Proff Gross
Mohamad Zowail
The Self Fulfilling Prophecy
Psychology has long emphasized the power of beliefs to shape reality (Rosenthal & Jacobson, 1968). Research of the 1940s and 1950s which promoted the idea that perception is heavily influenced by people’s goals, needs, fears, and motives. The self-fulfilling prophecy, which happens subconsciously, is central to this theoretical perspective because it involves the behavioral confirmation of false beliefs (Merton, 1948). In the 20th-century sociologist Robert K. Merton coined the expression "self-fulfilling prophecy" and formalized its structure and consequences. A self-fulfilling prophecy is a false belief that leads to its own fulfillment (Darley & Fazio, 1980). The self-fulfilling …show more content…
According to the theory, confirming one’s self-concept even when it is negative is existentially pleasing because it provides a stable sense of self and it creates a more predictable social environment (Guinn, 2002). Existing research supports this theory. For example, by mid-childhood people show a preference for feedback that confirms their self-views (Cassidy et al. 2003), and people have been found to become more certain of their self-conceptions over time as they accrue supporting evidence (Swann, 2012). Although receiving self-verifying feedback affords an individual several benefits such as greater perceived trust and intimacy in relationships and more harmonious interactions with others (North & Swann, 2009), there may be drawbacks for people with negative self-conceptions. Some researchers have found that people with a negative self-conceptions, low self-esteem, and depression have a preference for negative feedback, and choose partners who are critical and give a negative feedback (Swann, …show more content…
Simply they want teachers to have positive self fulfilling prophecies of their students so they can help them achieve better. “This bold education reform was adopted by more than 40 states starting in 2010” says Karakowsky.. They said national education data showed that, “all else being equal, 10th-grade students who had teachers with higher expectations were more than three times more likely to graduate from college than students whose teachers had lower expectations" (Karakowsky