Abstract:In two experiments, we investigated how attributed of peer models influenced achievement behaviors among children who had experienced difficulties learning mathematical skills in school. In Experiment 1, children (M = 10.6 years) observed either a same-or opposite-sex peer model demonstrating rapid (mastery model) or gradual (coping model) acquisition of fraction skills. Observing a coping model led to higher self-efficacy, skill, and training performance. In Experiment 2, children (M = 10.9 years) observed either one or three same-sex peer models demonstrating mastery or coping behaviors while solving fractions. Children in the single-coping model, multiple-coping-model, and multiple-mastery-model conditions demonstrated higher self-efficacy, skill, and training performance, compared with subjects who observed a single mastery model. In both studies, children who observed coping models judged themselves more similar in competence to the models than did subjects who observed mastery models. Article:Perceived self-efficacy, or personal beliefs about one's capabilities to organize and implement actions necessary for attaining designated levels of performance, is hypothesized to be an important mechanism mediating behavior change (Bandura, 1982(Bandura, , 1986. Self-efficacy can affect one's choice of activities, effort expenditure, persistence, and achievement. Individuals acquire information about their self-efficacy through their actual performances, vicarious (observational) experiences, forms of persuasion (e.g., -You can do this‖), and physiological indexes (sweating and heart rate).Modeled performances constitute an important source of information about one's self-efficacy (Bandura, 1986). Individuals who observe similar others performing a task are apt to believe that they also can perform the task because modeling implicitly conveys to observers that they possess the necessary capabilities for succeeding (Berger, 1977). This sense of efficacy is substantiated later when observers succeed at the task (Schunk, 1985). Observers' self-efficacy judgments depend in part on perceptions of similarity in competence to the model and on the outcome (e.g., success or failure) of the model's actions (Brown & Inouye, 1978 ;Zimmerman & Ringle, 1981).The preceding considerations suggest that although adults can serve as powerful models for transmitting behaviors to children, behaviors that are constrained by ability may be more susceptible to peer influence (Davidson & Smith, 1982). Schoolchildren learn skills by observing their adult teachers, but observation of peer models may better enhance children's self-efficacy. In particular, an adult teacher's flawlessly modeling cognitive skills may not promote high self-efficacy in children who have encountered previous difficulties with the subject matter and who are likely to view the teacher as superior in competence. Models of the same age and sex as children and whom children view as similar in competence may teach children skills and promote their self-efficacy f...

In this experiment, we investigated how verbalization of subtraction with regrouping operations influenced learning disabled students' self-efficacy and skillful performance and also explored how effort-attributional feedback affected these achievement behaviors. Students received training and solved problems over sessions. Students in the first condition verbalized aloud while solving problems (continuous verbalization), those in the second condition verbalized only during the first half of training (discontinued verbalization), and those in the third condition did not verbalize (no verbalization). All students were periodically monitored and received effort feedback during the first half of training, effort feedback during the second half of training, or no effort feedback. Continuous verbalization led to higher self-efficacy and skillful performance than did discontinued and no verbalization; providing effort feedback promoted these achievement behaviors more than not providing feedback did. Effort feedback during the first half of training enhanced effort attributions.According to Bandura (1982aBandura ( , 1982b, psychological procedures change behavior in part by creating and strengthening self-efficacy, or one's perceived performance capabilities in a given activity. Self-efficacy is hypothesized to influence choice of activities, effort expended, persistence, and task accomplishments. Although self-efficacy originally was used to help explain coping behaviors in fearful situations, its use has been extended to other contexts, including cognitive-skill learning (Schunk. 1985).In the present study, we tested some predictions of the self-efficacy model with learning disabled students, who perform below their measured abilities but do not possess intellectual deficits. Especially when facing difficult tasks, they often arc inattentive and display lackadaisical efforts (Licht, 1984;Torgesen & Licht, 1983). These behavioral deficits may occur in part because such students hold selfdoubts about their capabilities to perform well (Boersma & Chapman, 1981). Interventions that promote students' perceived capabilities (i.e., self-efficacy) might help to remedy behavioral dysfunctions (Schunk, 1985).Much classroom learning involves understanding how to apply task strategies. In mathematics, students who fail to acquire algorithmic knowledge through normal instructional procedures may benefit from explicit strategy training that includes verbalizing aloud the solution steps and their ap-

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