The Pygmalion Effect – a psychological phenomenon that leads to improved performance

The Pygmalion Effect – a psychological phenomenon that leads to improved performance

Would you like to improve your performance? Programme your brain with optimistic messages and positive words. It’s not just self-suggestion; it’s a scientifically proven fact.

Sociologist Robert K. Merton coined the term “self-fulfilling prophecy” to define false beliefs that become a reality. Why does this happen? It’s due to three psychological factors: having a false impression about a person or event, treating that person according to your belief or behaving according to your false impression, and as a result, the person acts accordingly, or the event occurs.

Let’s take an example to understand this better:

Jane has just got married, but she believes that everything will go wrong, that her marriage will fail, and that she won’t meet the demands of life together. Her husband meets these expectations. In other words, he spends more time at work than with his partner, doesn’t talk to her about issues that are important to both, and living together is a series of misunderstandings and fights, which ends up breaking the relationship. Their marriage fails. His prophecy is fulfilled.

A false idea becomes true. This deceptive validity perpetuates the error. The holder of the false belief will perceive the events as proof that they were right.

But be careful: false beliefs are not just negative; they can also be positive.

When parents tell their children to have confidence in themselves, that they will do very well in school, and that they can achieve what they set out to do, they convey a positive prophecy. The children’s school performance will likely improve, thanks to the confidence they gain in themselves through their parents’ messages.

Robert Rosenthal investigated self-fulfilling prophecies in the school environment. In her experiment, she informed teachers that three students had achieved very high scores on an aptitude test and that they should not treat them differently. They should continue to treat all their students equally, as they had done before. However, unconsciously, the teachers treated the three students identified by Rosenthal much better. The result? These three students stood out above the others on the actual aptitude test at the end of the year.

Self-fulfilling prophecies are also known as the “Pygmalion Effect” and are widely used in sports to inject energy into training. The coach knows the athletes’ abilities and empowers them with motivational messages, making them confident that they will achieve their goals.

Believing in “something” doesn’t mean that “something” exists, but we convince ourselves that it is a reality and behave in a specific way to achieve it. For this reason, it is essential to take care of our expectations about ourselves and the people around us.

In this sense, language is crucial. Labelling a person as “lazy” because they didn’t want to perform as well one day predisposes the expectations we form about their current and future performance. Labelling a child as “stupid” and their brother as “intelligent” because the former was less interested in school than the latter at some point cannot be a reason to treat them differently.

How to change self-fulfilling prophecies or avoid the Pygmalion effect?

Changing our thoughts and behaviours in the face of adverse situations is not easy because we convince ourselves that we won’t be able to move forward or that nothing we do will change the circumstances. But it is possible through a conscious process:

Identify the thoughts that block you. What’s stopping me from moving forward, or why do I believe something can’t have the desired outcome? When you ask yourself this question, you realize that you have the potential to solve your problems and that there are factors that depend entirely on you, and therefore you can positively influence them.

Watch your language! Change “I can’t” to “Yes, I can, and I will try.” When addressing your employees, children, and partner, pay attention to your words. Express positive expectations of them and that you have confidence in their ability to improve.
Analyze your false beliefs and your limiting ideas. Whenever a mental block appears in front of you, change how you think about an event. Only sometimes assume the worst-case scenario because it will reinforce the idea that everything will go wrong.
Make a list of all those situations in which you have succeeded despite adversity and, likewise, remind your loved ones that they have overcome a problem or obstacle due to their skills.

To conclude, keep this phrase from Stephen R. Covey in mind and apply it in your life:

“Treat people as they are, and they will remain. Treat people as they can and could be, and they will become what they can and could be.”

To summarize, the Pygmalion Effect is a psychological phenomenon that demonstrates the power of belief and expectation. Our beliefs about ourselves and others can become self-fulfilling prophecies, either positively or negatively impacting performance.

By identifying negative thoughts and beliefs, changing our language to focus on positive expectations, and analyzing and challenging our limiting beliefs, we can avoid the Pygmalion Effect and improve our performance and the performance of those around us.

It’s important to remember that the Pygmalion Effect can be positive and negative, so we should strive to cultivate positive beliefs and expectations in ourselves and others. Doing so can create a more empowering and successful environment in all areas of life.