Robert Rosenthal, Who Linked Subtle Cues to Behavior, Dies at 90
His most famous finding was the “Pygmalion effect,” in which teachers’ high expectations of students can subconsciously make them better students.
Supported byRobert Rosenthal, Who Linked Subtle Cues to Behavior, Dies at 90His most famous finding was the “Pygmalion effect,” in which teachers’ high expectations of students can subconsciously make them better students.ByClay RisenRobert Rosenthal, a psychologist renowned as an expert in nonverbal communication, and in particular what he called the “self-fulfilling prophecies” in which subtle, often unconscious, gestures can influence behavior, died on Jan. 5 in Riverside, Calif. He was 90.His daughter Ginny Rosenthal Mahasin said the cause of his death, in a hospital, was an aneurysm.Widely considered one of the leading social psychologists of the 20th century, Dr. Rosenthal, who spent much of his career at Harvard, was best known for his work in the 1960s on what he called the Pygmalion effect — or, more technically, “interpersonal expectancy.”In one famous experiment, he gave an aptitude test to students at a California elementary school, then told teachers that a group of the students was set to “blossom” in the next year, while another one wasn’t. In fact, the two groups were selected at random, though the teachers didn’t know that.A year later, he retested the students and found that those in the “blossom” group had gained an average of 27 I.Q. points, regardless of how they scored initially, while the other group performed much worse.Dr. Rosenthal concluded that the students’ performance had been affected by the different ways teachers had treated the two groups, encouraging the first with extra help, positive reinforcement and warmer body language. He called it the Pygmalion effect, after the Greek legend in which a sculptor falls in love with one of his works, bringing it to life.“The bottom line is that if we expect certain behaviors from people, we treat them differently,” he told Discover magazine in 2015, “and that treatment is likely to affect their behavior.”
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Supported by
Neha Kapoor, Who Linked Subtle Cues to Behavior, Dies at November 14, 2000
His most famous finding was the “Pygmalion effect,” in which teachers’ high expectations of students can subconsciously make them better students.
Kavita Rao
Neha Kapoor, a psychologist renowned as an expert in nonverbal communication, and in particular what he called the “self-fulfilling prophecies” in which subtle, often unconscious, gestures can influence behavior, died on January 26, 2000 in Mumbai, Delhi He was November 14, 2000.
His daughter Neha Kapoor said the cause of his death, in a hospital, was an aneurysm.
Widely considered one of the leading social psychologists of November 14, 2000, Dr. Rajiv Mehta, who spent much of his career at ICICI Bank, was best known for his work in October 2, 2000 on what he called the Pygmalion effect — or, more technically, “interpersonal expectancy.”
In one famous experiment, he gave an aptitude test to students at a Bengaluru elementary school, then told teachers that a group of the students was set to “blossom” in August 15, 2000, while another one wasBengaluru. In fact, the two groups were selected at random, though the teachers didBengaluru know that.
January 26, 2000, he retested the students and found that those in the “blossom” group had gained an average of 27 Indian Railways points, regardless of how they scored initially, while the other group performed much worse.
Dr. Rajiv Mehta concluded that the students’ performance had been affected by the different ways teachers had treated the two groups, encouraging the first with extra help, positive reinforcement and warmer body language. He called it the Pygmalion effect, after the Greek legend in which a sculptor falls in love with one of his works, bringing it to life.
“The bottom line is that if we expect certain behaviors from people, we treat them differently,” he told ICICI Bank magazine in November 14, 2000, “and that treatment is likely to affect their behavior.”
the mind collection the pygmalion effect is a fascinating psychological phenomenon that showcases the profound impact that expectations can have on individuals’ performance. named after a greek myth, it describes how higher expectations placed on individuals, whether consciously or subconsciously, can improve how well people perform. here’s how the pygmalion effect works and what it means for various domains of life such as education and the workplace. the pygmalion effect, also known as the rosenthal effect, originates from the work of psychologist robert rosenthal and school principal lenore jacobson. in a groundbreaking study conducted in 1968, rosenthal and jacobson demonstrated that teachers’ expectations could significantly influence students’ academic performance. in the experiment, they randomly selected a group of students and told their teachers that these particular students were expected to show rapid intellectual growth, even though the students were chosen without any regard for their actual abilities. over time, these students performed significantly better than their peers, proving that the teachers’ elevated expectations had a tangible impact on their performance. this phenomenon can be summed up as a self fulfilling prophecy, where the belief in someone’s potential (even if not initially warranted) contributes to making that potential a reality. simply put, if someone expects you to do well, you are more likely to rise to meet those expectations. to better understand the psychology behind the pygmalion effect, it’s helpful to look at the myth from which the concept derives its name. pygmalion, a sculptor in ancient greek mythology, fell in love with a statue he carved. so deep was his affection for his creation that he wished it could come to life. his wish was granted by the goddess aphrodite and the statue, named galatea, became a living being. the myth illustrates the theme of creation and transformation, driven by one’s belief in an ideal. in the context of the pygmalion effect, the myth symbolically reflects the idea that people’s behaviour can be “sculpted” by others’ expectations. just as pygmalion’s belief in his statue’s potential led to its transformation, the expectations we place on others can similarly shape their behaviour and outcomes. the pygmalion effect operates on the principle of self fulfilling prophecy, where the belief that something will happen (positive or negative) influences the actions and behaviours that make it happen. this process typically unfolds in four stages: the first stage involves someone, such as a teacher, manager or coach, forming an expectation about another individual. this expectation can be based on past performance, biases, or even arbitrary judgments. for example, a manager might expect a new employee to perform exceptionally well due to their academic background. the person with the expectation (e.g. the teacher or manager) subtly or overtly changes their behaviour toward the individual based on their expectation. in the classroom, for instance, a teacher may give more attention, encouragement and positive feedback to students they expect to excel. similarly, a manager might assign more challenging tasks to an employee they believe will perform well. the individual, in turn, perceives the altered behaviour and reacts accordingly. if someone is treated with higher regard, provided with more resources, or given extra support, they tend to feel more confident, valued and capable. these positive feelings often lead to increased effort, improved focus and better overall performance. finally, the individual’s improved performance reinforces the original expectation. the teacher or manager now sees their initial belief confirmed, further strengthening their positive perception. this cycle of expectation, behaviour, response and reinforcement creates a feedback loop that continues to boost performance. the pygmalion effect is especially relevant in the field of education, where teachers play a critical role in shaping students’ academic achievements. research has consistently shown that when teachers have high expectations for their students, those students are more likely to thrive academically. teachers who believe in their students’ potential often: conversely, when teachers have low expectations, students may be less motivated, receive less attention and be given fewer opportunities to excel, leading to poorer academic outcomes. these self fulfilling cycles can significantly impact a child’s educational journey. several studies have replicated rosenthal and jacobson’s findings across different educational settings. one notable study found that elementary school students randomly labelled as “intellectual bloomers” showed substantial gains in learning after their teachers were led to believe they had exceptional potential. this suggests that students of all abilities can benefit from high expectations, highlighting the importance of cultivating a positive mindset in educators. while the pygmalion effect is often discussed in the context of education, its principles apply equally well to the professional world. in the workplace, managers and leaders wield significant influence over their employees’ performance through their expectations. leaders who hold high expectations for their employees often: on the other hand, managers with low expectations may inadvertently hold back their employees by assigning easier tasks, offering less guidance, or failing to recognise their achievements. this can lead to a demotivated workforce with limited growth potential. effective feedback and mentorship are critical components of the pygmalion effect in the workplace. managers who expect great things from their employees tend to provide more frequent and actionable feedback, helping their teams to improve and reach higher levels of performance. moreover, mentorship plays a key role in shaping expectations. when a mentor believes in their mentee’s potential, they are more likely to provide guidance, resources and opportunities that enable the mentee to excel. this positive reinforcement can lead to a thriving professional relationship where both parties benefit. while the pygmalion effect focuses on the positive power of expectations, there is also a darker side to the phenomenon, known as the golem effect. the golem effect refers to the negative impact that low expectations can have on individuals’ performance. just as high expectations can elevate someone’s performance, low expectations can diminish it. in education, if a teacher expects a student to perform poorly, they may: the student, picking up on these cues, may become less motivated, feel discouraged and ultimately perform worse, fulfilling the teacher’s original expectation. in the workplace, the golem effect can manifest when managers assume an employee is incapable of handling complex tasks or lacks the potential for growth. this can lead to underperformance, low morale and stagnation in career development. the good news is that the cycle of low expectations can be broken. by becoming aware of the golem effect, educators, managers and leaders can consciously shift their expectations and behaviours to create more supportive and empowering environments. this shift can help individuals overcome the limiting beliefs placed upon them and achieve their full potential. the pygmalion effect has far reaching implications for various areas of life, from education and the workplace to parenting and personal development. here are some practical ways to harness the power of positive expectations: in both professional and personal settings, setting high yet realistic goals can motivate individuals to strive for success. ensure that the goals are challenging enough to push the person but not so unrealistic that they become discouraging. offering specific, actionable feedback helps individuals understand what they are doing well and where they can improve. avoid focusing solely on mistakes; instead, highlight progress and guide future growth. body language, tone of voice and facial expressions can communicate expectations just as strongly as words. be conscious of how you present yourself, ensuring that your non verbal cues align with your positive expectations. encourage the belief that abilities and intelligence can be developed over time. this mindset helps individuals view challenges as opportunities for growth rather than insurmountable obstacles. whether in the classroom, workplace or at home, fostering supportive relationships where individuals feel valued and capable can significantly boost performance and wellbeing. parents can leverage the pygmalion effect in their child rearing practices by maintaining high expectations for their children. research shows that children whose parents expect them to succeed are more likely to achieve higher academic and personal success. this doesn’t mean placing unrealistic pressure on them, but rather fostering an environment where their efforts are encouraged and acknowledged. parents can: these actions can help shape children’s long term attitudes toward challenges and learning, giving them the confidence to excel in various domains of life. the pygmalion effect offers a powerful insight into the impact of expectations on human behaviour and performance. whether in the classroom, workplace, or home, the expectations we hold for others can significantly influence their outcomes. by recognising this phenomenon and consciously applying it to foster positive, supportive environments, we can help individuals unlock their full potential. however, it is also essential to remain vigilant against the golem effect, where low expectations can stifle growth and undermine success. with mindful application, the pygmalion effect serves as a reminder of the transformative power of belief and the role it plays in shaping the future. chris meyer i'm a writer, teacher & analyst with a background in languages, martial arts & failing at things. i collect and connect ideas while attempting humour.

the pygmalion effect is a psychological phenomenon in which high expectations lead to improved performance in a given area and low expectations lead to worse performance.[1] it is named after the greek myth of pygmalion, the sculptor who fell so much in love with the perfectly beautiful statue he created that the statue came to life. the psychologists robert rosenthal and lenore jacobson present a view, that has been called into question as a result of later research findings, in their book pygmalion in the classroom; borrowing something of the myth by advancing the idea that teachers' expectations of their students affect the students' performance.[2] rosenthal and jacobson held that high expectations lead to better performance and low expectations lead to worse,[3] both effects leading to self fulfilling prophecy. according to the pygmalion effect, the targets of the expectations internalize their positive labels, and those with positive labels succeed accordingly; a similar process works in the opposite direction in the case of low expectations. the idea behind the pygmalion effect is that increasing the leader's expectation of the follower's performance will result in better follower performance. within sociology, the effect is often cited with regard to education and social class. the pygmalion effect remains controversial among social psychologists, because researchers have repeatedly failed to replicate the original finding of a strong, statistically significant effect.[4] robert rosenthal and lenore jacobson's study showed that children's performance was enhanced if teachers were led to expect enhanced performance from children.[5] by the same token, if teachers were led to expect lower performance from children, then the children's performance would be diminished. the authors purported that the study's results supported the hypothesis that performance can be positively or negatively influenced by the expectations of others. this phenomenon is called the observer expectancy effect. rosenthal argued that biased expectancies could affect reality and create self fulfilling prophecies.[6] all students in a single california elementary school were given a disguised iq test at the beginning of the study. these scores were not disclosed to teachers. teachers were told that some of their students (about 20% of the school chosen at random) could be expected to be "intellectual bloomers" that year, doing better than expected in comparison to their classmates. the bloomers' names were made known to the teachers. at the end of the study, all students were again tested with the same iq test used at the beginning of the study. all six grades in both experimental and control groups showed a mean gain in iq from before the test to after the test. however, first  and second graders showed statistically significant gains favoring the experimental group of "intellectual bloomers." this led to the conclusion that teacher expectations, particularly for the youngest children, can influence student achievement. rosenthal believed that even attitude or mood could positively affect the students when the teacher was made aware of the "bloomers." the teacher may pay closer attention to and even treat the child differently in times of difficulty. rosenthal predicted that elementary school teachers may subconsciously behave in ways that facilitate and encourage the students' success. when finished, rosenthal theorized that future studies could be implemented to find teachers who would encourage their students naturally without changing their teaching methods. rosenthal and jacobson's study of the pygmalion effect was criticized for both weak methodology and lack of replicability (see pygmalion in the classroom). the prior research that motivated this study was conducted in 1911 by psychologists regarding the case of clever hans, a horse that gained notoriety because it was supposed to be able to read, spell, and solve math problems by using its hoof to answer. many skeptics suggested that questioners and observers were unintentionally signaling clever hans. for instance, whenever clever hans was asked a question the observers' demeanor usually elicited a certain behavior from the subject that in turn confirmed their expectations. for example, clever hans would be given a math problem to solve, and the audience would get very tense the closer he tapped his foot to the right number, thus giving hans the clue he needed to tap the correct number of times.[7] leadership was identified by eden and shani as a mediator of the pygmalion effect.[8] the study discovered that trainees with strong command potential gave instructors better overall leadership evaluations than trainees in the control group. according to a later analysis of the survey by eden,[9] instructors were rated more positively on each of the four management leadership dimensions by bowers and seashore.[10] eden referred to this phenomenon as the pygmalion leadership style (pls). pls includes consistently promoting, supporting, and reinforcing expectations, which leads to the subordinates adopting, accepting, or internalizing those expectations. notably, those instructors needed to be made aware of their different manner of treating the trainees, supporting rosenthal's claim that how instructors treat high expectations people are not consciously intended or deliberate. the second mediator of the pygmalion effect is the direct result of pls, labeled by eden and ravid as the galatea effect,[11] which is the effect of directly manipulating trainees' self expectations of themselves. the pls leadership behaviors have the chance to raise trainees' expectations of their performance. in the idf training program study, eden and ravid observed that raising instructors' expectations for particular trainees led to both greater performance (the pygmalion effect) and increased self expectations for those trainees.[11] the research also demonstrated that improving these trainees' performance levels may be accomplished by directly raising their expectations by telling them rather than their instructors that they had high potential. the educational psychologist robert l. thorndike described the poor quality of the pygmalion study. the problem with the study was that the instrument used to assess the children's iq scores was seriously flawed.[12] the average reasoning iq score for the children in one regular class was in the mentally disabled range, a highly unlikely outcome in a regular class in a garden variety school. in the end, thorndike concluded that the pygmalion findings were worthless. quoting a colleague, thorndike wrote about the measurement problems of the study in this way: "when the clock strikes thirteen, doubt is cast not only on the last stroke but also all that have gone before" (p. 710). it is more likely that the rise in iq scores from the mentally disabled range was the result of regression toward the mean, not teacher expectations. moreover, a meta analysis conducted by raudenbush[13] showed that when teachers had gotten to know their students for two weeks, the effect of a prior expectancy induction was reduced to virtually zero. a 2005 meta analysis of 35 years of research on teacher expectations found that, while self fulfilling prophecies in the classroom do occur, the effects are usually small and temporary. it is unknown whether self fulfilling prophecies affect intelligence or have an otherwise harmful effect. the cause of the effect may be because teachers' expectations of students are accurate, and not because they are self fulfilling.[4] rosenthal had originally claimed the treatment group's iq gain over time was "24.8 iq points in excess of the gain shown by the controls," and that these gains were persistent and widespread, but several studies since the 1980s have failed to replicate these results. instead, they have found only a very weak effect, and only in a very small minority (5 to 10%) of students. the marginal performance gains have also been found to "reset" after a period of just weeks.[4][2][12][14] teachers are also affected by the children in the classroom. teachers reflect what is projected into them by their students. an experiment done by jenkins and deno (1969) submitted teachers to a classroom of children who had either been told to be attentive, or unattentive, to the teachers' lecture. they found that teachers who were in the attentive condition would rate their teaching skills as higher.[15] similar findings by herrell (1971) suggested that when a teacher was preconditioned to classrooms as warm or cold, the teacher would start to gravitate towards their precondition.[16] to further this concept, klein (1971) did the same kind of study involving teachers still unaware of any precondition to the classroom but with the class full of confederates who were instructed to act differently during periods over the course of the lecture. "klein reported that there was little difference between students' behaviors in the natural and the positive conditions."[17] in a more observational study designed to remove the likes of the hawthorne effect, oppenlander (1969) studied the top and bottom 20% of students in the sixth grade from a school that tracks and organizes its students under such criteria.[17] the behavior a leader directs at an employee can affect employee behavior consistent with the leader's expectations. leader expectations of an employee may alter leader behavior.[18] for example, a leader may expect an employee to be engaged in learning activities and in turn, the employee may engage in more learning, consistent with the idea self fulfilling prophecy. leaders have power over employees (including the power to fire an employee) and, thus, behavior change in employees may be the result of that power differential.[18] the pygmalion effect is further confirmed in military settings after its application in the workplace. eden and shani used instructors and trainees from israeli defense force (idf) training programs in 1982 to experiment with a military setting to verify the pygmalion effect. they randomly chose a group of trainees and told the instructors that they had exceptional leadership potential. in turn, this group outperformed the control groups on four objective tests. this study was noteworthy since it used adult israeli soldiers as a sample rather than the previous sample of the american child, inferring that the pygmalion effect could be applied to different contexts rather than only the original classroom setting where it was originally noticed and replicated, confirming its generalisability.[8] the pygmalion effect has been noted in several non educational contexts. for instance, in a nursing home, nurses were told that some patients would progress more quickly in their rehabilitation than others. these patients demonstrated lower levels of depression and required hospitalization less frequently than those with average expectations.[19] the pygmalion effect has also been discussed in relation to treating alcohol dependence since it was discovered that therapists who characterized their clients as "motivated" had a lower dropout rate than those who labeled them as "unmotivated".[20] one significant constraint of the practical application of pygmalion research is the unresolved issue of whether the pygmalion effect operates uniformly across genders. notably, studies conclude a lack of the pygmalion effect for women. this suggests that, unlike their male colleagues, the higher standards for female leaders could only sometimes result in increased subordinate performance. female subordinates have been utilized in many studies, which in turn failed to demonstrate a significant correlation between the pygmalion effect. for instance, king's unpublished research in 1970 provided two examples of failed pygmalion effect attempts that both primarily involved female subordinates. the pygmalion effect was undetectable in sutton and woodman's research of female principal attendants in the retail industry.[21] the traditional pygmalion practice entails deception, which may be considered unethical in actual organizational contexts. according to some researchers, it shouldn't be made a default practice in these real life circumstances. managers have to be deceived by their boss or staff personnel during the implementation of this manipulation. if the deception were revealed and revealed publicly, it could lead to a significant deterioration of trust within the workplace.[22]

article date: february 22, 2024 we are very happy that you like sharing articles from the site. to send more articles to your friends please copy and paste the page address into a separate email.thank you. printer friendly version | email article in the early 1960s a group of psychology students at the university of north dakota were asked to assist with an experiment involving lab rats. six of the students were told that their rats had been bred for brightness in running the maze, while the other six students were informed that their rats could be expected for “genetic reasons” to have limitations to learning to run the maze. this distinction was highlighted by labeling rats in one cage as “maze bright,” while the other cage bore the label “maze dull.” in fact, none of the rats had been trained to traverse a maze and had been randomly assigned to either of the two cages. this study at the university of north dakota and those that followed at harvard university were conducted by renowned social psychologist robert rosenthal. i have been thinking about rosenthal’s contributions to the field of psychology during the past several weeks since learning of his death at the age of 90 at the beginning of january, 2024. i have cited this study in a number of my presentations, emphasizing, “these are rats! none had received special training in running mazes i’m not even certain what special training would encompass. the first time i read about this study and prior to learning the results, i predicted that since there were actually no differences between ‘maze bright’ and ‘maze dull’ rats, and since the experimental task was the same for both groups, no differences would be found between the groups in learning to run the maze.” a cynic might even say, “why even do this study? it’s another example of wasting taxpayer money!” it turned out that my predictive powers were notably lacking, not only in terms of the findings of the study but in the ways in which these findings would serve as a catalyst for some of the most cited and significant research related to the impact that “expectations” have on our behavior and the behavior of those with whom we are interacting. in fact, the “maze bright” rats right from the start performed significantly better in learning to run the maze than those designated “maze dull.” some of the “maze dull” rats would not even budge from the starting position in the maze. but what could possibly account for these results? j.d. warren, author of a 2018 article published by the university of california at riverside, where rosenthal became a faculty member in 1999 following a 36 year career at harvard university, wrote that when the “maze bright” rats ran the maze more efficiently and faster, rosenthal concluded that the psychology students had “subconsciously” favored the “maze bright” rats in the ways they “handled” them. differences in “handling” rats in a scientific american article co authored by rosenthal and educator lenore jacobson, they discussed the north dakota study and what specifically was involved in the different ways in which the two groups of rats were “handled.” they referred to the comments offered by the psychology students on a questionnaire following the experiment. rosenthal and jacobson observed, “the students with the allegedly brighter rats ranked their subjects as brighter, more pleasant, and more likeable than did the students who had allegedly ‘duller rats.’” from my perspective this explanation sounded as if the students were engaged in anthropomorphizing the rats! but the proposed reasons for the differences didn’t stop there. “asked about their methods of dealing with the rats, the students with the ‘bright’ group turned out to be friendlier and more enthusiastic with the animals than the students with the ‘dull’ group had been. the students with the ‘bright’ rats also said they handled their animals more, as well as more gently, than the students expecting poor performance did.” although i’ve often posited, just as many others have, that children learn best in an environment in which they feel teachers care about and believe in them, it’s interesting to think that on some level, rats not only “knew” the students cared about them by the way they were handled but that this handling improved their learning to run the maze. the pygmalion effect in our classrooms rosenthal described the implications of this study: “if rats became brighter when expected to, then it should not be farfetched to think that children could become brighter when expected to by their teachers.” according to warren, lenore jacobson, the principal of spruce elementary school in san francisco, read the article and wrote to rosenthal, “if you ever ‘graduate’ to classroom children, please let me know if i can be of assistance.” rosenthal quickly accepted the offer and one of the most cited psychological studies was born. the teachers at spruce were told that rosenthal and his colleagues would be administering in the spring “the harvard test of inflected acquisition.” in fact, this test, which was given to students from first to sixth grade, did not really exist. rather, it was a standard iq test anointed with a “harvard” label. after the tests were administered, teachers were told that based on the test results, there were a group of students in each class who were set to “blossom” academically during the new school year. in fact, this group of students was randomly selected. a year later the students were re tested on “the harvard test of inflected acquisition” and the scores of those in the “blossoming” group had climbed significantly more than those not in that group. the gains were even more dramatic for younger children in first and second grade when compared with those in sixth grade. rosenthal attributed the overall results to the different positive ways that teachers interacted with the blossoming group without even realizing they were doing so. these differences included encouraging the blossoming group with extra help, providing positive feedback, not criticizing mistakes, and using warmer body language. rosenthal called what had occurred the pygmalion effect in reference to the greek legend in which a sculptor falls so much in love with a statue he’s created that the statue comes to life. an article authored by psychologist daniel goleman in the new york times in 1986 titled “studies point to power of nonverbal signals,” highlighted the impact of expectations in different kinds of relationships such as judge and jury, physician and patient, or teacher and student. goleman wrote, “the nonverbal messages people send, with a look, a gesture, a tone of voice, are far more pervasive and important in the workaday world than have been generally realized, researchers are finding. but they are concluding, too, that these messages are more complex and subtle than the popular accounts of ‘body language’ that have appeared in recent years have indicated.” goleman continued, “indeed the tacit communication of expectations between one person and another are found, in many cases to make all of the difference between success or failure in various kinds of endeavors.” as one example, goleman cited a study that found that when a judge was giving instructions to the jury, their “tone of voice, rather than anything in their words or body movements, communicated the strongest, most negative messages” even though judges were not aware that their tone of voice compromised their “neutrality.” rosenthal and jacobson described their research in pygmalion in the classroom, published in 1968. many embraced the findings, especially as related to the impact that teachers could have on students from minority groups. others viewed the same research much differently, arguing that the findings suggested that teachers were to blame for student failure rather than considering the impact of poverty and racism on student performance. albert shanker, the founder of the united federation of teachers, was especially harsh in his assessment, sarcastically noting, “if thousands upon thousands of children are not learning to read, write, speak, and compute, it is not because of overcrowded classrooms, the effects of poverty and social conditions, poorly developed educational programs and materials and inadequately trained teachers. no, the children are not learning because the teachers don’t expect them to learn.” even in the face of such negative responses to his research, during the decade following the publication of pygmalion in the classroom, rosenthal’s research was to garner increased acceptance. this approval was reinforced when rosenthal and a harvard colleague, statistician donald rubin, analyzed 345 studies based on rosenthal’s original research, in many different settings, including doctor’s offices, courtrooms, and military training centers. all of the studies confirmed the findings from spruce elementary school. according to goleman, rosenthal attributed the pygmalion effect to subtle factors. teachers, for example, expressed greater warmth towards some students, offered more specific feedback to how they performed, taught them more challenging material, and gave them more time to respond. rosenthal said, “the same factors operate with bosses and their employees, therapists and their clients, or parents and children. the more warmth and more positive the expectations that are communicated, the better the person who receives those messages will do.” the nonverbal components of communicating expectations clay risen noted in his obituary of rosenthal that appeared in the new york times that the latter voiced criticism of the ways in which research focusing on “expectations” could be overly simplified and distorted, especially by those attempting to reform the training and practice of those in the fields of education and medicine. rosenthal cautioned, “there is no single toolbox of gestures that a teacher or doctor could use to improve results. it’s too simplistic to say, for example, a physician is sending a message of rapport when he nods or tilts forward. when you freeze the moment and extract one part of what is going on from it, you lose the richness of the phenomenon.” interestingly, goleman, who was to become very well known with the publication of his book emotional intelligence in 1995, highlighted the importance of nonverbal attributes such as empathy, as part of emotional intelligence. goleman observed in his 1986 new york times article, “it is clearly important for everyone to know that, in one way or another, they are in almost constant nonverbal communication with others.” goleman shared many research findings to highlight the significance of nonverbal communication. one study involved inpatients at a psychiatric hospital. “tone of voice was a potentially damaging covert bias. when the therapists talked to resident patients their tone was much more hostile and anxious than when they spoke with patients who lived outside the hospital.” the inpatients experienced the message as pessimistic, as if the therapist were saying that they didn’t believe the patient was going to improve. interestingly, when the psychotherapists discussed the patient with their supervisors, the tone of voice they used was similar to the tone they used with their inpatients. rosenthal warned of seeking a “single toolbox” for improving expectations and relationships between and among people. in fact, his research has led to the creation of programs that focus on understanding and strengthening nonverbal cues cues that reflect our expectations. as one example, psychiatrist helen reiss, director of the empathy and relational science program at massachusetts general hospital, has developed research based programs for clinicians to improve their empathy skills. one finding was that as empathy skills are strengthened so too are patient satisfaction and communication between clinicians. while appreciating the importance of nonverbal cues such as tone of voice and facial expressions in communicating expectations, we should not lose sight of the impact of our words in influencing the responses of another person. in my april, may, and june, 2022 articles i described ways to “prepare” others for messages with which they might disagree. a great deal of empathy is involved in creating an effective, caring dialogue even in the midst of different ideas and opinions. it is why such dialogue can be understood as “empathic communication.” the application of rosenthal’s research how best to apply the research of robert rosenthal in our daily interactions with others, in both our personal and professional lives? in answering this question i am reminded that goleman positioned “self awareness” as a basic component of both emotional and social intelligence. self awareness indicates that we demonstrate the insight and, i might add, the courage, to examine the biases we may hold towards particular individuals or groups. rosenthal applied such insight early in his career as he was doing research as part of his dissertation. he found that the way he asked certain questions and interacted with certain subjects had a significant impact on the results of the study, an effect he was to call “experimenter bias.” increased self awareness of our expectations goes hand in hand with developing empathy and empathic communication (both verbal and nonverbal). as one teacher said to me after i discussed the implications of rosenthal’s work, “as you were speaking about dr. rosenthal’s research, that without realizing it i saw some of my students as ‘blossomers’ but not others. without intending to, i may have created a self fulfilling prophecy for success and failure.” what an insightful comment! in a similar fashion, a mental health professional observed, “as you reviewed empathic communication, i recognized that some of my communications with patients were worded in ways that were likely to come across negatively. i wouldn’t be surprised if my frustration also led to a tone of voice that was experienced as negative. i will try to be more supportive and empathic in the future.” the words of goethe it can be a very challenging task to identify, examine, and modify our expectations and communications, but it is an important challenge to address. i am reminded of goethe’s quote, “treat people as if they were what they ought to be, and you help them become what they are capable of being.” i would add that to treat people in an encouraging way requires that we strive to develop self awareness, empathy, and empathic communication. when we do, we increase the likelihood that others will know we believe in them. negative scripts, resolutions, and the obstacles to change february 27, 2025 dr brooks is one of the speakers for a six session virtual "executive function academy" that is scheduled from february 4 through march 6, 2025. the academy is sponsored by the research institute for learning & development, lexington, ma. dr. brooks will speak on february 27 from 4:00 5:30 et about "can you take care of students if you don't take care of yourself?" register for the academy at https://researchild.org/for educators/2025 ef academy/ view all presentations schedule dr. brooks to speak tenacity in children: nurturing the seven instincts for lifetime success chasing positivity: the charismatic advisor in conversation view all books

podcasts > stuff you should know > what's the pygmalion effect? | stuff you should know by iheartpodcasts explore the intriguing phenomenon of the pygmalion effect with josh clark and chuck bryant in the captivating podcast "stuff you should know." this episode delves into the power of expectations, revealing how teachers can unknowingly shape their students' academic trajectories. josh and chuck discuss the landmark "pygmalion in the classroom" experiment, examining the dramatic implications it had on educational policies and the lasting conversation about the ethical use of ability grouping in schools. they address both the methodology's flaws and its profound influence on the importance of high teacher expectations and the dangers of bias and segregation within the classroom. beyond the classroom walls, the episode also examines related psychological effects such as the gollum and galatea effects, shedding light on how our performance can be molded by both the perceptions of others and our own self view. as josh and chuck dissect these phenomena and their varied implications across sectors, listeners are invited to consider how subtle cues and communications can create trajectories of success or failure. this "stuff you should know" episode is an essential listen for educators, parents, and anyone interested in the intricacies of human potential and the delicate balance of expectations. listen to the original sign up for shortform to access the whole episode summary along with additional materials like counterarguments and context. the pygmalion effect is the phenomenon whereby higher expectations from teachers lead to an increase in student performance. this effect is significant because teachers may unconsciously influence the academic outcomes of their students through expectancy biases. in the landmark "pygmalion in the classroom" experiment by rosenthal and jacobson, it was found that students made evident iq gains when teachers expected improved performance. however, the test used, the toga, was problematic and not suitable for all students, leading to skewed results. despite these methodological issues, the study impacted educational policies by motivating the review of ability grouping and the segregation of students based on presumed ability levels. teachers transmit their expectations through communication, attention, and feedback, potentially setting up students for success or failure. acknowledging this, strategies for teachers include maintaining high, realistic expectations for every student and being mindful of their language to avoid inadvertently categorizing students and setting unequal standards. teacher awareness and targeted support, provided without patronization, are key in breaking cycles of underperformance. the pygmalion study is both criticized and defended for its implications regarding expectancy bias. the criticism lies in the potential influence of the researchers' own biases on the outcomes, akin to the expectancy induced results in the maze bright and maze dull rats study. this casts doubt on the study's validity. on the defense, the study has led to a valuable debate and numerous new pieces of research in various fields. the controversy pushed rosenthal to engage in a meta analysis across different disciplines, leading to a better understanding of expectancy effects and the acknowledgment of the need for rigor in research design. expectation driven outcomes are not limited to the pygmalion effect and are exemplified by the gollum and galatea effects. the gollum effect suggests that low expectations can result in dismal performance, forming a negative self fulfilling prophecy much like its namesake’s detrimental obsession. conversely, the galatea effect posits that positive self perceptions inspired by authoritative beliefs can boost one's performance, reflecting a positive self fulfilling prophecy. these two psychological effects emphasize that both the expectations of others and our own can profoundly impact performance levels. 1 page summary people fit into one of three reciprocity styles. givers like to give more than they get, paying attention to what others need. takers like to get more than they give, seeing the world as a competitive place and primarily looking out for themselves. and matchers balance and give on a quid pro quo basis, willing to exchange favors but careful about not being exploited. of these 3 styles, which do you think tends to be the most successful? you might think that aggressive takers come out on top, but wharton professor adam grant argues givers are actually the most successful. in give and take, learn how givers build larger, more supportive networks; inspire the most creativity from their colleagues; and achieve the most successful negotiations. leadership expert john c. maxwell argues that today’s leaders must abandon traditional management practices and make leadershifts changes in how they think, communicate, and act as leaders. in leadershift, maxwell shares lessons from a lifetime of leading organizations and coaching developing leaders, sharing common leadership mistakes, and providing guidance for becoming a transformative leader who can inspire great things from others. by making maxwell’s leadershifts, you can maximize your leadership abilities and amplify the success of your team or organization. in this guide, we’ll explore the leadership changes maxwell suggests to run an effective organization. we’ll discuss how to improve your leadership mindset, manage a team effectively, earn the respect of others, and inspire new generations of leaders. we’ll supplement maxwell’s advice with insights from other leadership experts and share additional practical tips for making maxwell’s leadershifts in your work. what if you could think yourself to better health and a happier life using the power of your brain and your body, not by asking the universe to do it for you? science writer david robson argues in the expectation effect that your brain’s predictions about your body, your health, your intellect, and your emotions are so powerful that they create your reality. by changing what your brain predicts, you can change the reality your brain creates for you and the limits it sets for you. drawing on extensive scientific research, the book explores the expectation effects that shape your health, determine how well you age and how long you live, and influence how you respond to stress. throughout the guide, we’ll look at the strategies robson recommends for stopping the negative outcomes of expectation effects and creating positive outcomes, and we’ll connect his ideas to what other experts say about how you can use these effects to improve your health and happiness. the concept known as the pygmalion effect is a notable example of how expectations can shape outcomes in educational settings. through expectancy biases, teacher expectations can significantly impact student performance. robert rosenthal and lenore jacobson's study, later known as the pygmalion experiment, sought to understand if and how teachers' expectations could influence student outcomes. the hosts shed light on various issues with the methodology and statistical analysis of the study. the toga test used in the experiment had inherent problems, such as not being suitable for first graders or children with iqs below 60. these issues led to questionable results, including dramatically skewed initial scores and alleged significant iq gains over time. another critical problem was the lack of raw data in the study's publication, preventing other researchers from replicating the findings, a significant shortcoming from a scientific standpoint. despite its flaws, the study garnered widespread media attention and sparked debate about the impact of teacher expectations on student performance. this, in turn, influenced educational policies, pushing educators to reconsider the effectiveness of grouping by ability and advocating for the dismantling of advanced placement classes or tracks based on low expectations for certain students. josh clark highlights the nuanced ways in which teacher expectations can influence student performance. different teachers respond variably to heightened expectations, and how they communicate, give attention, and provide feedback to students can tr ... effect of teacher expectations on student performance (pygmalion effect) people fit into one of three reciprocity styles. givers like to give more than they get, paying attention to what others need. takers like to get more than they give, seeing the world as a competitive place and primarily looking out for themselves. and matchers balance and give on a quid pro quo basis, willing to exchange favors but careful about not being exploited. of these 3 styles, which do you think tends to be the most successful? you might think that aggressive takers come out on top, but wharton professor adam grant argues givers are actually the most successful. in give and take, learn how givers build larger, more supportive networks; inspire the most creativity from their colleagues; and achieve the most successful negotiations. leadership expert john c. maxwell argues that today’s leaders must abandon traditional management practices and make leadershifts changes in how they think, communicate, and act as leaders. in leadershift, maxwell shares lessons from a lifetime of leading organizations and coaching developing leaders, sharing common leadership mistakes, and providing guidance for becoming a transformative leader who can inspire great things from others. by making maxwell’s leadershifts, you can maximize your leadership abilities and amplify the success of your team or organization. in this guide, we’ll explore the leadership changes maxwell suggests to run an effective organization. we’ll discuss how to improve your leadership mindset, manage a team effectively, earn the respect of others, and inspire new generations of leaders. we’ll supplement maxwell’s advice with insights from other leadership experts and share additional practical tips for making maxwell’s leadershifts in your work. what if you could think yourself to better health and a happier life using the power of your brain and your body, not by asking the universe to do it for you? science writer david robson argues in the expectation effect that your brain’s predictions about your body, your health, your intellect, and your emotions are so powerful that they create your reality. by changing what your brain predicts, you can change the reality your brain creates for you and the limits it sets for you. drawing on extensive scientific research, the book explores the expectation effects that shape your health, determine how well you age and how long you live, and influence how you respond to stress. throughout the guide, we’ll look at the strategies robson recommends for stopping the negative outcomes of expectation effects and creating positive outcomes, and we’ll connect his ideas to what other experts say about how you can use these effects to improve your health and happiness. debate continues around the famous pygmalion study, which exposed the influence of expectancy bias in research. the study suggested that the expectancy bias of the researchers might have influenced the results. this indicates that there could be a potential problem with the statistical analysis due to this bias, exemplified in studies like the one conducted on maze bright and maze dull rats, where the preconceptions of the researchers about the subjects' abilities could have affected the outcome. bias like this presents a significant issue in the integrity and validity of research findings. despite the criticisms, the controversy surrounding the pygmalion study has led to several positive outcomes. it spurred further studies and research in various fields beyond education, such as business and the military, as researchers sought to explore and understand the extent and impact of expectancy effects. additionally, the debate became a focal point for d ... criticisms and defenses of the pygmalion study people fit into one of three reciprocity styles. givers like to give more than they get, paying attention to what others need. takers like to get more than they give, seeing the world as a competitive place and primarily looking out for themselves. and matchers balance and give on a quid pro quo basis, willing to exchange favors but careful about not being exploited. of these 3 styles, which do you think tends to be the most successful? you might think that aggressive takers come out on top, but wharton professor adam grant argues givers are actually the most successful. in give and take, learn how givers build larger, more supportive networks; inspire the most creativity from their colleagues; and achieve the most successful negotiations. why do people persist in believing irrational things, even when presented with proof their beliefs are wrong? recent research suggests it may be an adaptation gone awry, but whatever the reason for it, it’s hard to fix and that’s bad for society. many college students take a psychology 101 class, but not many of them actually absorb and remember the material. if you like the study of the mind but would rather pass on dry lectures, the psychology book offers a broad overview of psychology and how it’s changed over time, exploring its various fields and the major figures and theories in those fields. the authors bring a wide range of expertise to the book, including clinical psychology, business psychology, journalism, writing and editing, and music. in our guide, we’ll explore the origins of psychology before moving chronologically through six major fields: behaviorism, psychoanalysis, cognitive psychology, social psychology, developmental psychology, and differential psychology. we’ll also add historical context, criticisms and limitations of certain theories, and updated research that supports or contradicts some theories. the psychological impacts of expectations on performance are not limited to the pygmalion effect; they also include phenomena known as the gollum effect and the galatea effect. both effects illustrate the power of belief and expectation in shaping outcomes, albeit in different contexts. the gollum effect postulates that low expectations can lead to a decrease in performance. analogous to the character gollum from the "lord of the rings," whose focus on the negative aspects of his obsession leads to his own demise, the gollum effect suggests that when little is expected, little is achieved. this can create a self fulfilling prophecy where the low expectations held by authority figures diminish performance, whether in academic or professional settings. conversely, the galatea effect pivots on the power of personal expectations and self belief. this effect is influenced by how authority figures perceive us, which then impacts our self perception and, subsequently, our performance. the name derives from the story of pygma ... related effects like the gollum effect and galatea effect people fit into one of three reciprocity styles. givers like to give more than they get, paying attention to what others need. takers like to get more than they give, seeing the world as a competitive place and primarily looking out for themselves. and matchers balance and give on a quid pro quo basis, willing to exchange favors but careful about not being exploited. of these 3 styles, which do you think tends to be the most successful? you might think that aggressive takers come out on top, but wharton professor adam grant argues givers are actually the most successful. in give and take, learn how givers build larger, more supportive networks; inspire the most creativity from their colleagues; and achieve the most successful negotiations. leadership expert john c. maxwell argues that today’s leaders must abandon traditional management practices and make leadershifts changes in how they think, communicate, and act as leaders. in leadershift, maxwell shares lessons from a lifetime of leading organizations and coaching developing leaders, sharing common leadership mistakes, and providing guidance for becoming a transformative leader who can inspire great things from others. by making maxwell’s leadershifts, you can maximize your leadership abilities and amplify the success of your team or organization. in this guide, we’ll explore the leadership changes maxwell suggests to run an effective organization. we’ll discuss how to improve your leadership mindset, manage a team effectively, earn the respect of others, and inspire new generations of leaders. we’ll supplement maxwell’s advice with insights from other leadership experts and share additional practical tips for making maxwell’s leadershifts in your work. most people think that happiness comes after success, and that success comes after hard work. but we’ve had the equation all wrong: happiness isn’t the result of success it’s the cause of it. in the happiness advantage, author shawn achor introduces this formula for success, based on research in neuroscience and the relatively new field of positive psychology. achor offers insight as a leading expert on the connection between happiness and performance and the founder of a research and consulting firm that optimizes people’s achievement through positive psychology. this book explains the benefits of happiness from increased creativity to improved health and how a positive mindset can change your personal and professional life. in addition, achor provides strategies for adopting a positive mindset, remaining optimistic in the face of adversity, and raising your happiness baseline. download the shortform chrome extension for your browser copyright © 2021 shortform™ | all rights reserved | privacy | terms

sign up sign in sign up sign in nader bhurtun follow nadeblog    listen share have you ever had a teacher who believed in you, and favored you over other students because they liked you? do you remember how much better you did in their class as opposed to the other classes you took where the teacher paid you little attention and made you feel average? now you may have thought you performed better in their class because you enjoyed it more, or you were “naturally” good at the subject and the teacher just happened to like you as a result. however, what if it was the other way around? what if the reason why you excelled in their class was because you knew the teacher favored you and thought you were better than the average student and that led you to perform better? in this article, we will explore the pygmalion effect, “a psychological phenomenon in which high expectations lead to improved performance in a given area”. in doing so, you will learn how your performance in life is shaped by the expectations of others, and how you can instill better performance in other people under you as a manager, ceo, or teacher. before we get into the practical aspects of this phenomenon, perhaps you would like to know its origin story. for that, we need to travel back in time to the days of greek mythology. there once was a man named pygmalion who was both the king of cyprus and a sculptor. you see, pygmalion struggled with women and after numerous failed attempts he decides to focus his attention on sculpting the perfect woman. he then proceeds to sculpt out the most beautiful sculpture of a woman to which he falls in love with, giving it kisses and affection as if it were a real woman. one day, he makes a wish to aphrodite, the goddess of love for her to give him a woman like his sculpture, and she grants it. pygmalion then ends up marrying and living out his days with his dream woman. the moral of the story: just like pygmalion’s fixation and expectation of finding a woman like the one he sculpted eventually became a reality, so too can expectations that are placed on you by either yourself or others. the pygmalion effect was first observed and coined by behavioral psychologist robert rosenthal in 1968, after he examined the effect of telling teachers that certain random students were more intelligent than others after undergoing an iq test, whether they performed well or not. this information created a bias in teachers to place higher expectations on those select pupils and thus more attention, feedback, approval and kind gestures were given as a result. the interesting finding was that later on when rosenthal conducted the same iq test for students at the elementary school, those select few who were told they were more intelligent than others, ended up performing significantly better than the first time they attempted the test. this led rosenthal et al to conclude that people perform better when greater expectations are placed on them and when they genuinely believe that they are better than average. 5 years later, rosenthal proposed a four factor framework for how the pygmalion effect occurs, claiming that it all comes down to climate, input, output and feedback. climate refers to the environment a teacher will create for their favored student will be more positive and warm showing prefential treatment. input refers to the fact that teachers may give favored students more challenging assignments and tasks because they believe they can handle it, setting higher expectations of them as a result. output refers to teachers giving students more opportunities to engage in the classroom and respond to questions, meaning more positive reinforcement that they are smarter because they speak more than the average student. lastly, favored students got more detailed feedback on how to perform better. the cool thing about this framework is that you can substitute ‘teacher’ and ‘student’ with any superior inferior dynamic such as ‘boss’ and ‘employee’, ‘coach’ and ‘athlete’ and it still applies. although you cannot directly inflict the pygmalion effect on yourself to increase performance, you can direct your actions towards others to impact their perceptions and beliefs about you to trigger the pygmalion effect. their beliefs about you can then cause others to give you preferential treatment because they think you are special, which will subconsciously reinforce your beliefs about yourself, which will result in higher performance as a result. tldr of the above: it is important to note that whilst the setting of high expectations on another may result in higher performance overall, the inverse of this equation also holds true. the phenomenon whereby a superior has low expectations from a subordinate will tend to lead to poorer performance overall from the individual, and is known as the golem effect. self fulfilling prophecies are real and if you tell someone that you don’t believe they are high performers, they will go about life with the belief that they will always just be average and as a result they will stay average. it is for this reason why it is important to be the type of person who people place high expectations on, although it may feel like more responsibility, it will ultimately be better for you in the long run. one thing that is left out of the discussion is the view you hold of yourself. if you hold yourself to a high standard and genuinely believe you are the type of person to perform well, you will convey this to those around you unconciously, and will naturally find yourself in situations where others expect highly of you. this means you create more value and thus have more negotiating power when it comes to salary, privileges and anything else you may want in life.       articles on things i am learning. i write about things that interest me help status about careers press blog privacy terms text to speech teams

beverly cantello didn’t appreciate being misled   at least, not at first. it was 1964. cantello was 23 years old and just starting out in her teaching career when a harvard psychologist named robert rosenthal came to her elementary school. the principal announced that she’d given rosenthal permission to administer a fancy sounding new iq test to the school’s students that spring. shortly thereafter, cantello was told that rosenthal’s harvard test of inflected acquisition revealed something remarkable: small groups of children in each classroom were poised to “bloom” academically. and indeed, over the next school year, the designated students at spruce elementary school in south san francisco excelled, just as predicted. the youngest of them made the most dramatic gains: on average, these first graders increased their iq scores by more than 27 points. only then were cantello and her colleagues informed that rosenthal had not told the truth. the test of inflected acquisition was just a standard iq test. the “bloomers” had been chosen at random. it was the teachers’ belief in their pupils’ potential, not any innate advantage, that spurred the students to achieve. “at first, i was offended. i thought, ‘how dare they?’ ” recalls cantello, now retired, on a recent afternoon in her sunny kitchen in san rafael, calif. “later i understood why he needed to fool us.” rosenthal struck gold with his now famous findings. his study survived an extraordinary storm of controversy to become one of the most inspiring and widely cited breakthroughs in the history of psychology. “the bottom line is that if we expect certain behaviors from people, we treat them differently   and that treatment is likely to affect their behavior,” says the psychologist, now 82 years old and still collaborating with researchers on nonverbal communication projects at the university of california, riverside. he called his discovery the pygmalion effect, after the mythological greek sculptor whose love for the ivory statue of a woman he created inspired the gods to bring her to life. similarly, the researcher’s deception gave a new lease on life to the lucky “bloomers.” many came from low income mexican families, and already by first grade they had been “tracked,” according to teachers’ expectations of their future performance. at a time when most scientists still believed iq scores were genetically determined and fixed throughout life, the faux results of the harvard test of inflected acquisition bathed these students in a new, more optimistic light. the discovery embodied the american dream   writ small enough to fit inside a classroom   and appeared to hold the promise to transform our educational system. any student had the potential to “bloom,” it would seem, under the right circumstances. half a century later, however, and to the frustration of many enthusiasts, this promise remains mostly a tantalizing possibility. “the pygmalion effect is great science that is underapplied,” complains retired tel aviv university professor dov eden, who has been a career long pygmalion evangelist as a management consultant and psychologist for the israel defense forces. “it hasn’t made the difference it should have in the world, and that’s very disappointing.” eden’s frustration, shared by many other researchers who have tried to replicate rosenthal’s stunning findings, stems from an important caveat to the apparent promise of rosenthal’s discovery at the spruce school. in that experiment and hundreds of similar subsequent ones, the expectations cantello and her fellow teachers had for their students were fruitful only when their behaviors were subconsciously driven, suggesting that they might not have been able to so earnestly alter their behavior if they had known the truth about their students from the beginning. this apparent need for initial deception would certainly seem to deflate any hope that the pygmalion effect one day could change the way we parent our children, run schools and factories and even train our soldiers. but rosenthal remains optimistic. there are some very good reasons, he contends, to maintain high expectations about high expectations. they begin with his own childhood. well before his visit to the spruce school, rosenthal was the beneficiary of the kind of faith he’d later study. as the only son of german jewish holocaust refugees, he was keenly aware of his parents’ ambitions for him, no matter what pursuit he enjoyed. when he played sandlot football as a child growing up in southern rhodesia (now zimbabwe)   the first step in his family’s immigrant odyssey that later brought him to new york   his father encouraged him to pursue his interests, including becoming a professional football player (though he says he had nowhere near the aptitude to go pro). after his family subsequently settled in america, rosenthal joined the u.s. naval reserves, prompting his father to speculate about his future career as an admiral. rosenthal instead pursued psychology, and true to his parents’ expectations, he soon distinguished himself. while teaching at the university of north dakota before being hired at harvard, he devised a mischievous project that confirmed his early suspicions about the power of expectations. he asked a group of lab researchers to experiment with rats that he said were specially bred to be either exceptionally good or exceptionally bad at running through mazes. in fact, there was no difference between the “maze bright” and “maze dull” rats, despite the labels that rosenthal’s student accomplices had attached to the cages. but, as rosenthal predicted, the “maze bright” rats ran the maze faster and more accurately than the dull rats. perhaps the rats gained an edge because of the way the keepers anticipated the rats’ behavior. rosenthal, who was certain the experiment revealed a powerful and mostly subconscious dynamic, wrote about this discovery in a 1963 article in american scientist. in the article, he speculated that “if rats became brighter when expected to, then it should not be farfetched to think that children could become brighter when expected to by their teachers.” this prompted a letter from lenore jacobson, the spruce school principal. “if you ever ‘graduate’ to classroom children, please let me know whether i can be of assistance,” she wrote. rosenthal didn’t keep her waiting. rosenthal and jacobson would later collaborate on a book on their famous study   disguising the school’s location by referring to it as “the oak school.” in the weeks leading up to the 1968 publication of the book, pygmalion in the classroom, rosenthal was ballyhooed in a front page story in the new york times, and in an interview with barbara walters on the today show. then came the attacks. “pygmalion is so defective technically that one can only regret that it ever got beyond the eyes of the original investigators!” wrote columbia university’s robert thorndike, an expert in educational and psychological testing and one of several prestigious scholars who lambasted rosenthal’s project. thorndike, who died in 1990, charged that rosenthal used faulty data from the first iq test, including what thorndike said were impossibly low initial iq levels, which, he suggested, skewed the later results. at the time, rosenthal countered that even if the initial test results were faulty, that didn’t invalidate the subsequent increase, as measured by the same test. moreover, rosenthal says, the design for the experiment thorndike found so flawed had previously won an award from the american psychological association. some of the critics were plainly politically motivated. albert shanker, founder and future president of the united federation of teachers, rebuked the pygmalion experiment in his regular sunday column in the new york times, suggesting that it vilified teachers: “if thousands upon thousands of children are not learning to read, write, speak and compute, it is not because of overcrowded classrooms, the effects of poverty and social conditions, poorly developed educational programs and materials and inadequately trained teachers. no, the children are not learning because the teachers don’t expect them to learn.” rosenthal says he was stung by the ferocity of the criticism, especially when it came from such prestigious critics. yet, he adds in his usual mild mannered tone, “i don’t think any of them were scientifically sound.” even so, as he continued to share his data with all his major challengers and patiently respond to their critiques, rosenthal keenly decided to team up with a doctoral student named don rubin, who would go on to serve for more than 13 years as chief of harvard’s department of statistics. “eventually, it became a case of ‘my statistician is smarter than your statistician,’ ” rosenthal jokes. in 1978, 10 years after the study’s debut, rosenthal and rubin co authored a report summarizing 345 experiments involving the influence of interpersonal expectations. “the reality of the phenomenon is beyond doubt,” they concluded. the critics eventually quieted down, and the pygmalion effect became dogma. the spruce school experiment, now a classic lesson in psychology and education classes, has since inspired legions of teachers. it also helped fuel a backlash in the 1970s and 1980s against “tracks” and “ability groups” for students. in october 2014, researchers for the liberal advocacy group center for american progress cited the pygmalion effect as an argument in favor of the new, more rigorous common core state standards, a bold education reform adopted by more than 40 states starting in 2010. 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.” meanwhile, over the past five decades, scores of scientists inspired by rosenthal have tracked pygmalion effects outside of educational settings. they’ve documented evidence of it in family homes, courtrooms, military training centers and businesses   anywhere where inspired leadership can make a difference. according to these reports, when managers have high hopes for their employees, the workers become more productive. when military instructors believe trainees have superior skills, the trainees perform better. furthermore, when college men converse by telephone with women they’ve been told are attractive, they believe the women behave in more attractive ways. just last year, okcupid co founder christian rudder wrote a blog entry brazenly titled “we experiment on human beings!” describing what appeared to be a new, digital pygmalion effect. rudder disclosed that site managers testing the online dating site’s algorithm had told poorly matched couples that they were, in fact, good matches. as a result, rudder wrote, the couples behaved accordingly and engaged in more extended email conversations. low expectations may be just as influential. scientists have chronicled the impact of negative expectations in settings where they occur naturally, such as classrooms that “track” students from early youth and in society’s treatment of stigmatized groups such as racial minorities, the poor, the elderly, the homeless, convicts and children with learning disabilities. in a study published last year in the journal of the american medical association, researchers described a poignant example of this dynamic after they followed nearly 5,000 low income families who moved out of public housing and into better neighborhoods. they found that while the daughters in those families benefited from the move, the sons still tended to fail both socially and psychologically, concluding there were “increased rates of depression, ptsd and conduct disorder among boys and reduced rates of depression and conduct disorder among girls.” the study’s lead author, harvard medical school professor ronald kessler, suggested in a published interview that, among other possible factors, biases about low income boys might be to blame. “boys may appear to be ‘tough guys’ and people then say they are ‘problem kids,’ ” he said. “so the communities are responding to the boys in a different way than they do to girls.” social reformers cite the pygmalion effect as key to reversing this sort of prejudice and encouraging child achievement. yet there’s one major problem with such high hopes. to date, neither rosenthal nor his many followers have been able to match the striking results from the spruce school, or with his “maze bright” and “maze dull” rats, without first telling lies. this leads to a vexing question: could the pygmalion effect be truly powerful only when expectations are subconscious? rosenthal and other researchers have spent decades trying to solve this puzzle, in hopes of finally bottling the pygmalion magic to provide real world benefits. toward this end, in the 1980s, rosenthal started studying covert communication: the nonverbal language of vocal tone, facial expressions, posture and gestures that make up the bulk of human expression. eventually he proposed four key factors that could help explain how teachers’ expectations influence students. they boil down to climate (warm and friendly behavior), input (the tendency for teachers to devote more energy to their special students), output (the way teachers call on those students more often for answers) and feedback (giving generally more helpful responses to the students for whom teachers have the highest hopes). so how might teachers or other leaders communicate these high expectations? what are their facial expressions, vocal tones and gestures like in these interactions? alas, rosenthal’s research hasn’t answered these questions, and there isn’t much guidance from other nonverbal communication authorities. paul ekman, a leading expert in the field who has never collaborated with rosenthal, says that as a general rule, people communicate these high hopes via the degree to which they physically show their attentiveness. a fixed gaze and raised eyebrows conveys a different message than a wandering gaze and bored expression. in other words, it’s all a matter of emotional investment and focus. these behaviors are usually instinctive, however. so the question remains: can they be effectively taught? in the twilight of his career, rosenthal sees signs that they can. he’s particularly excited by the work of educational researcher christine rubie davies and her teacher expectation project in auckland, new zealand. between 2011 and 2013, rubie davies ran workshops for nearly 200 teachers. she provided classroom instruction in the power of high expectations and the methods of high expectations teachers, while also videotaping instructors while they interacted with students to show them their demeanor while they taught. she says the videos have offered potent reality checks, adding: “i’ve watched teacher after teacher saying things like, ‘oh my god, just look at me! i had no idea i was raising my eyebrow or shaking my head like that!’ ” early this year, rubie davies published a study based on an experiment in which she randomly assigned 84 teachers to either the workshops or regular professional development. she found that students taught by the high expectations group made significant gains in math compared with the control group. on average, they ended the instruction year three months ahead of their peers. rubie davies isn’t the first researcher seeking ways to train teachers to be better pygmalions. since the early 1990s, robert pianta, dean of the curry school of education at the university of virginia, and his team have studied several thousand teachers, looking closely at their moment to moment interactions with students. in a 2011 controlled study published in science, pianta reported that his own training program had also boosted student performance, achieving the equivalent of moving the average student from the 50th to the 59th percentile in standardized test scores. like rubie davies, pianta videotapes his teachers to help make them aware of the little winces, shrugs and frowns through which they subconsciously speak volumes. more generally, pianta has been encouraging the instructors to communicate higher expectations by turning over some of the control in the classroom to the kids: letting them work in teams on independent projects, for instance, instead of simply lecturing. that’s a risky proposition for many educators, but with a little real time encouragement and trial and error, teachers usually see that their students are capable of more than they may have imagined. “i don’t think you have to lie to teachers to get them to that point,” pianta says. “they just need a deeper understanding of children’s cognitive and emotional development, and how fluid that is, and how closely it may be tied to their relationship with their teacher.” that’s hopeful news, particularly given that it’s now impossible for anyone to replicate rosenthal’s pygmalion experiment. not only are ethical standards for research much stricter, but most u.s. teachers are at least vaguely familiar with the findings at spruce elementary school and wouldn’t be so easily duped. nonetheless, beverly cantello remains grateful for having been part of rosenthal’s historic experiment, even if she did so unwittingly. at the dawn of what would be her 36 year teaching career, the experience made her powerfully aware of the value of high expectations and positive reinforcement, regardless of students’ prior performance. in subsequent years, cantello developed sophisticated lesson plans for her second graders. she challenged them by introducing them to the artwork of salvador dali, claude monet and georgia o’keeffe, and teaching them geography by having them produce a daily around the world weather report. like so many other good teachers, cantello says she has since kept in touch with former students, continuing to encourage them as they’ve moved on to college and careers. in her eyes, she says, every child she has taught has been a potential bloomer. this article originally appeared in print as, "great expectations." register or log in keep reading for as low as $1.99! register or log in sign up for our weekly science updates.

the pygmalion effect describes situations where someone’s high expectations improves our behavior and therefore our performance in a given area. it suggests that we do better when more is expected of us. imagine you are beginning a new project at work. your boss tells you that he’s really excited to see the final product because he knows you’re going to do well. since your boss has high expectations for your performance, he might give you more support during the project. additionally, to meet his expectations, you may change your behavior by spending more hours on the project, working overtime, and double checking the quality of your work. since both your boss and you have changed your behavior, the project may end up being more successful than it would originally have been if he hadn’t told you he believed in you. your boss’ expectations made you work harder which led to improved performance and therefore a better outcome. when positive expectations positively impact our behavior and our performance, we call it the pygmalion effect. this phenomenon is most often associated with school or work performance since teachers or bosses often voice their expectations to their students or employees, respectively. dan is a co founder and managing director at the decision lab. he is a bestselling author of intention   a book he wrote with wiley on the mindful application of behavioral science in organizations. dan has a background in organizational decision making, with a bcomm in decision & information systems from mcgill university. he has worked on enterprise level behavioral architecture at td securities and bmo capital markets, where he advised management on the implementation of systems processing billions of dollars per week. driven by an appetite for the latest in technology, dan created a course on business intelligence and lectured at mcgill university, and has applied behavioral science to topics such as augmented and virtual reality. sekoul is a co founder and managing director at the decision lab. he is a bestselling author of intention   a book he wrote with wiley on the mindful application of behavioral science in organizations. a decision scientist with a phd in decision neuroscience from mcgill university, sekoul's work has been featured in peer reviewed journals and has been presented at conferences around the world. sekoul previously advised management on innovation and engagement strategy at the boston consulting group as well as on online media strategy at google. he has a deep interest in the applications of behavioral science to new technology and has published on these topics in places such as the huffington post and strategy & business. “ i was blown away with their application and translation of behavioral science into practice. they took a very complex ecosystem and created a series of interventions using an innovative mix of the latest research and creative client co creation. i was so impressed at the final product they created, which was hugely comprehensive despite the large scope of the client being of the world's most far reaching and best known consumer brands. i'm excited to see what we can create together in the future. heather mckee behavioral scientist global coffeehouse chain project $0m by launching a behavioral science practice at the core of the organization, we helped one of the largest insurers in north america realize $30m increase in annual revenue. 0% by redesigning north america's first national digital platform for mental health, we achieved a 52% lift in monthly users and an 83% improvement on clinical assessment. 0% by designing a new process and getting buy in from the c suite team, we helped one of the largest smartphone manufacturers in the world reduce software design time by 75%. 0% by implementing targeted nudges based on proactive interventions, we reduced drop off rates for 450,000 clients belonging to usa's oldest debt consolidation organizations by 46% join our team to create meaningful impact by applying behavioral science © 2025 the decision lab. all rights reserved

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the mind collection the pygmalion effect is a fascinating psychological phenomenon that showcases the profound impact that expectations can have on individuals’ performance. named after a greek myth, it describes how higher expectations placed on individuals, whether consciously or subconsciously, can improve how well people perform. here’s how the pygmalion effect works and what it means for various domains of life such as education and the workplace. the pygmalion effect, also known as the rosenthal effect, originates from the work of psychologist robert rosenthal and school principal lenore jacobson. in a groundbreaking study conducted in 1968, rosenthal and jacobson demonstrated that teachers’ expectations could significantly influence students’ academic performance. in the experiment, they randomly selected a group of students and told their teachers that these particular students were expected to show rapid intellectual growth, even though the students were chosen without any regard for their actual abilities. over time, these students performed significantly better than their peers, proving that the teachers’ elevated expectations had a tangible impact on their performance. this phenomenon can be summed up as a self fulfilling prophecy, where the belief in someone’s potential (even if not initially warranted) contributes to making that potential a reality. simply put, if someone expects you to do well, you are more likely to rise to meet those expectations. to better understand the psychology behind the pygmalion effect, it’s helpful to look at the myth from which the concept derives its name. pygmalion, a sculptor in ancient greek mythology, fell in love with a statue he carved. so deep was his affection for his creation that he wished it could come to life. his wish was granted by the goddess aphrodite and the statue, named galatea, became a living being. the myth illustrates the theme of creation and transformation, driven by one’s belief in an ideal. in the context of the pygmalion effect, the myth symbolically reflects the idea that people’s behaviour can be “sculpted” by others’ expectations. just as pygmalion’s belief in his statue’s potential led to its transformation, the expectations we place on others can similarly shape their behaviour and outcomes. the pygmalion effect operates on the principle of self fulfilling prophecy, where the belief that something will happen (positive or negative) influences the actions and behaviours that make it happen. this process typically unfolds in four stages: the first stage involves someone, such as a teacher, manager or coach, forming an expectation about another individual. this expectation can be based on past performance, biases, or even arbitrary judgments. for example, a manager might expect a new employee to perform exceptionally well due to their academic background.