The work done in a school by Rosenthal and Jacobsen in 1968, among others, demonstrated that teacher expectations influenced student performance. Positive expectations influence positive performance and negative expectations favor poor performance. These authors called this influence the Pygmalion effect and stated that: “When we expect certain behaviors from another, we are likely to act in a way that makes the expected behavior more likely to occur.”
Therefore, in terms of teaching, teachers who complain about students establish a climate of failure while teachers who value their students’ abilities create a climate of success. In this Psychology-Online article we explain What is the Pygmalion Effect?.
The Pygmalion effect, an investigation by Rosenthal and Jacobson
Rosenthal and Jacobson’s original research focused on a experiment in an elementary school where intelligence tests were previously carried out on the students. Subsequently, Rosenthal and Jacobson informed teachers of the names of the 20% of students in the school who showed “unusual potential for intellectual growth” and who would do very well for the year.
The teachers were unaware that these students were selected at random unrelated to the initial test. When Rosenthal and Jacobson tested the students 8 months later, they found that randomly selected students who teachers thought would do much better than the rest in their academic year scored significantly higher than the ones tested 8 months earlier.
Rosenthal applied the Pygmalion effect to higher education as experiments have been conducted for algebra classes at the Air Force Academy and at the university.
“If you think that your students cannot achieve much, are not too bright, you may be inclined to teach simpler things, do a lot of exercises, read your notes and give simple tasks that require simplistic answers” (Rhem, 1999)
Origin of the concept Pygmalion
The phenomenon that higher expectations result in better performance is known as the “Pygmalion Effect.” The name is inspired by Greek myth of Pygmalion, a sculptor who fell in love with one of his statues. Pygmalion quietly wished for a woman who could meet the expectations of the ideal that she had carved in ivory and her wish and high expectations of her were fulfilled when one day she kissed the statue and turned into a woman.
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How the Pygmalion effect works
To understand what the Pygmalion Effect consists of, it is important that we know better how this method works. We could say that the Pygmalion effect is a self-fulfilling prophecy that works like a circular mechanism:
- Other people’s beliefs about us influence their actions toward us
- Their actions towards us influence and reinforce our beliefs about ourselves.
- Our beliefs about ourselves influence our actions toward others.
- Our actions toward others influence other people’s beliefs about us
- And we would return again to point 1 (circular mechanism)
This circular mechanism can be influenced in all four stages, but the Pygmalion effect focuses on the effect of other people’s expectations and how the mechanism reinforces the effect of those expectations.
Practical teaching tips
Some advice that can be derived from the Pygmalion effect and that They are applicable to day-to-day teaching are:
- Never predict failures in your class. If a test is very difficult, tell your students that the test is difficult but that you are sure they will do well if they work hard to prepare.
- Don’t participate in complaint sessions about students. Faculty members who only engage in complaining are establishing a culture of failure for their students, their department, and their own teaching.
- Set high expectations. Students achieve more when teachers have higher expectations. When you give them a difficult task, tell them “I know it can be done.” If you really think that the students cannot do the task, postpone it in time and in the meantime train them to be able to do it at another time.
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Some issues
- The Pygmalion effect is not an excuse to have unrealistic expectations of other people. Quality and performance should be expected, but not miracles.
- The Pygmalion Effect presents a paradox: having high expectations of people will produce better results, but it also increases the likelihood that you will be disappointed.
This article is merely informative, at Psychology-Online we do not have the power to make a diagnosis or recommend a treatment. We invite you to go to a psychologist to treat your particular case.
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