E1a4 Self-fulfilling prophecy as an explanation for criminality

Question 1

Conform

Answer 1

to adjust to expectations made of us

Question 2

Self-fulfilling prophecy

Answer 2

when the expectations of others influence our behavior

Question 3

Self-fulfilling prophecy as an explanation for crime

Answer 3

If people expect us to behave badly or in a criminal way, then we will conform to that expectation

Question 4

Self-fulfilling prophecy and academics

Answer 4

If a teacher thinks that a student isn’t going to do well, they will not expect a lot from their work. They might not give them the opportunity to extend their knowledge, and may give them less attention than high achievers. Students may begin to feel less motivation to do well and work hard- leads to poor performance.

Question 5

Rosenthal and Jacobsen

Answer 5

Conducted an experiment to test whether achievement could be self-fulfilling.
1) gave school children IQ test
2) then told teachers which children were average and which were to be “bloomers”- a lie, teachers given random lists of names
3) teachers didn’t expect too much from average children and gave all attention to “bloomers”
4) after a year, children retested- IQ of “bloomers” had risen, IQ of average children dropped
The teachers’s expectations of the children’s ability altered how they were treated and affected their ability

Question 6

Gustav Jahoda

Answer 6

Studied the Ashanti people of Africa. They have a custom of naming kids after day of week they were born, and that names of boys can be linked to temperament. E.g boys on Mondays called Kwando- thought to be calm and peaceful. Kids born on Wednesday- Kwadku- thought to be aggressive and angry.
Jahoda studied arrest records- found that 22% of boys arrested were born on Wednesday, only 6.9% born on Monday- self-fulfilling prophecy. Kwadku expected to behave badly, people around them would have treated differently to Kwando- would have treated them as if they would be impulsive/ lash out when confronted

Question 7

Weaknesses of self-fulfilling prophecy

Answer 7

1) Correlation not causation- it would be very unethical to study self-fulfilling prophecy as cause of crime by treating someone differently and seeing if this affected their behavior. Cannot be studied in a way that proves it causes crime.
2) Many reject the way we are treated by others and so, don’t fulfill the prophecy, e.g trying to prove people wrong
3) Doesn’t take into account other reasons for crime, such as biology and families in which we are raised