Efficacy is value-neutral and amplifies both good and harm

Evidence

Resilient belief in one’s causative capabilities is a highly adaptive resource in self-development, adaptation, and change. Agentic capability, however, does not come with a built-in value system. It can be used for humane or inhumane purposes. Wrongdoers with an unshakable sense of efficacy can do a lot of harm. For example, an exaggerated collective belief in the power of military might got the United States entangled in what the upper echelon considered to be morally justified wars that became disastrous (Halberstam, 1972; Purdam, 2003). — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement, 79

Categorization

• XREF: Direct link to the vault’s concern: strong efficacy without moral grounding explains how ordinary capable people drive harmful policy — the mechanism that connects to Cooper and authoritarianism claims.
• ADDENDUM: Belief in righteous military force as self-justified harm parallels how sacrificial ideologies let people rationalize harm in the sacrifice article.
• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement: How People Do Harm…, 79