A self-fulfilling prophecy is an expectation – positive or negative – about something or someone that can affect a person’s behavior in a way that leads those expectations to become a reality. For example, if investors think the stock market will crash, they will buy fewer stocks, prices will start to decline, and the market will actually crash. These fascinating self-fulfilling prophecy examples will help you understand the concept of a prediction that comes true simply because someone believes it. You’ll also get a sense of the psychology behind self-fulfilling prophecies, so you can understand why they happen.
Definition
In 1948, Robert K. Merton coined the term self-fulfilling prophecy to describe “a false definition of the situation evoking a behavior which makes the originally false conception come true” (Merton, 1968, p. 477).
In other words, a mis-representation of reality or guess at the truth that in turn caused behaviors that would end up making this hypothetical into an actual reality.
Simply put, a false reality could actually become truth due to human psychological responses to predictions, fears, and worries associated with the future.
The self-fulfilling prophecy has also been referred to as the “bootstrapped induction”, the “Barnesian performativity” or “The Oedipus effect” (Biggs, 2011).
Examples
Placebo Effect
An example of the self-fulfilling prophecy is known as the placebo effect. In this example, patients are randomly split into two groups: one receiving the new treatment and one receiving a placebo treatment or “fake treatment.”
Those who are given the placebo drug have been shown to display improvements in the respective issue despite there being no active agent causing the recovery.
The beliefs that one held, in contrast to an actual treatment, led to that prophecy being fulfilled.
Stereotype Threat
Stereotype threat refers to concern that one’s actionsmay fulfill a negative cultural stereotype of one’sgroup (Steele 1997). Such concerns may, paradoxically, lead to the fulfillment of those stereotypes
Another example of a stereotype threat concerns African American intelligence and resulting college admission.
In the past, researchers believe that African Americans were less intelligent than other races due their lower reported scores on standardized tests (Dzaferagic, 2019). This research was then used to justify the admission of a smaller percentage of African Americans at colleges and universities.
However, this discrepancy can be explained by the self-fulfilling prophecy is the form of a stereotype threat (Steele 1997). Since other individual’s expectations of African Americans were lower, they fulfilled their expectations.
It is thought that the negative stereotype of African Americans led them to become anxious about taking their tests which led to poorer results than they were actually capable of. This further confirmed the stereotype. We see what we want to see.
Types of Self-Fulfilling Prophecies
There are two types of self-fulfilling prophecies: self-imposed and other-imposed (Adler, 2012). Both lead to the same result, yet they are different approaches to getting there.
Self-Imposed Prophecies
In a self-imposed prophecy, one’s own expectations are the causal factor for one’s actions. An example is illustrated through a public speaking scenario.
In this scenario, a man named John has had previous experience with failure in a public speaking setting. He is extremely nervous and believes he will fail.
Due to this, as he begins his speech, he stumbles over his words, forgets his lines, and fails to produce a coherent message. Therefore, because John believed he would fail, he did.
Other-Imposed Prophecies
An other-imposed self-fulfilling prophecy arises when others’ expectations of another individual affects the actions of that individual. A classic example is the fortune teller scenario.
Cindy, a fortune teller tells a man named Peter that he will one day become a therapist. Because Cindy imposed this expectation on Peter, he began to believe it.
Eventually, because Cindy’s expectations affected Peter’s beliefs, he did one day become a therapist. The Oedipus example above is another example of an other-imposed self-fulling prophecy.
Other-imposed self-fulfilling prophecies are at the root of racial and gender stereotyping and discrimination. If a person has certain expectations for a person of another race, they will treat them accordingly which might position this person in a place fitting of the stereotype they’re believed to fit under.
For example, if it is believed that women are better in certain lesser roles than men, women are more likely to fulfill this prophecy and not live up to their full potential.
The key idea in both types of self-fulfilling prophecies is that the idea of an unbacked or false notion spurs behavior that, in turn, makes a person act “as if” the idea was reality until, eventually, these behaviors build a reality where the prophecy comes true.
The Pygmalion Effect
“When we expect certain behaviors of others, we are likely to act in ways that make the expected behavior more likely to occur.” (Rosenthal & Babad, 1985).
The term Pygmalion Effect originated from a poem by the Greek poet Ovid entitled Metamorphoses (The Pygmalion Effect, 2020).
In it, Pygmalion was a sculptor who eventually fell in love with one of his own creations. Pygmalion begged the gods to deliver him a wife similar to the sculpture he became enamored with.
As the story goes, the gods made his wish come true, and the sculpture came to life. Rosenthal and Jacobson became inspired by the story and subsequently named their findings after the sculptor.
Rosenthal and Jacobsen (1968)
A famous study on other-imposed self-fulfilling prophecies is the Pygmalion Effect. Rosenthal and Jacobsen (1968) conducted an experiment to see whether student achievement could be self-fulfilling, based on the expectations of their teachers.
Rosenthal and Jacobsen gave elementary school children an IQ test and then informed their teachers which children were going to be average and which children were going to be ‘Bloomers’, the twenty percent of students who showed “unusual potential for intellectual growth”
They found that the teachers did not expect too much from the average children and gave all the attention to the Bloomers. The teachers created a nicer environment for the Bloomers, they gave them more time and attention, they called on them for answers more often and they gave them more detailed feedback when they got something wrong.
However, unknown to the teachers, these students were selected randomly and may or may not have fulfilled that criteria. After eight months, they came back and retested the children’s intelligence.
The results showed that Bloomers IQ scores had risen (experimental group) significantly higher than the average students (control group), even though these academic bloomers were chosen at random. The bloomers gained an average of two IQ points in verbal ability, seven points in reasoning and four points in over all IQ.
The experiment showed that teacher expectations worked as a self-fulfilling prophecy. The teachers’ expectations had altered the way the children were treated and this had affected their ability.
According to the Pygmalion effect, the other-imposed expectations imposed on the students by the teachers are internalized by the students and become part of their self-concept, and they act accordingly to their internal beliefs about themselves.
These results were replicated in college-aged students as well. Studies conducted in algebra classes at The Air Force Academy, engineering students, and many other universities replicated these results (Rosenthal & Rubin, 1978).
Implications
Stereotypes are often part of self-fulfilling prophecies. Claude Steele’s research (1997) on stereotype threat shows that when students worry that their own poor academic performance could unintentionally confirm a negative stereotype of their social group, they actually perform poorly, thus confirming that stereotype.
Stereotype threat has been measured in high-achieving African American students as well as highly ranked female math students (Spencer, Steele, and Quinn 1999).
These findings have far-reaching implications as well. They can have positive effects on people beyond the classroom as well as negative ones.
If parents choose to treat their children as intelligent, talented, independent human beings, according to the Pygmalion effect, they are more likely to internalize these attitudes and act accordingly.
However, on the other hand, if a parent views their child as incapable, unintelligent, or weak, that individual will most likely lower themselves to those expectations.
The Pygmalion Effect occurs in the workplace when a manager raises his or her expectations for the performance of workers and this actually results in an increase in worker performance.
The Causal Loop
A self-fulfilling prophecy may be a form of causality loop, also known as feedback loops. They are described as “a system in which two or more aspects of the system influence each other” (Loper, 2014).
In abstract terms, Event A leads to event B leads to event C leads to event D which then leads to event A again. The cycle then repeats.
These loops, in turn, are perfect examples of feedback cycles. Once the cycle begins, it is difficult to remove oneself from the situation and prevent uncontrollable actions and outcomes. The prophecy itself serves as the drive for an actions, and thus it is self-fulfilling.
Merton exemplified his casual loop process in his book Social Theory and Social Structure in 1949. In it, he shows how causal loops can push forth this idea of a self-fulfilling prophecy.
He depicted the following scenario (Ackerman, 2020): A rumor is spread that the banks are collapsing. In response to this event, people then withdraw their money in a panic. As a result, the banks actually do begin to struggle and, thus, more people withdraw their money. The cycle repeats until the bank ultimately collapses, completing the self-fulfilling prophecy.
A causal loop feeds into itself, the danger being that the cause can often be rumor or superstition unbacked by truth. Once a loop begins to build strength, the outcome becomes very real and it can be difficult to put a stop to it.
Examples
The concept that our thoughts affect our feelings which affect our behaviors which affect our thoughts, an example of a causal loop, is a key cog in cognitive behavioral therapy. Interrupting the cycle by controlling one’s actions is a major step toward recovery for those living with depression.
Common to many diagnosed with depression are negative thoughts and untrue self-statements of their abilities or worth.
A person may begin a casual loop with a simple statement such as “I can’t ever do anything right.” This can result in negative feelings which in turn leads to negative actions or a lack of self-care.
If they continue to act in a non-beneficiary manner, they will inevitably fulfill their predictions leading them to become depressed.
Real-Life Examples of Self-Fulfilling Prophecies
Self-fulfilling prophecies happen in real life all the time. These real-world examples will give you an idea how they work.
Teacher Expectations
In a study published in Education Next, researchers found that white teachers had lower expectations for the higher education success of their black students than they did for white students with similar profiles. Black students internalized these predictions and were less likely to attend college after high school because of them. This other-imposed self-fulfilling prophecy turned out to be true.
Expectations of Pain
A study conducted at the University of Colorado Boulder found that patients who expect a painful experience are more likely to feel pain – even when the stimulus isn’t very painful. Researchers used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to measure the brain’s response to stimuli when the subject expects the experience to be painful. The results showed that people experience more extreme pain because of that negative self-fulfilling prophecy, no matter what type of stimulation they receive.
Economic Decision-Making
Self-fulfilling prophecies can also affect the economy and people’s economic decisions. A study published in PLOS One examined participants’ economic risk-taking behavior when they were given a positive or negative economic forecast. Those who received a negative forecast were less likely to take risks and took longer to make decisions, resulting in lower profits during an economic game. The perception created by the economic forecast became a self-fulfilling prophecy.
Workplace Paranoia
According to a study at the University of British Columbia, when people perceive they are the victim of negative politics in the office setting, they tend to make decisions that make them more likely to be the target of politics. The paranoid behaviors that resulted from the perception of prejudice became a self-fulfilling prophecy.
Employee Creativity
A study published in The Journal of Management examined how supervisors’ positive expectations of employee creativity affected the creativity of employees. When supervisors had higher expectations about the creativity of their employees, they were seen to be more supportive of creativity. This, in turn, encouraged employees to be more creative. This type of positive self-fulfilling prophecy is called the Pygmalion effect, named for a king of Cyprus.
Real Estate Business
Suppose there is an expectation that a local real estate market will depreciate. As there is a widespread expectation of depreciation, a significant number of homeowners decide to sell their properties. The substantial increase in the number of property sellers creates excess supply in the market. The oversupply depreciates the real estate market, fulfilling the depreciation expectation.
The expectation of a depreciating market, indirectly, was the cause of the market’s price dropping, characterizing it as a self-fulfilling prophecy.
The Psychology Behind Self-Fulfilling Prophecies
The American Psychological Association reports that there are many types of prophecies that bring about their own fulfillment. The reasoning behind this tendency is a little unclear, although there has been a great deal of research about it.
In general, a person’s cognition, or thinking, affects his or her behavior. This is called a “schema.” In some situations, this schema can go on to affect the situation, resulting in a self-fulfilling prophecy.
Take Control of Self-Fulfilling Prophecies
A self-fulfilling prophecy is an example of bias, a belief that can affect the outcome or how something is presented. Being aware of negative self-fulfilling prophecies can help you change your self talk and avoid the effects of these predictions. On the other hand, if you practice optimism and predict better things for yourself, you can use self-fulfilling prophecies to your advantage.
At Positive Psychology and Educational Consult, we are ready to help you to navigate your life. Contact us today. We are available online 24/7.
Phone: +2348034105253. Email: positivepsychologyorgng@gmail.com twitter: @positiv92592869. facebook: positive.psych.12
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