Self-Efficacy+Beliefs+of+Adolescents+Edited+by+Frank+Pajares+&+Tim+Urdan+Information+Age+Publishing,+Greenwich,+Connecticut,+2006

Chapter 1, page 3

"There are four core features of human agency. One such feature is **intentionality**. People form intentions that include action plans and strategies for reasizing them. The second feature involves the temporal extension of agency through **forethought.** This includes more than future-directed plans. People set themselves **goals** and**anticipate likely outcomes of prospective actions** to guide and motivate their efforts anticipatorily. A future cannot be a cause of current behavior because it has no material existence. But by being represented cognitively in the present, visualized futures serve as current guides and motivators of behavior.

Agents are not only planners and forethinkers. They are also **self-regulators.** They adopt personal standards and monitor and regulate their actions by self reactive influence. They do things that give them satisfaction and a sense of self-worth, and refrain from actions that bring self-censure ... They are **self-examiners** of their own functioning. Through functional self-awareness they reflect on their personal efficacy, the soundness of their thoughts and actions, and the meaning of their pursuits, and they make corrective adjustments if necessary. Forethought and self-influence are important parts of a causal structure."