Self-Fulfilling Prophecies in New Zealand
Name
Institutional Affiliation
Date
Self-Fulfilling Prophecies in New Zealand
Introduction
Self-fulfilling prophecy has grown to become a discussed topic in psychology. People sometimes find themselves in states of truth that resulted from their predictions. According to Jussim (2017), self-fulfilling prophecies refer to a phenomenon that describes predicting something, and that thing is occurring merely from people’s beliefs. An instance is when a person predicts that their project turns out well, and as a result of their confidence, their project turns out to be great. Alternatively, self-fulfilling prophecies encompass the contrary beliefs, which are that if someone believes that they will underperform, it happens (Smale, 2019). Therefore, self-fulfilling prophecies entail having expectations and beliefs that influence behavior and actions (Jussim, 2017).
Self-fulfilling prophecy has various roles. Smale (2019) explains that some of these roles are in psychology, whereas others are in sociology, and the term has appeared in several centuries. Smale (2019) explains that self-fulfilling prophecies have gotten used by sociologists as an analytic lens for studying deviant and criminal behavior, student performance, and the impacts of stereotypes on targeted groups. Therefore, self-fulfilling prophecies can contribute to the maintenance of stereotypes and group differences as well as inequalities resulting in the stereotypes. According to Huang and Lin (2016), there are various types of self-fulfilling prophecies, which include the Pygmalion effect, Golem effect, and the Stereotype threat. In this article, the focus is on self-fulfilling prophecy and its various types. Specifically, this paper is a literature review that aggregates multiple peer-reviewed articles, revealing their analyses, evaluations of methods, methodologies, and theories, including the limitations and identifying the gaps in the literature. This research aims to increase the amount of knowledge regarding various self-fulfilling prophecies and how they relate to academic achievement in secondary and tertiary students. The literature review aims at aiding the increase in academic achievement rates in New Zealand.
The Pygmalion Effect
As stated above, the Pygmalion effect is a type of self-fulfilling prophecy. Wang and Cai (2016) define the Pygmalion effect as a phenomenon characterized by improved performances with higher expectations in particular areas. Wang and Cai (2016) further explain that the Pygmalion effect came as a result of a story concerning Pygmalion, a mythical Greek sculptor. According to Wang and Cai (2016), the Pygmalion effect is applicable to teaching. It refers to the expectancies from a person to another, that is, the expectations of one person to another and how it can serve as a self-fulfilling prophecy. For instance, the expectations a teacher has toward their students. In this section, a literature review is conducted of studies conducted on the Pygmalion effect to aid in understanding the influence of the Pygmalion effect in achievement rates in New Zealand.
Teacher Expectation Effects
The first article to get analyzed is titled The Magnitude of Teacher Expectation Effects: Differences in Students, Teachers, and Contexts by Li (2016). Li (2016) conducted a study that reviewed teacher expectation effects, whether or not they influenced academic achievement, highlighting the factors that may strengthen or weaken the impact of teacher expectancies in classrooms.
Just like this study, Li (2016) conducted a literature review. Machi and McEvoy (2016) define a literature review as summaries of works and studies that have previously been performed concerning a topic. Therefore, a literature review involves sourcing information from already written books, surveys and scholarly articles, and other relevant resources to that specific area. The benefits of using a literature review include the provision of knowledge found on the subject and preventing duplication in research. Li (2016) theorized that the self-fulfilling effects of teacher expectations exist and that the magnitude of teacher expectations (TEEs) varied depending on the diversity of teachers, students, and classrooms, etcetera. Li (2016) found that TEEs do exist and that there indeed are characteristics that influence academic achievements such as race, age, socioeconomic status, prior performance, and gender.
For instance, Li (2016) indicates that in New Zealand, the Maori students are subject to unfavorable TEE than students in other ethnic groups. Li’s (2016) study’s limitations include that it relied on secondary sources of information, which makes it prone to information omission and, most likely, the limited presentation of information. Hence, while the research attempts to integrate a lot of relevant information, there is still a gap in the conducting of a first study that elaborates on the factors of self-fulfilling prophecies and their relation to academic achievement.
Pygmalion Application in Schooling
The next article is Pygmalion at 50: Harnessing its Power and Application in Schooling by Weinstein (2018). Weinstein (2018) explained contributions concerning Pygmalion from across the globe and serves as clear evidence universal features of teacher expectancy effects. Weinstein (2018) aims to mark the fiftieth anniversary of Pygmalion studies and honors the creator of the concept as well as other scholars that followed in researching the area. As such, Weinstein (2018) conducts a literature review of already existing studies. Weinstein (2018) notes that there have been studies conducted in New Zealand, such as those by scholars Rubie Davies, Flint, Garrett, and MacDonald. That examined the stability of teacher expectations. Weinstein (2018) explains that these studies have been conducted using different student cohorts and demonstrated great consistencies despite the cohort differences. The survey of New Zealand utilized different patterns of teacher expectations, namely class-level expectations and within-class level expectations, which were the predictors of teacher experiences and class achievements. Weinstein (2018) notes that In New Zealand, the results indicated that more significant differentiation of expectations and not class-level expectations was linked to lower Mathematics achievements at year-end for teachers, more classroom stresses, and less team support. Weinstein’s (2018) study has a limitation on the omission, given that it is a literature review that aimed at reviewing the works of several other scholars.
References
Huang, T. C., & Lin, Y. H. (2016). Self-fulfilling prophecies are linking physical attractiveness and interviewer evaluation. In Academy of Management Proceedings (Vol. 2016, No. 1, p. 12143). Briarcliff Manor, NY 10510: Academy of Management.
Jussim, L. (2017). Précis of Social Perception and Social Reality: Why accuracy dominates bias and self-fulfilling prophecy. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 40.
Li, Z. (2016). The magnitude of teacher expectation effects: Differences in students, teachers, and contexts. International Journal of Learning, Teaching, and Educational Research, 15(2).
Machi, L. A., & McEvoy, B. T. (2016). The literature review: Six steps to success. Corwin Press.
Smale, G. G. (2019). Prophecy, behavior, and change: An examination of self-fulfilling prophecies in helping relationships. Routledge.
Wang, M., & Cai, J. (2016, May). The Application of Pygmalion Effect in Classroom Education. In the 2nd International Conference on Arts, Design and Contemporary Education. Atlantis Press.
Weinstein, R. S. (2018). Pygmalion at 50: harnessing its power and application in schooling. Educational Research and Evaluation, 24(3-5), 346-365.