Self fulfilling prophecies

Introduction

The self-fulfilling prophecy actually predates its name. Early examples of the self-fulfilling prophecy are the Greek myths surrounding Oedipus. Oedipus fulfills the oracle's prophecy that he will kill his father and marry his mother, by striving to avoid the prophecy. This can be called a self-fulfilling prophecy because it is Oedipus' actions that make the prophecy true.

The term “self-fulfilling prophecy” designates a situation where a person's expectation of a particular event causes the actual occurrence of this event. An expectation, in turn, can be specified as a subjective judgment regarding the likelihood of a future event to happen. Furthermore, albeit the expecter has been defined as unwitting in terms of the causal relation between the initial expectation and the final outcome, he/she has not been described as uninvolved: Because of the expectation held, the expecter engages in a particular behaviour, ultimately leading to the confirmation of the expectation. Hence, had the expectation not been adopted in the first place, the expecter would have behaved differently and another outcome would have been brought about(Scheiter pp. 387-410).

Self-fulfilling prophecy effects in teacher-student interactions have long been recognised, are well researched and commonly referred to under the keyword “Pygmalion effect”. In reaction to studies following up on Rosenthal and Jacobson's (1968) result on the effect of teachers' expectations on their students (the so-called teacher Pygmalion effect), other researchers highlighted the student Pygmalion effect. The student Pygmalion effect designates that students, who expect their teacher to be highly competent, attain significantly higher achievement than students expecting little competence of their teacher. Both effects have been shown to occur based on participants' self -reported expectations or following experimental manipulation of expectancy-inducing verbal or written information.

Thesis statement: self-fulfilling prophecy can effect in a different learning situation: students' learning from some instructional medium (e.g., a textbook or some resource on the internet) without a teacher being present.

Discussion

Robert Merton, a 20th century sociologist, actually coined the term of self-fulfilling prophecy. In his definition, in the book Social Theory and Social Structure published in 1949, the prophecy or prediction is false but is made true by a person's actions. In the modern sense the prophecy has neither false nor true value, but is merely a possibility that is made into probability by a person's unconscious or conscious actions.

Examples of the modern self-fulfilling prophecy abound in literature. For example, the Harry Potter series finale now revolves around Lord Voldemort hearing a partial version of a prophecy that he then made true by attacking Harry. In the attack, which failed, Voldemort transferred some of his powers to Harry, making the two equal, with an equal outcome when they face each other as well as battle to the death(MacKinnon pp.25-30).

While the modern self-fulfilling prophecy echoes the past, most would agree that the normal use of the term translates to attitude about events to come. While one's attitude cannot necessarily influence the larger things, such as a hurricane or the possibility of an earthquake, one's attitude can influence the smaller things, ...