You've probably heard of the Pygmalion effect or self-fulfilling prophecy. Did you know that this effect affects your life more than you think?
The ancient Greeks gave rise to the nickname of the Pygmalion effect through the mythological legend of Ovid. According to this legend, a sculptor named Pygmalion fell in love with Galatea, one of his creations. Pygmalion was so blind with love that he treated the sculpture as if it were a real woman. Finally through the mediation of the goddess Aphrodite, Galatea came to life.
Authors such as Rosenthal, Jacobson, Merton or Swan, have studied the phenomenon and have made several revelations.
The self-fulfilling prophecy or Pygmalion effect it is an event that can change another person. It is about the expectation that a person has about someone, which is reinforced with messages and becomes real.
Depending on the expectations you have of a person, your way of acting and addressing them will be different. On the contrary, if you do not trust that he can achieve his goals, you will not give him as many messages of support.
Therefore, your expectations and the confidence you have in your partner will contribute to some extent to their success or failure. If you expect something good, if you trust that person, you will motivate him towards success and you will be able to instill security and confidence.
Everything is due to the belief of the one who predicts it and the way they act according to what they judge. The other person gradually absorbs this information until it is considered real and feels as predicted.
This can happen in a positive sense raising self-esteem and achieving great achievements. It can also happen the other way around and negatively affect self-esteem.. This is when the behavior that could lead to success is extinguished giving way to the unwanted behavior. The Pygmalion effect is a rebound effect of a prediction that once made becomes reality.
The Pygmalion effect has been studied extensively in education. Teachers' predictions have been found to have made the self-fulfilling prophecy in many of his students.
It usually occurs when a teacher anticipates whether a student will succeed or fail. By communicating this, the student creates the assessment in such a way that it ends up becoming real, whether the prediction was true or not..
For example, if a teacher selects four students at random, regardless of their academic history and performance, emphasizes that they will be successful students and behaves with them according to this hypothesis, this will be the case.
The students will absorb like a sponge all the evaluations that are made of them. They will take them for granted by feeling that it is so and acting as such. Then these four students will successfully pass their studies.
Trust in the improvement of your students and surely their results will improve.
The same thing happens in the workplace and many employees are affected by it. Every boss has an a priori conception of each of his employees and unconsciously they treat them according to that pattern.
If a boss or colleague considers that a worker is not going to perform enough or is not going to perform his job properly, he will convey this feeling, slow down his progress and effectively his performance will be as expected, even this is higher if the employee receives continuous criticism or their work is questioned.
To favor the company and the worker himself, the most profitable thing would be to have faith in him. As well as reinforce your progress no matter how small they are and transmit breaths of improvement.
Give your employees a chance and trust them. Surely the pygmalion effect will act for the benefit of the worker and the company.
In all social groups are established cultural norms that respond to an implicit pattern. These ideas define the behavior of all of us. We learn by imitation and absorb information that prompts us to act as we think is expected as established.
For example, we usually associate women delicate behaviors, sentimentality or desire for beauty. On the contrary, we associate rougher forms, protective attitudes and little display of feelings to the mens.
What if you lived in medieval society or instead of living here and now? What patterns would you respond to based on what they expect of you?
If the sociocultural perspective changes, we modify our attitudes.
Social claims prophesy how we should be according to the social situation in which we find ourselves. Sometimes social labels make up people.
The Pygmalion effect is one of the most influential in the Personal development. Day by day we behave according to the image that we think others have of us. Due we acquire a role to respond according to that perception.
If you qualify a partner, family member or friend as careless and act on that consideration, you will be reinforcing it. As a consequence, the other person will faithfully believe that this is the case and will not worry about improving..
However, if you frequently communicate to that same person how responsible they are, they will do their best not to disappoint you and to maintain the vision you have of them..
What you expect of a person (positive or negative) causes you to behave differently in your relationship with them. For example, if you are convinced that your partner can pass the oppositions, you will encourage him and say things like: "Courage, you can achieve it, trust yourself, you are preparing for this and you can achieve it" And you will also help him by making dinner, fixing the house or going shopping so that he does not waste time or get distracted from his studies.
Through the Pygmalion effect we behave, to a greater or lesser extent, just as others prophesy. Boosting our own confidence from third parties or by ourselves is decisive for being what we are. In this way we will develop positive qualities and discard the fear of having unpleasant qualities..
You can change what you want. Take advantage and use the pygmalion effect beneficially. Treat a person as you think they can be and they will become. Trust in what you can become and you will achieve it.
"Whether you think you can, or you think you can't, you are right" (Henry Ford).
It's about that person who encourages you to keep going. It encourages you to trust your abilities to improve. It praises your ability to continue learning and facing challenges and makes you bring out the best in yourself. If you have someone in mind right now ... congratulations!! You have a pygmalion.
It is very possible that on some occasion you have had that support and motivation in your life. Try to remember who has given you support and encouragement. Who has trusted you and thanks to whom at some point have you made an effort to achieve your goals.
It may have been your parents, your siblings, a teacher, a friend ... They may have given you the confidence you needed without you being aware of it.
In the same way, you can become the Pygmalion effect of the people around you. From your children, friends, co-workers, etc. To achieve this you can encourage, support and reinforce yours to achieve their goals. It is not about giving false hope, saying what the person wants to hear or generating false expectations.
It consists of showing that you trust their abilities and their effort to achieve what they propose. That the road can be difficult but that the work is worth it. Think about what situation that person is in and what you can say or do to motivate them.
And if things don't go as expected, there's no need to throw in the towel, you can keep trying. You can look for other alternatives or ways, but you will always be behind to help and encourage you.
This person may not be able to see their own potential. That she has gotten into the spiral of "I can't" and feels alone. However, thanks to your words of encouragement you will instill the necessary courage to keep trying.
I encourage you to become someone's Pygmalion effect. Not only because of the positive effect you are going to have on that person and their life. But because it will contribute to improve that relationship. In addition, the well-being that you will feel when helping someone is a feeling that deserves the effort.
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