What Is A Self-Fulfilling Prophecy? Psychology, Definition And More

Frequently Asked Questions

What is a self-fulfilling prophecy example?

Self-fulfilling prophecies were founded within the field of sociology but have been increasingly important to the field of social psychology. Sociologist Robert Merton coined the term self-fulfilling prophecy in 1948 to describe a “false definition of the situation evoking a behavior which makes the originally false conception come true.” Simply put, a self-fulfilling prophecy is an originally false definition of a future event that manifests because of the individual’s beliefs and subsequent actions. A self-fulfilling prophecy can have a positive or negative outcome. Examples of self-fulfilling prophecies include daily personal beliefs that our actions and behaviors confirm, as well as beliefs others hold for us.

One of the classic examples of self-fulfilling prophecies is the story of Oedipus. In the story, Oedipus’ father, Laius, is warned that his son will eventually kill him. In order to avoid this, Laius abandons his son and leaves him to die. Oedipus was found and was raised by foster parents, who Oedipus believed were his biological parents. One day, Oedipus is warned that he will kill his father and marry his widowed mother. In an effort to prevent this from happening, Oedipus abandons his home and foster parents. Once Oedipus arrives in a new city, he meets a stranger and ends up in a fight with him, which kills the stranger. Oedipus ends up marrying the man’s widow. He later learns that the stranger he killed was his biological father and the widow he married was his biological mother. Thus, by trying to avoid fate, both Laius and Oedipus’ actions manifested the prophecies. The story of Oedipus is an example of a self-imposed prophecy.

Examples of a self-fulfilling prophecy where someone’s belief in us impacts outcomes can be seen in the classroom. In the classroom, a self-fulfilling prophecy occurs when teachers’ expectations for students cause the students to behave in a way that confirms the originally false (but now true) expectation and can influence long-term student performance. For example, teacher expectations for students of color and students from low-income backgrounds might be lower than their expectations for middle-class students. This can lead to a decrease in student performance over time, which makes the teacher’s originally false conception come true.

The example of teachers’ beliefs in their students is an example of other-imposed prophecies, which was studied closely within the field of social psychology by Robert Rosenthal in the 1960s and ultimately led to what is now referred to as the Pygmalion effect. In the study, Robert Rosenthal wanted to see whether student achievement could be self-fulfilling, based on the expectations of their teachers. The social psychology study administered an IQ test to elementary school children and then informed their teachers which children were going to be average and which children were considered gifted. However, unknown to the teachers, these students were randomly selected and may or may not have met that criteria. The social psychology experiment showed that teacher expectations worked as a self-fulfilling prophecy as the teachers had altered the way the children were treated, which, in turn, impacted their ability. According to the Pygmalion effect, the other-imposed expectations on the students by the teachers are internalized by the students and become part of their self-concept, and they act accordingly to their internal beliefs about themselves. The Pygmalion effect shows how negative expectations can lead to new behavior that otherwise would not have existed.

The study of self-fulfilling prophecies within the social psychology field is for validation that a person’s thoughts and behavior influence situations. 

What is a self-fulfilling prophecy for a psychologist?

Every day, we consciously and unconsciously tip off people as to what our expectations of them are, and people pick up on those cues. Examples of self-fulfilling prophecies for researchers in the field of social psychology is often seen in research studies. When it comes to conducting research studies within the field of social psychology, researchers must be aware of any beliefs they might have about the desired outcome of the study and take steps to avoid allowing a self-fulfilling prophecy to impact their research. Psychologists must be aware of unconscious cues when conducting experiments and they must not allow their expectations to influence the outcome of the study. One way to avoid a self-fulfilling prophecy is to use a double-blind technique. A double-blind experiment is when neither the participants nor the experimenter knows which participants received the placebo or the actual thing being tested. This allows the researcher to remain unbiased eliminates the possibility of the social psychology researcher unconsciously finding what they expect based on a self-fulfilling prophecy.

What happens when a self-fulfilling prophecy occurs?

The field of social psychology tells us that self-fulfilling prophecy can lead to cycles of thought and behavior that are both good and bad. When we believe something about ourselves, we are more likely to act in ways that correspond to our beliefs, which reinforces our beliefs that encourage the same behavior. The same thing happens when we believe something about others. Oftentimes there is a cyclical nature to a self-fulfilling prophecy. First, we harbor a belief or set of beliefs about ourselves. These beliefs influence our actions towards others. Our actions are shaped by our beliefs about other people, impact their beliefs about us, which, in turn, cause them to act in ways consistent with those beliefs towards us, which reinforces the initial belief we had about ourselves. 

Is self-fulfilling prophecy good?

Social psychology has found that a self-fulfilling prophecy can become a potential asset when people are labeled as having talents, strengths, abilities, and positive resources. People who have positive labels assigned to them either by themselves or others may come to internalize those positive attributes, which can lead to those positive labels becoming part of who they are. Life examples of this playing out include a child who is told they are very gifted in math, continuing to study math and becoming an engineer, or a child who is told they are gifted at a particular sport, continuing to hone that skill and going on to compete in the Olympics. 

What are the two types of self-fulfilling prophecy?

In the field of social psychology, there are two types of self-fulfilling prophecies: self-imposed and other-imposed. While both lead to the same result, they are different approaches to getting to the same result.

In a self-imposed prophecy, an individual’s own expectations are the causal factor for one’s actions.

In an other-imposed self-fulfilling prophecy, others’ expectations of another individual effects the actions of that individual. Other-imposed self-fulfilling prophecies are at the root of racial and gender stereotyping and discrimination, as social perception plays a crucial role in other-imposed prophecies. If a person has certain expectations based on social expectations of a particular race, they will treat that race accordingly and position people of a particular race in a way that fits the stereotype they believe they fit under.

The key feature of both types of self-fulfilling prophecies is that the idea of a false belief spurs behavior that, in turn, makes a person act as if the ideas were real, until, eventually, these behaviors build a reality where the prophecy comes true. The study of self-fulfilling prophecies within the social psychology field is for validation that a person’s thoughts and behavior influence situations. 

How do you break a self-fulfilling prophecy?

While not all self-fulfilling prophecies are negative, there might be times where it is desired to break a negative self-fulfilling prophecy. Once in place and left unchanged, these core negative beliefs, ideas, or expectations about oneself, other people, or the world can give rise to a variety of equally uncharitable, irrational thoughts and expectations. Once a person starts to believe they are bad, they will place themselves in a situation evoking negative consequences. However, there are corrective thinking and actions that can lead to new behavior.

Corrective thinking aims to exploit the core irrational or negative beliefs and replace those with more rational and accurate thoughts, images, and expectations. Invoking positive thinking and rational thoughts will lead to evoking a new perspective and eventually lead to a shift in thoughts and behaviors.

Corrective action encourages people to master challenges by confronting problems instead of avoiding them. Situations evoking fear or negative thoughts can lead a person to believe that their problems are unavoidable and the situation will be left unchanged, whereas by confronting the problem head-on evoking a new perspective, the person will be more encouraged to pursue those actions in the future.

In essence, the more coping strategies a person learns for confronting negative thoughts when they arise, the better off they will be at breaking a negative self-fulfilling prophecy.

What is a negative self-fulfilling prophecy?

A negative self-fulfilling prophecy in social psychology is when a person predicts a negative outcome and then inadvertently acts in a way that brings about the very result they predicted. Some of these negative outcomes include failure or disappointment or unpleasant emotional reactions, such as anxiety, anger, or depression, and because many of these undesirable outcomes tend to build upon themselves and gather momentum, they often become cycles of negative thinking that become very difficult to break. An example of a negative self-fulfilling prophecy could be when a person dreads giving a presentation because they “know” they are going to become so nervous they will not be able to deliver the presentation. On the day of the presentation, the person is so nervous that they end up having to go home early and let their colleague present on their behalf, thinking that this “proves” that they could not deliver the presentation due to nerves.

Is anxiety a self-fulfilling prophecy?

In the United States, around 40 million, or 1 in 5 adults, has an anxiety disorder. An anxiety disorder is a mental illness that can be treated through medication and therapy. Self-fulfilling prophecies are fueled by our conscious and unconscious thoughts and behaviors, so the way we talk to ourselves and the way we perceive the world can have an impact on situations. While anxiety is likely not caused by self-fulfilling prophecies, it can be intensified by them because negative expectations or outcomes can increase anxiety and stress. The negative thoughts and mental images that we conjure when thinking about future outcomes can influence our behavior in a way that leads to increased anxiety, especially when those negative thoughts and images are left unchanged.

Who created the self-fulfilling prophecy?

The term self-fulfilling prophecy was coined in 1948 by Robert K. Merton to describe “a false definition of the situation evoking a new behavior that makes the originally false conception come true.” A self-fulfilling prophecy may be a form of a causality or feedback loop, which is described as a system in which two or more aspects of the system influence each other. In his classic studies, Merton illustrated how causal loops could push forth a self-fulfilling prophecy through the illustration of the following scenario: A rumor is spread that the banks are collapsing. In response to this event, people withdraw money in a panic. As a result, the banks do struggle, and thus, more people withdraw money. The cycle then repeats until the bank ultimately collapses, completing the self-fulfilling prophecy. While self-fulfilling prophecies do come true, Merton did not research whether there is a way to break the cycle or feedback loop or if others could influence the feedback loop.

Why does self-fulfilling prophecy occur?

Within the field of social psychology, a self-fulfilling prophecy occurs when someone predicts or expects something to happen because a person believes it will, and the person’s behaviors align to fulfill the belief. The reason behind why a self-fulfilling prophecy occurs has more to do with a person’s actions and behaviors once they believe a situation is going to go a certain way than it has to do with destiny.

What is self-fulfilling prophecy in education?

Self-fulfilling prophecies in education have been studied since the 1960s. The study of education and self-fulfilling prophecies within the social psychology field is for validation of how impactful these thoughts can be. In 1968, Rosenthal and Jacobson conducted a social psychology experiment to see whether student achievement could be self-fulfilling, based on the expectations of their teachers. An IQ test was administered to students, and then teachers were informed that some students received scores that stated they were going to be average, whereas others were considered gifted students. These students were assigned these scores at random, and for validation purposes, the teachers were not told this information. As such, the teachers' expectations of students altered the way the children were treated, with the students who were considered "average" scoring lower on the second IQ test and students who were considered "gifted" scored higher on the second IQ test. This phenomenon is called the Pygmalion effect. The Pygmalion effect is a type of other-imposed self-fulfilling prophecy that states the way you treat someone has a direct impact on how that person acts.

However, in 2005, Lee Jussim looked at 35 years of empirical research on teacher expectations and self-fulfilling prophecies and found several things. The first is that self-fulfilling prophecies in the classroom do occur, but the effects are typically small and do not accumulate greatly across students over time. In fact, the study found the impacts are more likely to dissipate than they are to accumulate. The second finding that that powerful self-fulfilling prophecies may selectively occur among students from stigmatized social groups. The third is that it is unclear whether self-fulfilling prophecies affect intelligence and whether they generally do more harm than good. Lee Jussim's final finding is that teacher expectations may predict student outcomes more because these expectations are accurate than because they are self-fulfilling. 

An example of how other-imposed self-fulfilling prophecies can lead to negative validation purposes concerns African American intelligence and resulting college admission. In the past, researchers believed African Americans were less intelligent than other races due to their lower reported scores on standardized tests. The research was then used to justify the admission of a smaller percentage of African Americans at colleges and universities. Since other individual’s expectations of African Americans were lower, and for validation purposes, they fulfilled the expectations others had for them. 

The Pygmalion effect illustrates just how important it is to be mindful of the beliefs we have towards others as these beliefs can lead to negative consequences for those groups. 

How are discrimination and the self-fulfilling prophecy concept related?

Discrimination and self-fulfilling prophecies are closely related. Claude Steele’s research on stereotype threat shows that when students worry that their own poor academic performance, it unintentionally confirms a negative stereotype of their social group, they then end up performing poorly and end up confirming the stereotype. Stereotype threat has been measured in high-achieving African American students as well as highly ranked female math students. The findings of these social psychology studies are wide-reaching and can have positive and negative consequences.

For example, within the real estate field, landlords might hold onto beliefs that a certain race or sex might not be able to pay rent on time. The landlord might only allow their tenant to pay through a check that must be dropped off in-person, despite the real estate field allowing various payment options, which sets their tenant up for failure to pay rent on time. The tenant is unable to pay rent on time because the landlord is never home during the hours when they are able to drop off the in-person check, which leads to rent being late. The landlord’s belief that that race they rented to is never able to pay rent on time and leads the landlord to believe that that particular race as a whole is lazy and unmotivated. While this example extends directly to real estate, these examples expand far beyond the real estate market and into the workplace, schools, as well as day-to-day interactions.

What is a self-fulfilling stereotype?

According to goodtherapy.org, stereotype threat occurs when a person is warned about a stereotype about their particular group and then behaves like the stereotype. An example of this can be seen with African American intelligence and resulting college admission. In the past, researchers believed African Americans were less intelligent than other races due to their lower reported scores on standardized tests. This research was published, and this belief began to be disseminated amongst people. The research was then used to justify the admission of a smaller percentage of African Americans at colleges and universities. Since other individual’s expectations of African Americans were lower, and for validation purposes, they fulfilled the expectations others had for them. 

What is self-concept definition?

The self-concept is a general term used to refer to how someone thinks about, evaluates, or perceives themselves.