The use of a persuasive technique to manipulate self-efficacy: Impact on performance and persistence in an academic setting

The purpose of this study was to investigate (1) whether an anchor could be used to manipulate self-efficacy, and (2) whether the manipulated self-efficacy would in turn impact performance and persistence on an academic task. The anchor procedure used to manipulate self-efficacy was an approach used by Cervone and Peake (1986) who found significant correlations between a seemingly random anchor and subsequent self-efficacy levels. Level of self-efficacy was measured by asking each subject to estimate the number of questions they believed they would correctly answer on the test instrument. The test instrument consisted of four passages of text, each followed by five multiple choice questions. Each of the questions were application questions as defined by the Taxonomy of Educational Objectives: Cognitive Domain (Bloom, 1956). Performance was defined as how many items each subject correctly completed, and persistence was defined as how long each subject worked on the test. Eighty-one subjects enrolled in a junior level educational psychology course at Southern Illinois University were divided into three groups: (1) high manipulated self-efficacy group, (2) low manipulated self-efficacy group, and (3) control group (no manipulated self-efficacy group). The procedure consisted of having each subject fill out a questionnaire that contained the anchor and a question asking them to estimate the number of questions they believed they could correctly complete. Subjects were then given the test instrument to complete. In order to get a second measure of the effectiveness of the anchor procedure, two days later, subjects were informed that they would be given another similar test, and were then given another questionnaire which contained the anchor and that measured level of self-efficacy. Since this was designed as a check of the anchor manipulation only, a second test instrument was not given. Results indicated that in both the first and second anchor manipulations, the anchor significantly impacted level of self-efficacy. However, the manipulated self-efficacy did not appear to impact either performance or persistence on the task. Conclusions and resulting implications were discussed with reference to education and further research.