Self-Fulfilling Prophecies and the Pygmalion Effect -- Motivation

I’ve been away for a few months, but I haven’t stopped thinking about how all of the things I learn and experience can relate back to the classroom. Expect a whirlwind of posts in the next two weeks ranging from experiences to current events in the classroom—there will be about six in total including this one.

We always talk about how important it is to make a good impression on someone, as that will make them have a better opinion of us. What is really shocking is how the others person opinion can impact us.

In the early 70’s a psychology professor told teachers in multiple class that some of their students had scored highly on an intelligence exam, indicating they would learn and improve at a greater rate than their peers. Sure enough, these "gifted" students were achieving much better results than their peers at the end of the year. To be expected, right?

Well, no, actually. The high scores were complete fabrications; the high performers had essentially had their names drawn out of a hat. The teachers did not know this, and they went on to treat those students—consciously and subconsciously—as smarter individuals. The students responded to the positive expectations and performed better.

This phenomenon is referred to as the Pygmalion effect, or sometimes the Rosenthal effect after the principal author of the first highly publicized study on it. In essence, greater expectations produce greater results in people, especially in teacher/student, parent/child, and supervisor/employee relationships. It is a type of self-fulfilling prophecy in which individuals internalize a label and become what others think they are. Above all other motivational theories, I feel it is important for teachers to understand the psychology behind this phenomenon. If teachers can drastically effect student performance without even meaning to, imagine the results if teachers consciously treat every student like a genius.