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A minute to breathe

Box breathing: breathe in for a count of four, hold for four, breathe out for four and hold again. Four rounds, a little over a minute.

Breathe in

Round 1 of 4

Self-efficacy

Ten statements, two minutes. Schwarzer and Jerusalem's General Self-Efficacy Scale measures how much you believe you can cope with difficulties, surprises and obstacles on the way to your goals.

Take the test
  • 2 min
  • 10 statements
  • Schwarzer's scale, 1995

The psychologist Albert Bandura called this self-efficacy: not ability itself but the belief that it will work when needed. It decides a lot: whether someone takes on something hard, how much effort they put in and how quickly they recover from setbacks. Self-efficacy is not fixed: it grows with every experience of having coped.

How to read the result

  1. 10-24Belief in yourself is muted right nowLower than most people in the research.
  2. 25-34Steady belief in yourselfOn a level with most people.
  3. 35-40Strong belief in yourselfHigher than most people.

Common questions

What is self-efficacy?

It is a term coined by the psychologist Albert Bandura: a person's confidence that they can handle a task and get a result. What matters is not ability itself but belief in it: with the same skills, the person who believes takes on hard things more often and gives up later.

How is the result calculated?

Each of the ten statements is rated from 1 to 4, for a total of 10 to 40. The scale has no official cut-offs; in research across many countries the average is about 29, so the result here is compared with that average.

How is self-efficacy different from self-esteem?

Self-esteem is how you regard yourself overall, how much you value yourself. Self-efficacy is how much you believe you can handle a task. You can value yourself and doubt you'll manage a new job, and the other way round. For the full picture, take the self-esteem test too.

Can belief in yourself be developed?

Yes, it is one of the most changeable traits. Your own experience strengthens it best: manageable tasks that gradually get harder. Examples of people like you, support from those close, and care for your own state help too.

What to take next

The General Self-Efficacy Scale (Schwarzer, Jerusalem, 1995); its authors allow free use with the source credited. The test is not a diagnosis.