Our own beliefs and expectations help shape the way we behave.
The prior knowledge we have about things affects not only the way we see the world, but also conditions how we face the different vicissitudes that life presents to us.
But what has been said so far has even more serious implications, because our expectations not only guide our behavior, but also have an important weight in shaping the feelings and behaviors of others.
If we ask a friend, during a coffee chat, if he feels good or if something hurts because we see him haggard, emaciated and with a yellowish complexion, it is quite likely that the poor boy will begin to feel bad, or at least experience certain restlessness and restlessness, induced by the power of suggestion of our words.
The expectations that the teacher may have for the students exercise significant power over school performance.
The expectations we have about others often take the form of “labels” that end up having a strong impact on the other person’s behavior.
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For example, within a group of friends it is typical that one of them is called “funny” if ever, during a group outing or a poker game, the boy in question had the good sense to do something comment or tell a more or less funny joke.
Everyone will laugh, especially if there was alcohol circulating during the day and they feel well predisposed to easy laughter, and someone will surely point out to him that he is “a guy with good humor.” From that moment on, it is highly likely that the newly baptized “funny” member of the evening will feel compelled to make more witty comments. If this is how others see him, he will unconsciously try to maintain that image by telling a joke every opportunity presents itself.
You will never know for sure that you were “labeled” almost arbitrarily, nor will you know the power and degree of influence that label exerts on the way you behave.
Unconsciously, you will try to confirm and sustain the expectations of your group to which you belong.
We all know someone like that. The nice guy at the office, or at the club, who is always trying to make others laugh, not because he wants to, but because he somehow feels it is his responsibility to do so.
We have all come across, at some point, someone who lives making hilarious comments for everyone’s enjoyment, even on occasions when their own life is not going as they would like, or they are going through a bad time, or deep down they are He feels deeply sad about some problem that afflicts him.
In this sense, there are endless numerous experiments that demonstrate that within the school classroom, the expectations that the teacher may have for the students exercise significant power over school performance, grades, and behavior in general.
If a teacher believes, for whatever reason, that a student has outstanding intellectual qualities, it is much more likely that that child will achieve truly outstanding achievements, or at least, greater achievements than would be expected if the teacher did not have such high expectations. .
It has been proven on several occasions. It is enough to tell a teacher, randomly, that this or that student has an IQ above average, so that the idea that has been implanted in the teacher’s mind ends up becoming academic achievements. chords.
Of course, there is nothing magical about this, it is a fairly specific and defined mechanism of action.
The teacher who trusts in the child’s supposed extraordinary abilities will give him preferential treatment.
Not only will he give you more attention, but he will explain to you with greater detail and perseverance, he will speak more slowly, he will be much more permissive and patient, and he will encourage you with greater enthusiasm when it comes to achieving certain goals.
And I can assure you, dear reader, that the same thing often happens in the office between the boss and the recommended employee, or the one who has the endorsement of an excellent resume.
Of course, none of this is enough to turn an idiot into a genius, but the best treatment received by both the student and the employee, dispensed by the authority figure in his corresponding chain of command, turns out to be a great facilitator. for greater and better performance.
In a classic experiment on beliefs and expectations, a group of male participants were asked to call certain women by telephone in order to obtain certain information.
These men, in principle, knew nothing about the women with whom they had to communicate, except, of course, for what the experimenter told them.
All participants were shown a photo of the lady they had to talk to.
Half of them were shown the image of a very graceful and voluptuous damsel. The other half were shown a picture of a very miserable and horrifying damsel.
Both portraits used were false, it is worth clarifying.
Then they let everyone do their job while they prepared to record the conversations.
We must be very careful with what we think about others, because it can lead them to behave in a way that meets our expectations.
What did these clever psychologists discover?
Well, listening carefully to the tapes in a subsequent analysis, they were able to observe that the women who were supposed to be beautiful spoke as if they really were. Their voices seemed fake, closer to a flirtatious or plainly seductive tone.
Were these girls playing a character?
No way. They did not know that they were part of an experiment, they had not received any special instructions or training. They didn’t even know they were going to be called. These were just ordinary women chatting with a stranger who had just contacted them on the phone.
It was undoubtedly the expectations of men that induced women to behave that way. When the participants thought they were talking to an authentic Etruscan beauty, they treated her more kindly and used a warmer, more cordial tone of voice.
This differential treatment that the young ladies in question received predisposed them to behave as if they were really beautiful, assuming a much more elegant and pleasant role compared to the group of girls who were supposed to be ugly.
We must be very careful with what we think about others, because it can lead them to behave in a way that meets our expectations.
Usually the type of treatment we receive from other people reflects the way we have treated them.