The Pygmalion Effect - How Expectations Sculpt Progress

There is a Greek myth about a sculptor, Pygmalion, who carved a woman out of ivory. He found the statue so perfect he fell in love with it and started treating it like a real woman – buying it gifts and talking to it. After some time, with the help of Aphrodite, the statue responded by coming to life. This is of course mythology, but research suggests that it is easier to sculpt another person than you may think. 

The Pygmalion Effect, also known as the Rosenthal Experiment, describes the psychological phenomenon whereby higher expectation leads to higher performance. This has been observed in rats, prisons, military groups, corporations as well as education. 

If a teacher has higher expectations of their student (whether due to pre-assigned labels or their own assumptions), their behaviour towards that student will be influenced and this will in turn affect the progress that student makes. A teacher may teach more or trickier content to the students they have higher expectations of, pushing their ability. Additionally, students will internalise the expectations of their teacher, impacting their own attitude to learning.  Students therefore make more progress when their teacher believes in them. If an educator holds biases or assumptions that lower their expectations of a child, the reverse effect is also true – students make less progress. Labels and expectations become self-fulfilling prophecies. 

Educators must recognise how greatly their attitudes and expectations can impact their students. A learning environment that encourages high aspirations and celebrates small victories will positively affect a child’s progress and confidence. An atmosphere that is challenging without being intimidating will allow the students to develop a growth mindset and improve performance. If a child has had negative experiences throughout school, and never felt believed in, the presence of someone championing high expectations for them, could be extremely influential in sculpting that child’s future outcomes.

By Sally Kemp