright. Seeing that I pledged one school-related book per month, I guess I better read a legit school-related book … not just popular psychology books that my patients have recommended.

Ladies and gentlemen. Boys and girls.

I give you Albert Bandura.

You might be scratching your head right now — but, if you’ve ever taken an undergrad psychology course, you have definitely heard of this guy. Bandura is the most important psychologist alive today, and the fourth-most influential psychologist in history. He’s the brains behind observational learning.

And Social Cognitive Theory.

And triadic reciprocal determinism.

And self-efficacy.

And the bobo doll experiment.

And he’s Canadian.

Am I fangirling? I’m totally fangirling.

Self-Efficacy: The Exercise of Control was originally published in 1997, and lays out Bandura’s work on self-efficacy — essentially, self-confidence. And, boy does it lay things out: the book is a whopping 604 pages worth of theory and research.

This is not a book that I’d recommend to anyone. Bandura is a concise and clear writer, and there are some interesting stories mixed in (and my supervisor is cited in the exercise chapter! woot woot!) … but this is, ultimately, an academic tome. It is mind-bogglingly boring. It is a book that is perfect for people with insomnia.

It’s also thrilling, thought-provoking, and full of amazing research. I’ve been required to read excerpts of this before for class, but to read the entire book – start to end in totality – really hammered home just how all-encompassing self-efficacy is.

I am such a geek.

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The Details:

• The Book: 🍁 Self-Efficacy: The Exercise of Control by Albert Bandura
• Published: 1997, Worth Publishers
• My Copy: QUL
• Read date: February 8-26, 2018
• Rating: ★★★★★
• You should read this if you like … ALL THE RESEARCH!
• Avoid this if you dislike … textbooks

 

Tag | T10T: Gorgeous Covers

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly prompt by The Broke and the Bookish and The Artsy Reader Girl. The list is 400+ strong — so, not wanting to miss anything, I started at prompt #1. This week’s prompt is “Favourite Gorgeous Covers”

… why not “favourite”?

Back when I was in second-year, the owner of my local bookstore convinced me to abandon the idea of “favourites”. Having favourites – he said – was counterproductive to growth, as they lock you in and prevent you from exploring new things. His second argument was that people need different things at different points in their life – which means that that favourite book, movie, painting, song, etc., will probably lose its allure at some point in our life. Conclusion: Best to not dwell on favourites, and just take things as they come.

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• Harry Potter – Which has become the modern classic. How can you not love the original design?
• The Winterlight Trilogy – And, by that, I mean the UK versions. AH-MAZE-ING!
• Circe – Instagram is in love with this book. (And, rightly so.)
• A Darker Shade of Magic – Which brings minimalist design to the next level. I love (love, love!) those colours.

 

• Tokyo on Foot – This book is stuffed with charming illustrations that just scream TOKYO! The cover is no exception.
• Plenty – um, yum?
• 🍁 Milk and Honey – I’m not a fan of Kaur’s poetry, but this oh-so-simple cover has set a new standard for poetry marketing/design

 

• Classic penguins – Am I right?
• 🍁 On Trails – The cover is amazing, and the book promises a fascinating micro-history into trails and exploration
• The Hazel Wood – Another instagram favourite. I keep seeing this in the bookstore and just haven’t made the plunge yet.