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- Have you ever heard of the self-fulfilling prophecy? It says that your expectations about people also occur. For a reason.
- What is the self-fulfilling prophecy?
- So strong is the principle of self-fulfilling prophecy really
- How can I handle the self-fulfilling prophecy myself?
Have you ever heard of the self-fulfilling prophecy? It says that your expectations about people also occur. For a reason.
Recently a friend told me that she felt her boyfriend could cheat on her. She was quite obsessed with the thought. I wanted to calm her down and told her, "Why should he?" But she did not let up. After a few weeks, I met her again. Her boyfriend had really cheated on her a few days earlier. Could she see clairvoyantly or did she feel something was wrong?
Maybe she also influenced him with her own fears ? My girlfriend is the best example of how one's expectations affect people's behavior. In psychology this is called self-fulfilling prophecy .
What is the self-fulfilling prophecy?
What you expect from your counterpart also occurs. So the self-fulfilling prophecy could be in short form. That is, by your own behavior, you force the expected behavior of the opposite.
A simple example of the self-fulfilling prophecy is the school day : The American psychologist Robert Rosenthal already conducted in 1965 an experiment with a school class. He explained to teachers that some students had a higher IQ than the others - though this was not true.
After a year, he reviewed the IQ of said student again. Your IQ really went up by 20 points and more. The assumption: Because the teachers considered the students particularly wise, they encouraged them more and took better care of them. This allowed the students to develop better.
The principle of self-fulfilling prophecy is therefore: Expectations of others will eventually be confirmed because one interprets one's behavior accordingly. In the case of my girlfriend that would mean: she accused her friend of cheating on her, harassing him more and more, spying on him until he actually wanted to break out of the relationship through an affair.
So strong is the principle of self-fulfilling prophecy really
Another study shows how strong the effect of self-fulfilling prophecy really is. A university in the US told study participants that they had a very low risk of heart attack. As a result, the subjects of the test group actually suffered three times less heart attacks than other people.
Likewise, the self-fulfilling prophecy can also be reflected in life expectancy and self-healing . People who are often said to be very healthy, are less likely to get sick scientifically and live longer.
How can I handle the self-fulfilling prophecy myself?
Nursery education, encounters with strangers or at work: Everywhere you meet the self-fulfilling prophecy. If you assume that your child can not achieve something, it will not achieve that. Do you suppose that your boss trusts you, it will not. So the key is with you and your own expectations. If they are positive and supportive, your counterpart - whether your child or boss - will respond to it.
(WW6)
