The influence of perceived self-efficacy on information processing of emotional faces

Abstract

Introduction: This study aimed to investigate the effect of perceived self-efficacy on emotional face processing.Method: Thirty students with high self-efficacy and 30 students with low self-efficacy were selected based on their scores on the Self-Efficacy Belief Questionnaire and performance on a semi-structured clinical interview. A modified pictorial version of the Modified Dot-Probe Task was conducted. Data were analyzed with a repeated-measures analysis of variance and a multiple factor analysis.Results: The results indicated that students with low self-efficacy showed significant vigilance to angry emotional faces, whereas students with high self-efficacy showed significant avoidance of angry faces.Conclusion: The findings demonstrated that generalized self-efficacy was associated with biased information processing towards angry emotional faces.