This essay will discuss being, belonging, doing and becoming, as well as a variety of psychological concepts including self-efficacy, motivation, stress, observational learning, conformity and obedience in terms of a chosen occupation. My chosen occupation which I participate in regularly is soccer. Soccer is a game engaged in by two teams with 11 players each. The objective is to progress the ball into the opposition’s goal, usually by kicking the ball, as only the goalkeeper can use their hands. 2018 will mark my thirteenth consecutive year playing soccer, where the first twelve years were in the defence position on the left, and the final year was in the centre position.
Hayward and Taylor, Persson et al. said that being is one of the most notable of the four aspects to occupations and also the hardest to define (as cited in Hitch, Pépin & Stagnitti, 2014). Being involves an individual’s physical, mental and social aspects of themselves. There are three different meanings to being, one being about people’s feelings towards their occupations (Hitch et al., 2014). This is demonstrated within soccer as this occupation has only positive connotations for me due to my positive past experiences. Another is about the perception of oneself as an occupational being and their roles associated (Hitch et al., 2014). This is shown in soccer because of the midfield position I currently play is my role. Being can finally be merely about one’s existence (Hitch et al., 2014). In soccer, my presence at training and games is an obvious demonstration of being.
Self-efficacy is the belief in one’s own abilities to arrange and carry out processes needed to manage potential future circumstances (Srivastava, 2014). Strong self-efficacy implies individuals who are confident in their abilities, whereas weak self-efficacy refers to individuals who are concerned that their abilities aren’t sufficient (Weiten, 2007). This transfers to soccer players, where, for example, some players challenge oppositions more frequently than others due to their belief in their own abilities. The theoretical underpinnings of self-efficacy come from psychologist Albert Bandura’s social cognitive theory. This theory suggests that the behaviour of one individual is a combination of their cognition and their environment in social circumstances (Abdelhadi & Drach-Zahavy, 2012). According to Bandura, there are four factors which influence self-efficacy: mastery experiences, social modelling, social persuasion and psychological responses. Bandura defined mastery experiences as one’s personal accomplishments which would strengthen self-efficacy, whereas failure would weaken it. Social modelling can increase self-efficacy when one sees people similar to oneself succeed, therefore making them believe that they too are able to succeed. Social persuasion involves someone verbally encouraging an individual which increases their self-efficacy. Finally, a person’s psychological responses can b...
