How does self-efficacy relate to learned optimism, and which aspect does it measure?

Self-efficacy and learned optimism are related concepts that both contribute to an individual's resilience and overall well-being. Self-efficacy is an individual's belief in their capacity to execute behaviors necessary to produce specific performance attainments. It reflects confidence in the ability to exert control over one's own motivation, behavior, and social environment. Learned optimism, on the other hand, is a learned way of explaining both good and bad life events that enhances perseverance and overall well-being. It involves attributing positive events to internal, stable, and global causes, while attributing negative events to external, unstable, and specific causes. While both concepts are related to positive outcomes, self-efficacy measures an individual's belief in their *capability to succeed in specific situations, whereas learned optimism measures their *explanatory style for interpreting life events, particularly negative ones. A person can have high self-efficacy in one area (e.g., playing a musical instrument) but exhibit a pessimistic explanatory style in another area (e.g., relationships).