Once upon a time, there was a man called Pygmalion… Don’t freak out just yet. This isn’t your bed time story, but there’s something better instead.
In a story told by the Roman poet Ovid, Pygmalion was a sculptor, who, after getting inspired by a dream, created a beautiful statue of a woman out of ivory. It was said that the statue was so beautiful that he fell in love with it. Unable to love another human being, Pygmalion appealed to Aphrodite, the goddess of love, to bring the statue, Galatea, to life. And Aphrodite granted him his wish.
Psychologists made use of the sculptor’s name, in a phenomenon called “the Pygmalion effect”. And that’s the subject of our article for today.
The Pygmalion effect
As we go through the world, expectations of other people are constantly affecting us, and our behavior. Every decision we take, every move we make is influenced by others. If the expectation is positive it can make us change our perspective, become stronger, smarter or even faster.
And that’s the Pygmalion effect for you.
Why is it an effect?
Well, Simply because when we interact with, and have expectations of, others, we tend to offer a lot of subconscious clues about these expectations, through our tone or body language.
Think about it for a second. Or better yet let me ask you this. Does it make a difference whether your teacher/manager/parent believes that you are a high performer or a low one?
Do you have your answer? Carry on reading and find out if you’re right!
The Rosenthal and Jacobson Experiment:
A psychologist by the name of Robert Rosenthal and school principal Lenore Jacobson did a remarkable study in 1965, where they told elementary school teachers that on the basis of some psychological tests, some of their students were designated as late bloomers (even though they haven’t shown any academic success yet, they are expected to bloom).
Teachers began to treat these students differently than the other kids. And consequently, these “late bloomers” began to think of themselves differently.
Can you guess what happened next? Well, the unexpected did. For some reason, they actually performed significantly better than the other kids. They were literally transformed by the teacher’s positive-expectations.
But here’s the thing: these “late bloomers” were actually chosen randomly. The only difference between them and their peers, Rosenthal writes, “was in the mind of the teacher.” And yet these expectations held in the mind of the teacher made an enormous difference.
This experiment, named the “Oak School Experiment”, and the academic paper that came out of it, have become one of the most cited and discussed psychological studies ever conducted.
The discovered effect has become one of the most prominent concepts in psychology and it has been named “The Pygmalion Effect” ever since (also known as the Rosenthal effect).
Where does the Pygmalion effect exist?
You’re probably asking yourself if this experience was only done in class, does that mean this “Rosenthal effect” is only school related?
The answer is No, The initial Rosenthal-Jacobson study proved the existence of the Pygmalion Effect in the classroom, but in the last 5 decades since the study was performed, a great number of scientists have tracked the same effect in various different settings.
The Pygmalion Effect has now been identified in higher education, management, the army, at home, and practically anywhere where leadership plays a role.
Pygmalion effect examples:
1. When a manager has high expectations of his employees, they tend to perform substantially better. In fact, a recent study has found that Pygmalion leadership training was the most effective leadership development intervention.
2. When parents have high hopes for their children, this seems to be one of the highest factors in the child’s success.
3. This goes for military trainer’s as well. Their expectations can literally make a soldier go faster or slower
The cycle of the Pygmalion effect
The Pygmalion effect is a phenomenon in which children, students or subordinates improve or diminish their level of performance as per the level of expectation of their parents; teachers or supervisors have for them.
When people have high hopes for us (represented as Others’ beliefs in the picture), they indirectly have positive expectations about us. These positive expectations influence our beliefs about ourselves, and ultimately dictate our behavior. The latter reinforces others’ beliefs in a never ending cycle.
This has been proven true even when the person with the expectations tries his/her best to hide it. How? Well, we perceive this even without overt verbal or written communication. Therefore, this is done through non-verbal cues like facial expressions, tone of voice, and body language.
As you might have noticed, a fixed gaze and raised eyebrows conveys a different message than a wandering gaze and bored expression. In other words, it’s all a matter of emotional investment and focus.
Want to find out more?
The pygmalion effect is usually associated with the concept of the ‘self-fulfilling prophecy’, which is a prediction that directly or indirectly causes itself to become true, by the very terms of the prophecy itself, due to positive feedback between belief and behavior.
And It has been scientifically proven that in any such relationship (Parent-Child, Teacher-Student, Employer-Employee, Coach-Athlete, etc.), the less powerful person will rise or fall to the level of expectations of the more powerful one.
Basically, what this means is that the less-powerful character will base his/her self-opinion, self-belief and self-worth on the more powerful character’s opinion.
How does the Pygmalion effect work
Rosenthal and other researchers have found that higher expectations lead teachers (or other authority figures) to act differently in regard to the learner, in four very specific ways:
1. Climate: they create a warmer “socioemotional climate” for learners with high potential; often conveying this warmth through non-verbal signals: a nod, an encouraging smile or a pat on the back, etc.
2. Material: they teach more difficult materials to learners they see as especially promising.
3. Input: supervisors provide “special” learners with more opportunities to contribute, including additional time to respond to questions.
4. Feedback: they offer them feedback on performance that is more detailed and more personalized than just your typical “good job” response.
See, it’s not some magic after all. Just some elevated expectations promoting greater achievement.
Furthermore, in the Pygmalion effect, and in the work-place -to be more exact- managers tend to offer subordinates more trust, freedom and responsibility. They tend to work more closely with employees to look for solutions to problems, instead of simply telling them how things should be done.
The positive effects for such a hands-off approach include:
- Increased productivity
- Better levels of commitment and motivation
- Motivation
- Better self-confidence
- More innovation
The Golem effect
If the Pygmalion effect raises the performance of a student, child or employee, the Golem effect does just the opposite. This effect describes the process where superiors (such as teachers or managers) anticipate low performance from a subordinate, causing the very behavior they predicted.
In Hasidic mythology, the Golem was a creature built from clay and mud, designed to serve its master, the creator of the Golem knows that given the opportunity, the creature will bring about trouble and destruction, something which eventually comes to pass.
There is a “golem” in almost all workplaces, schools and organizations. But this does not mean that you have to worry about huge clay monsters chasing you down your school hallway or on your office premises. By saying that there is a “golem” in the organizational structures or in the schools, we are actually referring to the Golem effect and the relation of negative expectations with the performance of an individual.
How the Golem effect came to exist: Experiment
The Golem effect was tested in a study done in 1991 by Babad et al. The differential expectancy effects were tested on 26 biased and unbiased students and teachers.
While the high-biased teachers treated the students they perceived to be of low potential negatively, the unbiased teachers treated all the students equally.
At the end of the study a clear distinction in terms of students’ actual performance was observed. Students with low expectations went on to perform poorly as opposed to students who were expected to do well by their teachers.
In another study done by Davidson and Eden they found that even highly skilled individuals could fall prey to the Golem effect which could potentially downgrade their performance.
Consequences
- Lack of self-trust and self-confidence
- Lack of trust in peers and superiors
- Disregarded ideas
- Discouraging responsibility
- Lower productivity
- Lack of innovation and motivation
Conclusion
In every stage of life there are expectations placed on an individual; expectations of the supervisor at work, others of friends and family and the ones that an individual has of himself.
These expectations in a large way control our behavior and the result of our actions. When a positive expectation is placed on the person, he/she tends to, consequently, produce the same positive or maximum outcome.
But bare in mind that while the Pygmalion Effect does stand to be true and effective, it does not mean that you can just expect whatever you want from someone else. Too high expectations can frustrate a person, overwhelm him/her, might lead to procrastination, and even result in the opposite of the desired outcome.