Anaya firmly believes that she has the ability and behaviour required…

Anaya firmly believes that she has the ability and behaviour required for a particular situation. She has the ability to construct the circumstances of her own life. She is open to taking risks and is less fearful. She has high _________.

Answer & explanation

Correct answer: option 2

The correct answer is Option (2) → Self-efficacy

Option (1) Self-esteem — Incorrect. Self-esteem is the value judgement a person makes about her or his own worth, not a belief about ability for a particular situation.

Option (2) Self-efficacy — Correct. It is a person’s belief that she or he has the ability or behaviours a situation requires, and so controls the outcome rather than luck or fate. The idea comes from Bandura’s social learning theory; people with high self-efficacy believe they can shape the circumstances of their own lives, take risks and are less fearful, as Anaya is.

Option (3) Self-regulation — Incorrect. This is the ability to organise and monitor one’s own behaviour, changing it to suit the demands of the environment.

Option (4) Self-observation — Incorrect. It is a technique of self-control: watching one’s own behaviour so as to know what needs to change.

Note 1: A similar question was also asked in CUET (UG) 2023 on 23-06-2023 (Slot 3).

Note 2: A similar question was also asked in CUET (UG) 2025 on 21-05-2025 (Slot 1), and in CUET (UG) 2026 on 15-05-2026 (Slot 1).

NCERT (2025-26): “Self-efficacy … Self-efficacy is another important aspect of our self. People differ in the extent to which they believe they themselves control their life outcomes or the outcomes are controlled by luck or fate or other situational factors, e.g. passing an examination. A person who believes that s/he has the ability or behaviours required by a particular situation demonstrates high self-efficacy. The notion of self-efficacy is based on Bandura’s social learning theory. Bandura’s initial studies showed that children and adults learned behaviour by observing and imitating others. People’s expectations of mastery or achievement and their convictions about their own effectiveness also determine the types of behaviour in which they would engage, as also the amount of risk they would undertake. A strong sense of self-efficacy allows people to select, influence, and even construct the circumstances of their own life. People with a strong sense of self-efficacy also feel less fearful.…”