Pygmalion Effect (aka "Rosenthal effect")#

The "Pygmalion effect" usually refers to the fact that people, often children, students or employees (tend) to live up to what's expected of them and they tend to do better when they are capable of success (Chang, 2011)

Original research in education (schools) by Rosenthal and Jacobson (1968) i.e.

Test given to all students at beginning of the year to predict students likely to do well.
Researchers randomly selected students and identified them as likely to do well.
Teachers told who these students were.
By the end of the year there were differences between those students identified and the control group

Follow up research found negative expectations had the reverse effect

Brophy (1985) identified 8 expectation related practices that were problematic

giving up easily on low-expectation students;
criticising them more often for failure;
priasing them less often following success;
praising inappropirately;
neglecting to give them any feedback following their responses;
seating them in the back of the room;
generally paying less attention to them or interacting less;
expressing less warmth toward them or less interest in them as individuals.

Criticism#

Doubts raised about the design of the original IQ test.

References#

Chang, J. (2011). A Case Study of the "Pygmalion Effect": Teacher Expectations and Student Achievement. International Education Studies, 4(1), 198--201.

Rosenthal, R., & Jacobson, L. (1968). Pygmalion in the classroom. The Urban Review, 3(1), 16--20. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02322211