Costs and benefits of self-efficacy: Differences of the stress response and clinical implications

•Self-efficacy is crucial for neuroendocrine and psychological reactivity of stress.•Evidence for protective effects of self-efficacy has a broad scope.•The role of self-efficacy is however heterogeneous.•It can also increase autonomic responses, decrease performance and diminish mental health.•Experimental research and interventions aimed at promotion are reflected critically.

Encounters with stressors induce diverse idiosyncratic neuroendocrine, behavioral and psychological reactions across people. Perceived self-efficacy can alter autonomic responses and their effects on mental health. The beneficial effects of self-efficacy in buffering physiological arousal, enhancing performance, and diminishing psychopathological symptoms have been observed in diverse contexts. We show that the role of self-efficacy is not uniformly beneficial, and that higher levels of self-efficacy can sometimes lead to increases in neuroendocrine and psychological stress responses and decreases in performance, a phenomenon that has been widely neglected. We discuss specific conditions under which self-efficacy effects do not uniformly ameliorate or prevent the consequences of stress. These conditions suggest that therapeutic interventions need not always promote self-efficacy in principal. Simultaneously, they to do suggest that keeping self-efficacy high might be disadvantageous or detrimental.