Pygmalion Effect And Why You Should Know About It

The Pygmalion Effect, also known as the Rosenthal Effect, is a phenomenon where higher expectations lead to an increase in performance.

The phenomenon takes its name from a tale in Ovid’s Metamorphoses about a sculptor. Pygmalion was a sculptor creates an ivory statue and falls in love with it. He prays to the Gods and to give him a wife just like the statue. The Gods give in and the statue comes to life.

Later, G.B. Shaw borrowed the sculptor’s name for his play about Professor Henry Higgins whose belief in his own capabilities is too high and he promises to train a common flower girl and pass her off as a duchess at an ambassador’s party just by teaching her to speak properly.

But what is Pygmalion Effect?

I will try to explain it as simply as I can.

Robert Rosenthal, in 2003, defined it as ‘the phenomenon whereby one person’s expectation for another person’s behavior comes to serve as a self-fulfilling prophecy.’

When we expect certain behaviour from others, we ourselves act in specific ways toward that other person which would make the expected behaviour more likely to occur.

For example: in a class of 50 students, a teacher expects Rosaline to be more studious, and so the teacher pays more attention to her and clears all her doubts. The same teacher, on the other hand, thinks John is a nuisance to class and so berates him time and again and sometimes waves away his genuine doubts about the lesson being taught.

Rosaline, in turn, feels encouraged and eventually improves her performance, and John feels discouraged and passes with mediocre grades, thus proving what the teacher suspected all along.

Why is it important to know about the Pygmalion Effect?

If we look around, we will come across many subconscious biases. People who are in teaching profession often, unknowingly, build up biases in their mind and may end up affecting a student’s performance in class.

At workplaces too, management’s expectations of employees can influence their behaviour toward the employee, in turn affecting an employee’s performance.

This applies to every aspect of our life, not just education or career. We thrive in environments where we feel appreciated and tend to lose our shine where we are under constant scrutiny and receive negative criticism.