Self-fulfilling Prophecy

• Self-fulfilling prophecy


  a prediction that comes true simply by virtue of it being made
• Three steps of SFP

  1. teacher labels pupil
  2. teacher treats pupil according to that label
  3. pupil internalises the teacher's expectation and it becomes how they also view themselves
• Rosenthal and Jacobson (1968)


  • they told pupils that there's a test that can tell which pupils will spurt ahead
  • a year later 47% of the 'spurters' indeed made significant progress
  • this effect was greater on younger children
• Interactionist principle


  What people believe to be true will have real effects- even if the belief was not true originally