Pygmalion effect

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The Pygmalion effect, Rosenthal effect, or more commonly known as the "teacher-expectancy effect" refers to situations in which students perform better than other students simply because they are expected to do so.

Robert Rosenthal and Lenore Jacobson (1968/1992) report and discuss the Pygmalion effect at length. In their study, they showed that if teachers were led to expect enhanced performance from some children, then the children did indeed show that enhancement. In some cases such improvement was about twice that shown by other children in the same class.

Contents 1 Introduction 2 Teacher effects on the Students 3 Applications to Racism 4 Comments on the effect 5 See Also

[edit] Introduction

The purpose of the study was to support the hypothesis that reality can be influenced by the expectations of others. This influence can be beneficial as well as detrimental depending on which label an individual is assigned. The observer-expectancy effect which involves an experimenter's unconscious biased expectations is being tested in real life situations. Rosenthal tested the hypothesis that biased expectancies can essentially affect reality and create self-fulfilling prophecies as a result. In this experiment, Rosenthal predicts that, when given the information that certain students are brighter than others, elementary school teachers may unconsciously behave in ways that facilitate and encourage the students’ success. The prior research that motivated this study was the research done in 1911 by psychologists regarding the case of "Clever Hans". Clever Hans was a horse that gained notoriety because it was supposed to be able to read, spell, and solve math problems by using its hoof to answer. Many skeptics suggested that questioners and observers were unintentionally signaling Clever Hans. For instance whenever Clever Hans was asked a question the observers demeanor usually elicited a certain behavior from the subject that in turn confirmed their expectations.

[edit] Teacher effects on the Students

Although not of central importance here, of huge importance in educational research in general is the issue of teacher effects. [Tim O'Shea][1] once told me that in all studies where one of the variables was the teacher, the effect of different teachers was always bigger than the effect of different treatments (usually what was meant to be being studied). Basically, teachers have a huge effect but one we don't understand at all.

Note too that all this casts doubt on the value of training teachers, apart from giving them practice to learn for themselves: if we don't know what it is about teachers' behavior that has such large effects on learning, how can we usefully train them? In the absence of this knowledge, the only measure of a teacher's worth is the comparative learning outcomes of their students. However neither teachers nor teacher training is usually assessed by this. So while it is quite possible that teachers learn either by unaided practice, or by unconscious imitation of other teachers (apprenticeship learning), there is almost no evidence on whether that training makes a difference.

The empirical observation of the importance of teachers has major implications for theory. Because they are of such large importance, I prefer Laurillard's theory of the learning and teaching process to others since it gives equal weight to learners and to teachers, and I regard slogans such as "learner-centered" and theories such as neo-constructivism to be flawed because they do not acknowledge or give a place to teachers of the prominence that they in fact have in the causation of learning.

So given the importance of teacher effects, what is the evidence? I need to do a proper review of this. But the Pygmalion effect is one big demonstration of the effect of teachers, showing they can double the amount of pupil progress in a year. Rosenthal & Jacobson (1992) also mention briefly research that showed that 10 secs of video without sound of a teacher allows students to predict the ratings they will get as a teacher. Similarly hearing the sound without vision AND without content (rhythm and tone of voice only) were enough too. This is powerful evidence that teachers differ in ways they cannot easily or normally control, but which are very quickly perceptible, and which at least in students' minds, determine their value as a teacher. (And Marsh's (1987) work shows that student ratings of teachers do relate to learning outcomes.)

[edit] Applications to Racism

The Pygmalion effect can also result from racial expectations. This effect is seen during Jane Elliott's "Blue-eyed vs Brown-eyed" discrimination experiment, where third graders were divided based on eye color. One group was given preference and regarded as the "superior" eye color, with the other group repeatedly being considered inferior in intelligence and learning ability. On the second day of the experiment, the groups were completely reversed, with those oppressed against one day being regarded as superior the next.

Elliott gave spelling tests to both groups on each day of the experiment. The students scored very low on the day they were racially "inferior" and very high on the day they were considered racially "superior." This was a glaring example of the Pygmalion effect based on racial prejudice. The only difference between the two days was the racial argument for or against the students; nothing else was changed.

The fact that the Pygmalion effect can result from racial prejudices is extremely alarming. Some scholars say that this effect has application in the study of the phenomenon of academic excellence usually stemming from Asian-American or Indian-American students that are "expected" to do better.

[edit] Comments on the effect

One educational reformer concluded:

"Labeling matters, and the younger the person getting the label is, the more it matters." [2]

James Rhem, executive editor for the online National Teaching and Learning Forum (www.ntlf.com), commented:

• "When teachers expect students to do well and show intellectual growth, they do; when teachers do not have such expectations, performance and growth are not so encouraged and may in fact be discouraged in a variety of ways."
• "How we believe the world is and what we honestly think it can become have powerful effects on how things turn out."

[edit] See Also

• Hawthorne Effect
• Placebo Effect