Pygmalion Effect

Tamrin
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Pygmalion Effect Dec 3, 2008 18:40:30 GMT 10

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Post by Tamrin on Dec 3, 2008 18:40:30 GMT 10

The Pygmalion Effect

[Excerpt - from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia - Linked Above]

The Pygmalion effect, or Rosenthal effect, refers to situations in which students perform better than other students simply because they are expected to do so. The Pygmalion effect requires a student to internalize the expectations of their superiors. It is a kind of self-fulfilling prophecy, and in this respect, students with poor expectations internalize their negative label, and those with positive labels succeed accordingly. Within sociology, the effect is often cited with regards to education and social class.

The effect is named after George Bernard Shaw's play Pygmalion, in which a professor makes a bet that he can teach a poor flower girl to speak and act like an upper-class lady, and is successful.

The difference between a flower girl and a lady
is not how she behaves, but how she is treated

"Eliza Doolittle"

Last Edit: Dec 31, 2008 21:45:34 GMT 10 by Tamrin

Fraternally, Philip Carter / Facebook / Great is Truth and mighty above all things (I Esdras 4:41)

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Pygmalion Effect Dec 3, 2008 19:31:39 GMT 10

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Post by Tamrin on Dec 3, 2008 19:31:39 GMT 10

The Oak School Experiment

[Article, Leaders Have Great Expectations by Jim Clemmer - Linked above]

In his Harvard Business Review classic "Pygmalion in Management," J. Sterling Livingston draws upon the ancient Greek myth of Pygmalion, a sculptor who carved a statue of a beautiful woman that was later brought to life. George Bernard Shaw's play Pygmalion (which was the basis for "My Fair Lady") used a similar theme. In the play, Eliza Doolittle explains, "The difference between a flower girl and a lady is not how she behaves, but how she is treated." Livingston presents a number of his own studies, as well as other research, to prove that "If a manager's expectations are high, productivity is likely to be excellent. If his expectations are low, productivity is likely to be poor."

What's now widely referred to as "The Pygmalion Effect" was pioneered by psychologist Robert Rosenthal at Harvard University. He told a group of students that high or low intelligence could be bred into laboratory rats through genetic manipulation. One group of students was given the "bright" rats. The other group of students was given the "dull" rats. When tested in their ability to navigate a maze, the bright rats dramatically out-performed the dull rats. What the students didn't know was that, in fact, there was no difference in the rats' intelligence levels. Both groups of rats were the same. The only variable was the expectations and emotional tone of the students handling the rats.

Robert Rosenthal later conducted the "Oak School experiment," which demonstrated how consistently held expectations become self-fulfilling prophecies. At Oak School, teachers were told that a group of students had been specially tested and were "intellectual bloomers." Although they might start off slowly, they could be expected to show remarkable gains throughout the school year. At the end of the year the "bloomers" showed a substantial jump in IQ and academic achievement. Teachers reported that they were more friendly, outgoing, and eager to learn than their peers. Of course, the teachers had been misled. This group had not been specially tested. They were randomly selected from student lists.

Pygmalion and Galatea

Women's virtue is man's greatest invention

Cornelia Otis Skinner

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Pygmalion Effect Dec 3, 2008 19:58:23 GMT 10

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Post by Tamrin on Dec 3, 2008 19:58:23 GMT 10

Pygmalion In The Classroom

[Excerpt - Article by James Rhem - Linked Above]

When you begin to talk with most university teachers about Harvard professor Robert Rosenthal's research into the "Pygmalion phenomenon," they're interested. When you describe "the Oak School" experiment which figures prominently in Pygmalion in the Classroom: Teacher Expectation and Pupils' Intellectual Development (1968; expanded edition 1992), almost invariably they respond as though the self-fulfilling prophecy embedded in teachers' expectations was only a matter of common sense, another example of social science proving obvious facts that everybody knows. And then, almost instantly, they say something like, "but while I can see how this could effect young children, I don't think it applies to college students."

Robert Rosenthal just laughs. "Oh, it applies," he says. "They're wrong. There've been experiments looking at college algebra classes at the Air Force Academy, a study of undergraduates in engineering; there've been lots of studies at the college level since the book came out confirming the findings," he continues. "In fact, the original research conducted when I was at the University of North Dakota was all done with graduate students and under-graduates."

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Pygmalion Effect Dec 3, 2008 20:17:02 GMT 10

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Post by Tamrin on Dec 3, 2008 20:17:02 GMT 10

GRADE SCHOOL

[Excerpt - Article by Susan Sprecher - Linked Above]

Teachers take it for granted that beauty and brains go together, and they grade accordingly. Are good-looking people, in fact, smarter than others? (Some of the early eugenicists certainly thought so.) Or is grading simply prejudiced? The evidence suggests the latter.

Dr. Margaret Clifford, an educational psychologist, and Elaine Hat–field found such a bias in their research (Clifford and Hatfield [Walster] 1973). They asked four hundred fifth-grade teachers to take a look at children's academic files. Inconspicuously pasted in the corner of one of the report cards was the child's photograph. As you might expect, the class photograph was a bogus one. Some teachers saw a picture of a quite attractive boy or girl. Others saw an exceedingly plain child. Except for the picture, teachers received identical information about the children, and there was a great deal of it. The academic record revealed the student's grades in reading, language, arithmetic, social studies, science, art, music, and physical education. It reported on their attitudes and work habits. It even contained a tally of their absences during the school year.

The "insignificant" class photo had a great impact on the teachers' attitudes, in spite of the abundance of information about the child. Teachers assumed that cute boys and girls were more intelligent, that their parents were more interested in their educations, and that these children were more likely to get advanced degrees than the homely boys and girls. Teachers expected cute students to be popular and to get along unusually well with their classmates, as well as being brainy. All this, when according to the facts, the children's records were identical! (Similar results were secured by Adams [1978]; Adams and Cohen [1976]; and Clifford [1975]. However, studies by Adams and LaVoie [1974] and LaVoie and Adams [1974] failed to replicate these results.) It has also been found that physical education teachers expect attractive children to perform better in physical activities (as well as to be better teammates) (Martinek 1981).

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Pygmalion Effect Mar 13, 2012 7:20:22 GMT 10

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Post by Tamrin on Mar 13, 2012 7:20:22 GMT 10

Being a Positive Wizard: Pygmalion Effect/Self Fulfilling Prophecy

Each of us is a "sculptor" with the power and ability to shape our own life. We also have an influence on the lives of everyone around us. Psychologists have named that influence "The Pygmalion Effect". The concept of the Pygmalion Effect or the Self-Fulfilling Prophecy has been expressed in many ways over the years. In Greek mythology, Pygmalion was a sculptor who carved an ivory statue of a beautiful maiden. So realistic was his creation that he fell in love with the statue. Because of Pygmalion's "belief" and his love for what the statue represented, Aphrodite, the goddess of love, interceded and brought the statue to life and named her Galatea.

A more modern example of the Pygmalion myth is found in George Bernard Shaw's play "Pygmalion", which was later adapted as the basis for the musical hit, "My Fair Lady". In this play, Professor Henry Higgins changes Eliza Doolittle from an uncultured flower girl into a polished lady through his own belief in his ability and in his own expectation of influencing Eliza's behavior.

Most people have an influence on others by communicating either a positive or negative expectation to that person. People, more often than not, do what is expected of them. The power of expectation alone can influence the behavior or performance of others, and sometimes this power is not realized.

Very often our old attitudes and habits become predictors of our future performance. We call this the "SURE ENOUGH" principle, or the self-fulfilling prophecy. This means that whatever we lock-on to about ourselves, our situation, or our potential, we will creatively work to make it come true, positive, or negative.

EXAMPLES:

"I know it's going to be a bad day."
"This is going to be a fun party."
"I know that will never work out for me."
"I'm going to enjoy working with that customer."
"That person always upsets me."

Wizards

A wizard is a psychology term for someone who tells you information about yourself, the term probably drawn from the magic wielding wizards of fiction who tend to be wise old men that aid the heroes by providing key information. A positive wizard is someone who helps you gain a more positive outlook on life. This concept forms part of a theory that people become what the mind believes they are, and thus one should surround oneself with positive wizards who will encourage development. Any person, particularly those in a position of authority, can be a wizard. Life coaches and motivational speakers are people who make a living out of being a positive wizard. Parents, school teachers, and friends all have the potential to be a positive or negative wizard and so are influential on the nature of a person's self image, which is particularly important in the early years of life when a self image is still being developed.

A wizard then, is someone who affects your self image. Someone who improves the self image is a positive wizard - and, according to the theory, the subconscious takes care of the rest and makes it happen. A negative wizard is someone who attacks a person's self view, and again, the subconscious can then turn this image into reality. Many new age books are devoted to the topic of loving oneself and treat this as an enlightened principle, even though it is known to be a simple part of natural psychology. The Wizard of Oz is a positive wizard of fiction from which the name for this theory may have been derived - who was able to bestow courage, brains and a heart, mostly by making the characters feel they had them, rather than doing actual magic. Thus positive and negative wizards profoundly impact on people's lives in subtle ways that people will typically not be consciously aware of.

A "wizard" is someone who tells you something about yourself with the idea that your creative subconscious will pick up on it and help you become that. Sports coaches are an obvious example. They'll try and convince you that you're better than you are and once you start believing that, your creative subconscious will then pull out the stops to make you that good. That's a "positive wizard", someone who's trying to help you become better.

The amazing thing about the creative subconscious and how it works is that everyone already knows it all at an instinctive level. That's why bullies, even in primary school, instinctively know that this will work...

"You're useless! You're pathetic! You've no hope! You can't catch a ball. You can't write. You're a waste of space. If you were a dog you'd be put down!"

Negative wizards are rife in real life and in fiction. There are many, many more negative wizards than positive. They don't even have to be bad guys. A staple of fiction is the friend or parent who simply doesn't believe in the hero and don't think they should even try for fear of failure.

In fact, humans are automatically negative. We instinctively distrust positive wizards and reject what they say (whether verbally or just in our minds). We brush them off with such phrases as "It's nice of you to say so" which, while polite, clearly implies that they are wrong. You shouldn't. Accept it and it will help you become it.

One important point about wizarding is repetition. It's weird to think but you can convince someone of anything if you repeat it enough and deny him or her the chance to find out in other ways. You can convince people that they're mad, that they're hallucinating, that they're guilty, that they deserve to die or even that the sky is green. In theory, anyway. It's one way brainwashing works and is often seen in interrogations in fiction. Drugs help to make people more susceptible.

There are two ways to beating brainwashing methods. The first you'll probably recognize and it is to have something - usually an object - that reminds the hero what's real and what isn't. The other way, which is less dramatic, is simply to have the character empathically state the truth every time you hear a lie - even if it's in his own head. For every attempt to convince the character of something wrong, he or she should match it with an affirmation of what's right.

The most powerful wizard is the one inside your head. Sure, the creative subconscious listens to and believes other people but it listens harder and believes more strongly what you say and think. People know this instinctively just as they know about wizarding. One of the best and most effective negative wizard phrases ever is "Who are you trying to convince?" Not only are you wrong, it says, but you're just saying that to try and delude yourself. And maybe they're right but self talk - being your own wizard - is extremely powerful. The bullies and the baddies might try to convince the hero that he can't possibly win but if the hero himself starts thinking that, he's really sunk. Or, at least, he needs some other character with belief shining in their eyes to positive wizard him back on track. And, because self-talk is so powerful, you'll often see in fiction a negative wizard force a person to repeat the negativity.

Of course, the trick works just as well for positive wizards.

Negative wizardry is defeating oneself before one starts and it should not ever be repeated or, for preference, even thought.

I said above that we're automatically and instinctively negative. As such, we tend to be our own worst negative wizard rather than positive. Successful people believe, talk themselves into it, and their creative subconscious kick in and help them become it. That can be you!

Please note: The word "instinct" is used in this excerpt. I suggest this is merely a colloquially usage, as the characteristics to which it refers differ from those which define actual instincts. "Habit" may be a more appropriate term in these cases (and habits can be changed).

Last Edit: Mar 13, 2012 7:51:53 GMT 10 by Tamrin

Fraternally, Philip Carter / Facebook / Great is Truth and mighty above all things (I Esdras 4:41)

brandt Guest	Pygmalion Effect Mar 13, 2012 15:42:13 GMT 10 Quote Select Post Deselect Post Link to Post Back to Top Post by brandt on Mar 13, 2012 15:42:13 GMT 10 Any empirical work on this subject?

Smithee Senior Member First Artificer The finest steel has to go through the hottest fire Posts: 1,591	Pygmalion Effect Mar 13, 2012 16:43:01 GMT 10 Quote Select Post Deselect Post Link to Post Member Give Gift Back to Top Post by Smithee on Mar 13, 2012 16:43:01 GMT 10 Mar 13, 2012 15:42:13 GMT 10 @brandt said: Any empirical work on this subject? Yes. See the work by Rosenthal and others in the opening posts of this thread.
	Fraternally, Worshipful Omnipotent Overlord of the Worthy Oriental Order of the Knights who say Woo! "When you are the anvil, bear - when you are the hammer, strike." - Edwin Markham

brandt Guest	Pygmalion Effect Mar 16, 2012 10:33:50 GMT 10 Quote Select Post Deselect Post Link to Post Back to Top Post by brandt on Mar 16, 2012 10:33:50 GMT 10 I was hoping to see the paper instead of a report on a paper. The paper should have the methods/design and results. I would like to see the statistics on this.

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Pygmalion Effect Mar 16, 2012 17:28:24 GMT 10

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Post by Tamrin on Mar 16, 2012 17:28:24 GMT 10

I am surprised to find any cognitive psychologist who is not already familiar with Rosenthal's work, especially the Oak School experiment. The research was published as: Rosenthal, Robert and Jacobson, Lenore. Pygmalion in the Classroom: Teacher Expectation and Pupils' Intellectual Development. Irvington Publishers: New York, 1992. It does not seem to have been posted online but it is available in print.

Here is link to a fairly detailed account of the study: Pygmalion In The Classroom.

Last Edit: Mar 16, 2012 17:31:45 GMT 10 by Tamrin

Fraternally, Philip Carter / Facebook / Great is Truth and mighty above all things (I Esdras 4:41)

brandt Guest	Pygmalion Effect Mar 17, 2012 0:50:20 GMT 10 Quote Select Post Deselect Post Link to Post Back to Top Post by brandt on Mar 17, 2012 0:50:20 GMT 10 I am familiar with the work, at least what is available. I do like to see the quantitative results. Just a peeve of mine.

Post by Tamrin on Dec 3, 2008 18:40:30 GMT 10

Post by Tamrin on Dec 3, 2008 19:31:39 GMT 10

Post by Tamrin on Dec 3, 2008 19:58:23 GMT 10

Post by Tamrin on Dec 3, 2008 20:17:02 GMT 10

Post by Tamrin on Mar 13, 2012 7:20:22 GMT 10

Post by brandt on Mar 13, 2012 15:42:13 GMT 10

Post by Smithee on Mar 13, 2012 16:43:01 GMT 10

Post by brandt on Mar 16, 2012 10:33:50 GMT 10

Post by Tamrin on Mar 16, 2012 17:28:24 GMT 10

Post by brandt on Mar 17, 2012 0:50:20 GMT 10