CONCEPT
Social Persuasion
The third source of self-efficacy : verbal encouragement or discouragement from credible others, which is weaker than mastery or vicarious sources but can tip the balance when direct experience is unavailable.
Social persuasion is the verbal input — encouragement, expressed confidence, realistic feedback — that a person receives from others about her capability. Bandura identified it as the third and weakest of the four sources of self-efficacy, because words alone cannot overcome contrary evidence from direct experience. But persuasion matters at the margins. A credible mentor's expressed confidence can tip an undecided performer toward attempting a challenging task; the attempt, if successful, then produces a mastery experience that consolidates the belief. Persuasion without follow-through collapses quickly, but persuasion that sets up a successful attempt compounds.
In The You On AI Field Guide
The credibility of the persuader is the key moderating variable. Encouragement from a source the performer considers uninformed or biased has minimal effect; the same words from a respected expert can shift a belief measurably. Bandura's research showed that credibility depends on the persuader's perceived expertise in the relevant domain, her track record of accurate assessment, and her apparent investment in the