Self-fulfilling prophecy makes it come true

How self-fulfilling prophecies can influence other people's behavior

01/04/2013

In psychology, the principle of self-fulfilling prophecies has long been known. It says that assumptions about other people usually come true. This is not so much because we have clairvoyant abilities, but rather because we align our behavior to expectations. An American doctor was able to prove this effect in his study. Thus, men who believed they had a low risk of heart attack suffered three times less often than others, regardless of whether they actually had a lower or increased risk of coronary heart disease.

How self-fulfilling prophecies can increase intelligence
The psychological principle of self-fulfilling prophecies has been proven since the mid-twentieth century. Thus, assumptions about other people influence their behavior. Because the behavior is based largely on expectations. The US psychologists Robert Rosenthal and Leonore Jacobson conducted in 1965 an interesting experiment in which they demonstrated the causality of expectations and behavior. The psychologists examined the teacher-student interactions at two elementary schools. The Oak School was in a working class neighborhood. About one sixth of the students were of Mexican descent. The school system of the public Oak School was based on a tripartite division, in which the students were taught in a fast, medium or slow learning move.

The Crest School was mostly attended by white middle and upper school students. Students had an average IQ of 109, while the Oak School had an IQ of 98 on average. In the fast-learning train of the Oak School, the children also had an IQ of 109.

At both schools, the teachers were faked that they were taking part in a scientific test with their students to identify the children who have great intellectual development potential. The teachers were then told that 20 percent of the students were on the verge of an intellectual development spurt. In reality, however, the choice of children was arbitrary, so that the special gift existed only in the consciousness of the teacher.

After a year, the children were re-examined. It turned out that the children, who were previously presented to the teachers as particularly intelligent, had increased their IQ much more than ordinary children. The largest IQ increases were measured by students from the middle school of the Oak School. 45 percent of „gifted“ Children were able to increase their IQ by 20 or more points. This effect was especially significant for first and second year students. 20 percent of „gifted“ even raised their IQ by 30 or more points. The teachers judged the characters of the crafty students more positively than the other children, had more patience with them and paid more attention to them. The performance of the randomly selected students improved significantly, according to the study, based on teacher expectations.

Self-fulfilling prophecies affect heart attack risk
The relationship between expectations and behavior is also supported by other studies. Assumptions or expectations of other people or oneself prove themselves over time, because the behavior is subconsciously oriented towards them. The effect can be both positive, such as the experiment of Rosenthal and Jacobson shows, as well as negative impact.

Robert Gramling of the University of Rochester, New York, USA, had shown in his study that the assumption of a low risk of heart attack in males actually led to them having a heart attack three times less frequently. The actually existing risk from a medical point of view seemed to play a subordinate role.

If physicians had predicted a particularly high risk of heart attacks for study participants, the results of the study could have been the opposite, because self-fulfilling prophecies also work in the other, negative direction. Because of this, studies are usually done „double-blind“ so that neither the scientists nor the subjects know who is receiving the real treatment and who is receiving a placebo. This ensures that trial results are not influenced by the expectations of those involved. (Sb)