Self-fulfilling Prophecy: Main Ideas exam questions fully solved(latest update)

What are the steps involved in self-fulfilling prophecy? 1. Starts with a "prophecy" or initial expectation of a target person • Category based: category membership ex: Asian-Americans are all smart and good at math or FB players as being a dumb jock • Person based: information about the individual ex: SAT scores are low- that person isn't that smart or hearsay about a rumor and treat that person accordingly 2. Expectation determines interpretation of ambiguous behavior ex: teacher believe student is "hopeless" vs. "gifted" ambiguous behavior: student spacing off during class (hopeless children is interpreted as not paying attention or not caring while the gifted student already knows the answer or is really thinking hard about how to solve problem) 3. Expectation is strengthened 4. Perceiver acts on expectation of target ex: "hopeless" vs. "gifted" student= would treat hopeless students as ignoring them or more harsh on the student to pay attention while gifted student would receive more leniency and act kinder towards them 5. Prophecy is fulfilled ex: "hopeless" vs. "gifted" student would respond to teacher's treatment: hopeless student might be ashamed, hang their head, give up to trying to understand while if child is more gifted might try harder, have more positive attitude, etc. 6. Self-concept change in target population Role of interpretation of ambiguous behavior/information -expectation determines interpretation of ambiguous behavior ex: teacher believe student is "hopeless" vs. "gifted" ambiguous behavior: student spacing off during class (hopeless children is interpreted as not paying attention or not caring while the gifted student already knows the answer or is really thinking hard about how to solve problem) How can self-fulfilling prophecy affect the target's self-concept? self concept can change to align with the perceiver after self-fulfilling prophecy has occurred In what situations is self-fulfilling prophecy most likely to occur? Why? - new situations (e.g. military inductees, kindergarten, 7th grade) - many perceivers in the target's life hold the expectation -target is... • Not confident regarding the trait relevant to the expectation • Not aware of the perceiver's expectation • Trying not to make waves • Low in power compared to the perceiver • A child (for several reasons above) • Not able to avoid the perceiver (i.e. change situation) - perceiver is... • More certain about expectations • More rigid in general • More prejudiced (for category-based expectations) • Not motivated to form an accurate impression of the target • Not motivated to have a good relationship with the target Under what circumstances is a person/target most likely to become the victim of a self-fulfilling prophecy? Why? How did self-fulfilling prophecy occur in Jane Elliot's brown eyes-blue eyes demonstration? Kids who were "superior" that day acted according to the self-fulfilling prophecy; if they were superior, they performed better academically, were happier, treated other "minority" kids with less respect and vice versa According to research on "the Pygamalian effect" what are four ways in which teachers actually treat students differently depending on the teachers' expectations? 1. When expectations are manipulated, teacher expectations sometimes do affect student IQ and performance 2. Teacher expectation effects are rarely very strong (often on avg. 0) 3. Teacher expectation effects occur only if expectations are manipulated early on in the year 4. Teacher expectation effects are greater for 1st and 2nd graders and lower for SES children and African American children How could each of these four treatments affect a student's academic performance? Why might even small self-fulfilling prophecy effects nevertheless be important? -still effects the way we act and react towards each other; more out of our awareness but still can effect who we are/how we act/ etc. Jane Elliot's brown eyes-blue eyes demonstrations of self-fulfilling prophecy Kids in majority performed better, were more interactive, self-confident and vice versa