HIGHLY EFFICACIOUS PhD
SUPERVISION
By Prof. P.K. Gathumbi
PhD Supervision Training at UON
June 17 -19, 2014
Structure of the lecture
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Introduction
Learning outcomes
Definition of self efficacy
Characteristics of self efficacy
Sources of self efficacy
Efficacy linked effects
Benefits of self efficacy
Concluding remarks
Group exercises on self efficacy
Learning outcome
• By the end of this training, the trained
supervisors should be able to encourage
high self efficacy in PhD supervision.
Introduction
 The choice of subject, progression and
completion rate and the overall quality of
PhD is affected to a large extent by the
beliefs the students and the supervisors
hold about their capabilities to implement
the PhD process.
Introduction
• There are inherent differences in self
beliefs between individuals.
• Some hold self-doubting beliefs that
demotivate progress, others hold the
converse
• Self-doubting beliefs reduce the motivation
and the efforts that the
students/supervisors exert in the PhD
process.
What is self efficacy?
• Beliefs held on personal capabilities
influence the actions taken to achieve or
manage tasks and situations.
• These beliefs determine the choice, effort
and persistence of action and the feelings
about the action and its effects i.e.
success, failure / setbacks
Examples of SE beliefs
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Positive context and capability beliefs are
robust and firm in purpose or outlook.
Moderate context beliefs are Vulnerable
and Weak in purpose
Components of Self efficacy
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Personal beliefs, are composed of both
capability and context beliefs. (self and
perspective/environmental influences)
Personal beliefs are about an individual’s
assessment of his/her ability to perform a
given function (capability) and the
environment (context) in which the task is
to be performed.
Components of Self efficacy
• “Motivation = Goals x Emotions (Passion) x
Personal Beliefs”
• Emotions are tied to goals in that they have a
positive effect on motivation by giving the
individual the energy to act when these goals
are likely to be met by given actions
• Goals can be either personal or institutional or a
combination of both, but they are essential for
motivation.
Belief motivates action
Characteristics of individuals with
high self efficacy
• Difficult tasks are challenges that offer opportunities to learn new
competencies and not threats to be ignored.
• The next higher (challenging) goal is achievable through sustained
commitment to actions and effort.
• Failure / setbacks reawakens new approaches to improve skills and
efforts.
• No threat is beyond personal control.
• Highly motivated to action and less prone to depression
Characteristics of individuals with
low self efficacy
• Doubt self-capabilities and takes challenges as
threats to be avoided
• ‘I cannot make it syndrome’ in difficult tasks
• Easily downcast by failure
• Happy with low goal scenarios in which they
display low commitment to action and efforts
• Poor motivation to action and easy victims for
depression
Sources of self efficacy
The four sources of self efficacy are:
 Mastery experiences
 Vicarious experiences
 Social persuasion
 Psychological states
Sources of self efficacy
Mastery experiences
• Success encourages self efficacy, the
converse is true
• Resilience in managing failures is an
attribute of high self efficacy
Sources of self efficacy
Vicarious experiences
• Success by peers encourages others that
they too can succeed with similar efforts,
(the converse is true).
• An institutional culture for success often
embodies more success (the converse is
also true)
Sources of self efficacy
 Social persuasion
• Verbal persuasions encourage extra effort
• Positive structured appraisals (verbal/or
written) motivate self beliefs of capability
to accomplish given tasks and enhances
self efficacy. The reverse is true!
e.g. Unrewarding comments on draft
manuscript!
Sources of self efficacy
 Psychological and affective states e.g.
stress reactions and emotions
• Interpretation and perceptions of personal
reactions to stress and tensions can influence
self beliefs in capability to execute certain
actions.
• Fear to fail depresses initiative to try out
challenging tasks
Efficacy linked effects
 Cognitive processes
• A high sense of efficacy encourages
analytical and critical thinking and
learning that encourages focused action
to targeted goals even in stressing
demands, failures and setbacks . The
opposite is true
Efficacy linked effects
Motivation.
• People are cognitively motivated by beliefs
about what they can achieve.
• The level of motivation determines the goalsactions-outcomes choices at personal and
institution levels.
• Successful goal attainment boosts motivation
and inculcates behavior and actions that lead to
more success.
Efficacy linked effects
 Affective Processes
• Personal doubts in capacity to cope with fears
and threats of failure impairs motivations and
efforts to undertake difficult tasks.
• People with strong self efficacy are bolder in
taking threatening or challenging tasks.
• Those weak in self efficacy magnify and worry
about imaginary depressing threats.
Efficacy linked effects
 Selection process
• The choices that we make in life
determines what we become. ‘We are a
product of our environment’.
• High self efficacy facilitates bolder choices
that influence the competencies, values
and interests that we develop.
Benefits of high self efficacy
• Every day life challenges require optimistic self
efficacy in order to persevere in actions and
efforts required to succeed.
• For example, innovations (publications) often
face early rejection. A high sense of self efficacy
is required to remain prolific in the wake of such
initial rejections.
• Collective efficacy dictates group success
Summary
• Self-efficacy involves personal beliefs in capabilities to
control actions and events to achieve results.
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Self efficacy influence the choices, level of motivation,
quality of actions taken & our flexibility to face
challenges, stress & depression.
Summary continued
• Self efficacy is developed through four main sources:
– Mastery experiences: success motivates more action
– Vicarious experience:- Success by peers motivates
the peer towards similar tasks,
– Social persuasion (couching) that one has the
capabilities to succeed in a given task if they give
attention to the task,
– Inferences from somatic and emotional states are
indicative of personal strengths and vulnerabilities.
(The fear of dysfunction)
Exercise 1. personal reflections on
self efficacy
1) List the examples of low self efficacy
attributes you have encountered in your
PhD supervision
2) Suggest the interventions that can be
used to prevent the listed attributes
Group Exercise 2: Encouraging
high self efficacy to PhD students
1) List the methods that you can use to
improve the self efficacy of PhD students
in university of Nairobi.
2) Propose the recommendations that can
be applied by university of Nairobi to
ensure highly efficacious PhD supervision