Pygmalion effect

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

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

Rosenthal-Jacobson study

Robert Rosenthal and Lenore Jacobson (1968/1992) report and discuss the Pygmalion effect at length. [Rosenthal, Robert & Jacobson, Lenore "Pygmalion in the classroom" (1992). Expanded edition. New York: Irvington] In their study, they showed that if teachers were led to expect enhanced performance from some children, then the children did indeed show that enhancement.

The purpose of the experiment was to support the hypothesis that reality can be influenced by the expectations of others. This influence can be beneficial as well as detrimental depending on which label an individual is assigned. The observer-expectancy effect, which involves an experimenter's unconsciously biased expectations, is tested in real life situations. Rosenthal posited that biased expectancies can essentially affect reality and create self-fulfilling prophecies as a result.

In this experiment, Rosenthal predicted that, when given the information that certain students are brighter than others, elementary school teachers may unconsciously behave in ways that facilitate and encourage the students’ success. The prior research that motivated this study was done 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.

Teacher effects on students

Although not of central importance here, of huge importance in educational research in general is the issue of teacher effects. Tim O'Shea has said that in all studies where one of the variables was the teacher, the effect of different teachers was always bigger than the effect of different treatments (usually the actual subject to be studied). Basically, teachers have a huge effect, but it's poorly understood.

Note too that all this casts doubt on the value of training teachers, apart from giving them practice to learn for themselves; without knowledge of what it is about teachers' behavior that has such large effects on learning, training them usefully is impossible. In the absence of this knowledge, the only measure of a teacher's worth is the comparative learning outcomes of their students. So while it is quite possible that teachers learn either by unaided practice or by unconscious imitation of other teachers (as an apprentice), there is almost no evidence on whether that training makes a difference.

The Pygmalion effect is one big demonstration of the effect of teachers, showing they can double the amount of pupil progress in a year. Rosenthal & Jacobson (1992) also mention briefly research that showed that 10 seconds of video without sound of a teacher allows students to predict the ratings they will get as a teacher. Similarly hearing the sound without vision AND without content (rhythm and tone of voice only) were enough too. This is powerful evidence that teachers differ in ways they cannot easily or normally control, but which are very quickly perceptible, and which at least in students' minds, determine their value as a teacher. Marsh's (1987) work shows that student ratings of teachers do relate to learning outcomes.

Feldman & Prohaska (1979) performed an experiment to study the effect of student expectations of teachers. One group was told their teacher was "quite effective," and another group was told their teacher was "incompetent." The effect of these positive and negative expectations were measured in terms of student attitudes toward the teacher, scores on tests, and "nonverbal behavior" of the students toward the teachers. The teacher was blind to what the students thought about him/her. There were clear differences in all three measures based on a positive or negative expectation. Students with a negative expectation "rated the lesson as being more difficult, less interesting, and less effective." Students with a positive expectation scored 65.8% on the test, and those with a negative expectation scored 52.2%. In terms on nonverbal behavior, "subjects leaned forward more to good teachers than poor teachers." There was some evidence that students with a positive expectation had better eye contact with the teacher. Overall, the expecation of the teacher affects overall learning outcomes.

Applications to racism

The Pygmalion effect can also result from racial expectations. This effect is seen during Jane Elliott's blue-eyed versus brown-eyed discrimination exercise, where third graders were divided based on eye color. One group was given preference and regarded as "superior" because of their eye color, with the other group repeatedly being considered inferior in intelligence and learning ability. On the second day of the experiment, the groups were completely reversed, with those oppressed against one day being regarded as superior the next.

Elliott gave spelling tests to both groups on each day of the experiment. The students scored very low on the day they were racially "inferior" and very high on the day they were considered racially "superior." [Peters, Williams (1971). A Class Divided, New York: Doubleday and Company]

Quotations

James Rhem, executive editor for the online [http://www.ntlf.com/ National Teaching and Learning Forum] , commented:

*"When teachers expect students to do well and show intellectual growth, they do; when teachers do not have such expectations, performance and growth are not so encouraged and may in fact be discouraged in a variety of ways."
*"How we believe the world is and what we honestly think it can become have powerful effects on how things turn out."

ee also

*Hawthorne effect
*Placebo effect

References

1. Rosenthal, Robert & Jacobson, Lenore "Pygmalion in the classroom" (1992). Expanded edition. New York: Irvington

2. Peters, Williams (1971). A Class Divided, New York: Doubleday and Company

3. Feldman, Robert & Prohaska, Thomas. "The Student as Pygmalion: Effect of Student Expectation on the Teacher" (1979). Vol. 71, No. 4, 485-493. American Psychological Association, Inc.

Further reading

* Jussim, L. and Harber, KD (2005) "Teacher Expectations and Self-Fulfilling Prophecies: Knows and Unknowns, Resolved and Unresolved Controversies." Personality and Social Psychology Review, 9(2), 131-155.
* [http://www.aftau.org/site/News2?page=NewsArticle&id=6927 Pygmalion effect in banks, at school, and in the army]