self-fulfilling prophecy - social cause

Question 1

self fulfilling prophecy

Answer 1

when a person begins to see themselves in the way the label portrays them, and act in accordance to this label

Question 2

pygmalion effect

Answer 2

positive self-fulfilling prophecy - higher expectations lead to better performance

Question 3

self-defeating prophecies

Answer 3

if given negative feedback, may not fulfill the label and instead do the opposite of what is predicted

the person will then defeat and overcome the expectation and prediction

Question 4

4 stages of self-fulfilling prophecy

Answer 4

1) Others’ beliefs about someone may be false.
2) This may then change the way others act towards them
3) This may then change their beliefs about themselves
4) Our actions towards others then change and the label becomes true

Question 5

Evidence - EACH

Answer 5

P- Rosenthal and Jacobson
E - told teachers that certain children were going to do well at school (spurters) - they actually chose children at random. spurters had improved on IQ test at the end of the year more than other pupils -SFP
E - demonstrates that a false SFP works due to teachers changing their attitudes towards the students who were labelled to succeed

P - Jahoda
E - Looked at African tribe and found that 22% of violent criminals were boys with Wednesday names (being labelled as aggressive) and 6.9% of boys had Monday names (being labelled as placid)
E - this showed that being labelled as aggressive led to more aggression

Question 6

Applications - EACH

Answer 6

P - educating society
E - people can be taught the detrimental impact of labelling and SFP, which may encourage people to be nicer and not label people negatively

Question 7

Criticisms - EACH

Answer 7

P - Deterministic
E - suggests that all people who are labelled will commit crimes
E - this ignores the influence of free will and disregards that people can choose how to act or choose to reject the labels given to them

Question 8

How good is the research? - EACH

Answer 8

P - bad ethics for rosenthal and jacobson
E - involved giving children false labels, which is a form of deception
E - these false labels may have a lasting impact throughout the childrens life, and have negative impacts

P - triangulation can be carried out with supporting research
E - both Jahoda and Rosenthal & Jacobson are consistent in their results and conclusions
E - this means the theory is high in reliablility as research can be completed to show the same results

P - high ecological validity
E - labelling and SFP naturally occur in society, which means behaviours do not have to be manipulated for the resesarch to occur
E - demand characteristics will not be present as naturally occuring situations can be studied