Our brain is a wondrous thing. It helps us do so many things effortlessly, on an everyday basis, from the functions of the body, experiencing emotions, to storing memories and so much more. Different actions and situations around us cause our brains to perform certain counteractions. With the many phenomena performed by it, the one which in particular catches my attention is the Pygmalion Effect.
The Pygmalion Effect was discovered by Robert Rosenthal and Lenore Jacobson in 1965. In order to prove this enigma, Robert Rosenthal approached Lenore Jacobson, who was a principal of an elementary school, to conduct a small experiment, an IQ test. On seeing the results of the test, Robert Rosenthal informed the teachers working in the elementary school that certain students who took the IQ test, would be “academic bloomers” and show great excellence in their academics that particular year. He gave the names of the students. After a few months or so, the students whose academics were supposed to show improvement just so happened to show the excellence Rosenthal was talking about. The truth was, the names that were picked and told to the teacher happened to be random and were students who had scored average before. The question was, how did the students improve in such a short period of time? That was the Pygmalion effect itself.
The Pygmalion effect works with the expectation of a teacher. For instance, the teachers at Lenore Jacobson’s school had the preconceived idea that certain students would showcase a better performance in their studies, hence through that expectation, their actions were presented. They motivated the student, encouraged them and showed their belief in them as a result of receiving false information about the student themselves and having a subconscious belief that they would do better than the rest of the class. Which then affected the student to have that belief of themselves, considering it true. Therefore, reinforcing the belief that the teacher had in the first place of the student.
This encouragement can influence one’s actions and create a self-fulfilling cycle and help them go beyond their potential, something even they didn’t know they were capable of. When someone has expectations of people and communicates them, more often than not those expectations will be met. The higher one’s expectations become, in turn, the more the people engage in more learning behaviour.
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