social explanation of crime: self fulfilling prophecy

Question 1

what is meant by ‘self fulfilling prophecy’?

Answer 1

someone’s expectations about an individual becoming reality when the individual elicits behaviours that confirm the expectations, due to a false label given.

Question 2

what is the ‘golem effect’?

Answer 2

negative beliefs predicting negative behaviours

Question 3

what is the ‘pygmalion effect’?

Answer 3

positive beliefs predicting positive behaviours

Question 4

what are the 4 stages of self fulfilling prophecy?

Answer 4

1) 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

how does self fulfilling prophecy explain criminal behaviour?

Answer 5

• someone expects a person to act in a criminal way
• the person feels pressure to conform to this expectation
• they hold a negative self belief that they are not capable of good behaviour and that pro social behaviour is ignored

Question 6

when is SFP most likely to occur?

Answer 6

• if more than one person holds the expectation
• if the expected behaviour is not too different to their normal behaviour
• if the expected behaviour is negative

Question 7

what is a strength of self fulfilling prophecy (PEE)?
- Rosenthal and Jacobson

Answer 7

a strength for self fulfilling prophecy as an explanation of crime is the supporting evidence from Rosenthal and Jacobson. teachers were given random names of students to label as ‘smart’ or ‘average’ and the ‘smart’ children had an increase in IQ. teachers responded differently to the children in line with their expectation of the label. therefore this demonstrates that a false label in SFP works due to teachers changing their attitudes towards those students to help them improve

Question 8

what is a strength of self fulfilling prophecy (PEE)?
- Ageton and Elliot

Answer 8

a strength of self fulfilling prophecy as an explanation of crime is supporting evidence from Ageton and Elliot. they found that people who were arrested tended to adopt delinquent self descriptions whilst those who weren’t labelled by the police remained the same. therefore, this supports the theory that people conform to others’ expectations of them.

Question 9

what is a weakness of self fulfilling prophecy (PEE)?
- Fuller

Answer 9

a weakness of self fulfilling prophecy as an explanation of crime is the opposing research by Fuller. black girls in a comprehensive school in london who were labelled as low achievers ended up working even harder. therefore, this suggests that negative labelling can have the opposite effect which argues against the theory of self fulfilling prophecy which demonstrates that a negative label causes people to internalise this and elicit behaviour to confirm these negative expectations.

Question 10

what is a weakness of self fulfilling prophecy (PEE)?
- criticism

Answer 10

a weakness of self fulfilling prophecy is that it could be unethical to study. for example, it involves giving people negative or false labels, therefore encouraging criminality which could be unsafe for both the person and society.