Personality and Social Psychology Review

 

Advanced Search

Journal Navigation

Journal Home

Subscriptions

Archive

Contact Us

Table of Contents

Register here to gain access to SAGE's 500+ Journals Online

SAGETRACK

Sign In to gain access to subscriptions and/or personal tools.
This Article
Right arrow Abstract Freely available
Right arrow Free Full Text (Free PDF) Free
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Right arrow Citation Map
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to Saved Citations
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Right arrow Request Reprints
Right arrow Add to My Marked Citations
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Jussim, L.
Right arrow Articles by Harber, K. D.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Jussim, L.
Right arrow Articles by Harber, K. D.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us   Add to Digg   Add to Reddit   Add to Technorati  
What's this?
Personality and Social Psychology Review, Vol. 9, No. 2, 131-155 (2005)
DOI: 10.1207/s15327957pspr0902_3

Teacher Expectations and Self-Fulfilling Prophecies: Knowns and Unknowns, Resolved and Unresolved Controversies

Lee Jussim

Department of Psychology, Rutgers University

Kent D. Harber

Department of Psychology, Rutgers University at Newark

This article shows that 35 years of empirical research on teacher expectations justifies the following conclusions: (a) Self-fulfilling prophecies in the classroom do occur, but these effects are typically small, they do not accumulate greatly across perceivers or over time, and they may be more likely to dissipate than accumulate; (b) powerful self-fulfilling prophecies may selectively occur among students from stigmatized social groups; (c) whether self-fulfilling prophecies affect intelligence, and whether they in general do more harm than good, remains unclear, and (d) teacher expectations may predict student outcomes more because these expectations are accurate than because they are self-fulfilling. Implications for future research, the role of self-fulfilling prophecies in social problems, and perspectives emphasizing the power of erroneous beliefs to create social reality are discussed.

References

  • Alwin, D., & Hauser, R. M. (1975). The decomposition of effects in path analysis. American Sociological Review, 40, 37-47[CrossRef]
  • American Psychological Association. (1991). In the Supreme Court of the United States: Price-Waterhouse v. Ann B. Hopkins (Amicus curiae brief). American Psychologist, 6, 1061-1070.[CrossRef]
  • Aronson, E. (1999). The social animal (8th ed.). New York: Worth.
  • Babad, E., Inbar, J., & Rosenthal, R. (1982). Pygmalion, Galatea, and the golem: Investigations of biased and unbiased teachers. Journal of Educational Psychology, 74, 459-474.[CrossRef][ISI]
  • Brattesani, K. A., Weinstein, R. S., & Marshall, H. H. (1984). Student perceptions of differential teacher treatment as moderators of teacher expectation effects. Journal of Educational Psychology, 76, 236-247.[CrossRef][ISI]
  • Brophy, J. (1983). Research on the self-fulfilling prophecy and teacher expectations. Journal of Educational Psychology, 75, 631-661.[CrossRef][ISI]
  • Brophy, J. E. (1985). Teacher-student interaction. In J. B. Dusek (Ed.), Teacher expectancies (pp. 303-328). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc.
  • Brophy, J., & Good, T. (1974). Teacher-student relationships: Causes and consequences. New York: Holt.
  • Claire, T., & Fiske, S. (1998). A systemic view of behavioral confirmation: Counterpoint to the individualist view. In C. Sedikedes, J. Schopler, & C. A. Insko (Eds.), Intergroup cognition and intergroup behavior (pp. 205-231). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc.
  • Cohen, J. (1988). Statistical power analysis for the behavioral sciences. New York: Academic Press.
  • Darley, J. M., & Fazio, R. H. (1980). Expectancy-confirmation processes arising in the social interaction sequence. American Psychologist, 35, 867-881.[CrossRef]
  • Davison, H. K., & Burke, M. J. (2000). Sex discrimination in simulated employment contexts: A meta-analytic investigation. Journal of Vocational Behavior 56, 225-248.[CrossRef][ISI]
  • Deaux, K., & Major, B. (1987). Putting gender into context: An interactive model of gender-related behavior. Psychological Review, 94, 369-389.[CrossRef][ISI]
  • Detterman, D., & Thompson, L. A. (1997). What is so special about special education? American Psychologist, 52, 1082-1090.[CrossRef][Medline] [Order article via Infotrieve]
  • Devine, P. (1995). Prejudice and outgroup perception. In A. Tesser (Ed.), Advanced social psychology (pp. 467-524). New York: McGraw-Hill.
  • Dusek, J., & Joseph, G. (1983). The bases of teacher expectancies: A meta-analysis. Journal of Educational Psychology, 75, 327-346.[CrossRef][ISI]
  • Eagly, A. H., Makhijani, M. G., Ashmore, R. D., & Longo, L. C. (1991). What is beautiful is good, but...: A meta-analytic review of research on the physical attractiveness stereotype. Psychological Bulletin, 110, 109-128.[CrossRef][ISI]
  • Elashoff, J. D., & Snow, R. E. (1971). Pygmalion reconsidered. Worthington, OH: Charles A. Jones.
  • Fiske, S. T. (1998). Stereotyping, prejudice, and discrimination. In D. Gilbert, S. T. Fiske, & G. Lindzey (Eds.), The handbook of social psychology (Vol. 2, 4th ed., pp. 357-411). New York: McGraw-Hill.
  • Fiske, S. T., & Taylor, S. E. (1991). Social cognition (2nd ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill.
  • Funder, D. C. (1987). Errors and mistakes: Evaluating the accuracy of social judgment. Psychological Bulletin, 101, 75-90.[CrossRef][ISI][Medline] [Order article via Infotrieve]
  • Funder, D. C. (1999). Personality judgment: A realistic approach to person perception. San Diego, CA: Academic Press.
  • Gilbert, D. T. (1995). Attribution and interpersonal perception. In A. Tesser (Ed.), Advanced social psychology (pp. 99-147). New York: McGraw-Hill.
  • Gilovich, T. (1991). How we know what isn't so: The fallibility of human reason in everyday life. New York: Free Press.
  • Hamilton, D. L., Sherman, S. J., & Ruvolo, C. M. (1990). Stereotype-based expectancies: Effects on information processing and social behavior. Journal of Social Issues, 46, 35-60.
  • Harris, M. J. (1991). Controversy and cumulation: Meta-analysis and research on interpersonal expectancy effects. Personality & Social Psychology Bulletin, 17, 316-322.
  • Harris, M. J., & Rosenthal, R. (1985). Mediation of interpersonal expectancy effects: 31 meta-analyses. Psychological Bulletin, 97, 363-386.[CrossRef][ISI]
  • Hemphill, J. F. (2003). Interpreting the magnitudes of correlation co-efficients. American Psychologist, 58, 78-79.[CrossRef][Medline] [Order article via Infotrieve]
  • Hofer, M. A. (1994, December 26). Behind the curve. The New York Times, pp. A39-A39.
  • Hoge, R. D., & Butcher, R. (1984). Analysis of teacher judgments of pupil achievement levels. Journal of Educational Psychology, 76, 777-781.[CrossRef][ISI]
  • Humphreys, L. G., & Stubbs, J. (1977). A longitudinal analysis of teacher expectation, student expectation, and student achievement. Journal of Educational Measurement, 14, 261-270.
  • Ickes, W. (1997). Empathic accuracy. New York: Guilford.
  • Jensen, A. R. (1969). How much can we boost I.Q. and scholastic achievement? Harvard Educational Review, 39, 1-123.
  • Jones, E. E. (1985). Major developments in social psychology during the past five decades. In G. Lindzey & E. Aronson (Eds), The handbook of social psychology, Vol. 1 (4th ed., pp. 47-107). New York: Random House.
  • Jones, E. E. (1986). Interpreting interpersonal behavior: The effects of expectancies. Science, 234, 41-46.[Abstract/Free Full Text]
  • Jones, E. E. (1990). Interpersonal perception. New York: Freeman.
  • Jost, J. T., & Banaji, M. R. (1994). The role of stereotyping in system-justification and the production of false consciousness. British Journal of Social Psychology, 33, 1-27.
  • Jost, J. T., & Kruglanski, A. W. (2002). The estrangement of social constructionism and experimental social psychology: History of the rift and prospects for reconciliation. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 6, 168-187.[Abstract/Free Full Text]
  • Judd, C. M., & McClelland, G. H. (1989). Data analysis: A model-comparison approach. Orlando, FL: Harcourt.
  • Jussim, L. (1986). Self-fulfilling prophecies: A theoretical and integrative review. Psychological Review, 93, 429-445.[CrossRef][ISI]
  • Jussim, L. (1989). Teacher expectations: Self-fulfilling prophecies, perceptual biases, and accuracy. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 57, 469-480.[CrossRef][ISI]
  • Jussim, L. (1991). Social perception and social reality: A reflection-construction model. Psychological Review, 98, 54-73.[CrossRef][ISI]
  • Jussim, L., & Eccles, J. (1992). Teacher expectations II: Construction and reflection of student achievement. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 63, 947-961.[CrossRef]
  • Jussim, L., & Eccles, J. (1995). Naturalistic studies of interpersonal expectancies. Review of Personality and Social Psychology, 15, 74-108.
  • Jussim, L., Eccles, J., & Madon, S. J. (1996). Social perception, social stereotypes, and teacher expectations: Accuracy and the quest for the powerful self-fulfilling prophecy. Advances in experimental social psychology, 29, 281-388.
  • Jussim, L., Smith, A., Madon, S., & Palumbo, P. (1998). Teacher expectations. In J. Brophy (Ed.), Advances in research on teaching (Vol. 7, pp. 1-48). Greenwich, CT: JAI.
  • Kahneman, D., Slovic, P., & Tversky, A. (1982). Judgment under uncertainty: Heuristics and biases. New York: Cambridge University Press.
  • Kenny, D. A. (1994). Interpersonal perception: A social relations analysis. New York: Guilford.
  • Kunda, Z., & Thagard, P. (1996). Forming impressions from stereotypes, traits, and behaviors: A parallel-constraint-satisfaction theory. Psychological Review, 103, 284-308.[CrossRef][ISI]
  • Madon, S. J., Jussim, L., & Eccles, J. (1997). In search of the powerful self-fulfilling prophecy. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 72, 791-809.[CrossRef][ISI][Medline] [Order article via Infotrieve]
  • Madon, S. J., Jussim, L., Keiper, S., Eccles, J., Smith, A., & Palumbo, P. (1998). The accuracy and power of sex, social class and ethnic stereotypes: Naturalistic studies in person perception. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 24, 1304-1318.[Abstract]
  • Madon, S. J., Smith, A., Jussim, L., Russell, D. W., Eccles, J., Palumbo, P., et al. (2001). Am I as you see me or do you see me as I am: Self-fulfilling prophecies versus self-verification. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 27, 1214-1224.[Abstract/Free Full Text]
  • Mazella, R., & Feingold, A. (1994). The effects of physical attractiveness, race, socioeconomic status, and gender of defendants and victims on judgments of mock jurors: A meta-analysis. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 24, 1315-1344.[CrossRef]
  • McNatt, D. B. (2000). Ancient Pygmalion joins contemporary management: A meta-analysis of the result. Journal of Applied Psychology, 85, 314-322.[CrossRef][ISI][Medline] [Order article via Infotrieve]
  • Merton, R. K. (1948). The self-fulfilling prophecy. Antioch Review, 8, 193-210.
  • Meyer, W. J. (1985). Summary, integration, and prospective. In J. B. Dusek (Ed.), Teacher expectancies (pp. 353-370). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc.
  • Miller, D. T., & Turnbull, W. (1986). Expectancies and interpersonal processes. Annual Review of Psychology, 37, 233-256.[CrossRef][ISI]
  • Myers, D. G. (1999). Social psychology (6th ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill.
  • Neisser, U., Boodoo, G., Bouchard, T. J., Jr., Boykin, A. W., Brody, N., Ceci, S. J., et al. (1996). Intelligence: Knowns and unknowns. American Psychologist, 51, 77-101.[CrossRef]
  • Neuberg, S. L. (1989). The goal of forming accurate impressions during social interactions: Attenuating the impact of negative expectancies. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 56, 374-386.[CrossRef][ISI][Medline] [Order article via Infotrieve]
  • Nisbett, R. E., & Ross, L. (1980). Human inference: Strategies and shortcomings of social judgment. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
  • Oakes, J. (1986). Tracking, inequality, and the rhetoric of reform: Why schools don't change. Journal of Education, 168, 60-80.
  • Olson, J. M., Roese, N. J., & Zanna, M. P. (1996). Expectancies. In E. T. Higgins & A. W. Kruglanski (Eds.), Social psychology: Handbook of basic principles (pp. 211-239). New York: Guilford.
  • Raudenbush, S. W. (1984). Magnitude of teacher expectancy effects on pupil IQ as a function of the credibility of expectancy inductions: A synthesis of findings from 18 experiments. Journal of Educational Psychology, 76, 85-97.[CrossRef][ISI]
  • Raudenbush, S. W. (1994). Random effects models. In H. Cooper & L. V. Hedges (Eds.), Handbook of research synthesis (pp. 301-321). New York: Sage.
  • Rist, R. (1970). Student social class and teacher expectations: The self-fulfilling prophecy in ghetto education. Harvard Educational Review, 40, 411-451.[ISI]
  • Rosenthal, R. (1974). On the social psychology of the self-fulfilling prophecy: Further evidence for Pygmalion effects and their mediating mechanisms. New York: MSS Modular.
  • Rosenthal, R. (1984). Meta-analytic procedures for social research. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage.
  • Rosenthal, R. (1985). From unconscious experimenter bias to teacher expectancy effects. In J. Dusek (Ed.), Teacher expectancies (pp. 37-65). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc.
  • Rosenthal, R. (1994). Interpersonal expectancy effects: A 30-year perspective. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 3, 176-179.[CrossRef][ISI]
  • Rosenthal, R., & Jacobson, L. (1968). Pygmalion in the classroom: Teacher expectations and student intellectual development. New York: Holt.
  • Rosenthal R., & Rubin, D. B. (1978). Interpersonal expectancy effects: The first 345 studies. The Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 3, 377-386.
  • Roth, B. M. (1995, January 2). We can throw teacher expectations on the IQ scrap heap. New York Times, p. A25-A25.
  • Rowe, D. C. (1995, January 2). Intervention fables. New York Times, p. A25-A25.
  • Schneider, D. J., Hastorf, A. H., & Ellsworth, P. C. (1979). Person perception (2nd ed.). Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley.
  • Schultz, P. W., & Oskamp, S. (2000). Social psychology: An applied perspective. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
  • Skov, R. B., & Sherman, S. J. (1986). Information-gathering processes: Diagnosticity, hypothesis-confirmatory strategies, and perceived hypothesis confirmation. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 22, 93-121.
  • Smith, A., Jussim, L., & Eccles, J. (1999). Do self-fulfilling prophecies accumulate, dissipate, or remain stable over time? Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 77, 548-565.[CrossRef][ISI][Medline] [Order article via Infotrieve]
  • Smith, A., Jussim, L., Eccles, J., Van Noy, M., Madon, S. J., & Palumbo, P. (1998). Self-fulfilling prophecies, perceptual biases, and accuracy at the individual and group level. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 34, 530-561.[CrossRef]
  • Snow, R. E. (1969). Unfinished Pygmalion. Contemporary Psychology, 14, 197-200.
  • Snow, R. E. (1995). Pygmalion and intelligence? Current Directions in Psychological Science, 4, 169-171.[CrossRef]
  • Snyder, M. (1984). When belief creates reality. Advances in experimental social psychology, 18, 247-305.
  • Snyder, M., & Stukas, Jr., A. A. (1998). Interpersonal processes: The interplay of cognitive, motivational, and behavioral activities in social interaction. Annual Review of Psychology, 50, 273-303.[CrossRef][ISI]
  • Spitz, H. H. (1999). Beleaguered Pygmalion: A history of the controversy over claims that teacher expectancy raises intelligence. Intelligence, 27, 199-234.[CrossRef]
  • Stangor, C. (1995). Content and application inaccuracy in social stereotyping. In Y. T. Lee, L. Jussim, & C. R. McCauley (Eds.), Stereotype accuracy (pp. 275-292). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
  • Sutherland, A., & Goldschmid, M. L. (1974). Negative teacher expectation and IQ change in children with superior intellectual potential. Child Development, 45, 852-856.[CrossRef][ISI][Medline] [Order article via Infotrieve]
  • Swann, W. B. (1984). Quest for accuracy in person perception: A matter of pragmatics. Psychological Review, 91, 457-477.[CrossRef][ISI][Medline] [Order article via Infotrieve]
  • Swann, W. B., Jr. (1987). Identity negotiation: Where two roads meet. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 53, 1038-1051.[CrossRef][ISI][Medline] [Order article via Infotrieve]
  • Swann, W. B., Jr., & Ely, R. J. (1984). A battle of wills: Self-verification versus behavioral confirmation. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 46, 1287-1302.[CrossRef][ISI][Medline] [Order article via Infotrieve]
  • Sweeney, L. T., & Haney, C. (1992). The influence of race on sentencing: A meta-analytic review of experimental studies. Behavioral Science and the Law, 10, 179-195.
  • Swim, J., Borgida, E., Maruyama, G., & Myers, D. G. (1989). Joan McKay vs. John McKay: Do gender stereotypes bias evaluations? Psychological Bulletin, 105, 409-429.[CrossRef]
  • Taylor, M. C. (1992). Expectancies and the perpetuation of racial inequality. In P. D. Blanck (Ed.), Interpersonal expectancies. (pp. 88-124). New York: Cambridge University Press.
  • Thorndike, R. L. (1968). Review of Pygmalion in the classroom. American Educational Research Journal, 5, 708-711.[CrossRef][ISI]
  • Trouilloud, D., Sarrazin, P., Martinek, T., & Guillet, E. (2002). The influence of teacher expectations on students' achievement in physical education classes: Pygmalion revisited. European Journal of Social Psychology, 32, 1-17.[CrossRef]
  • Weinstein, R. S., & McKown, C. (1998). Expectancy effects in "context": Listening to the voices of students and teachers. In J. Brophy (Ed.), Advances in research on teaching (Vol. 7, pp. 215-242). Greenwich, CT: JAI.
  • West, C., & Anderson, T. (1976). The question of preponderant causation in teacher expectancy research. Review of Educational Research, 46, 613-630.[Free Full Text]
  • Williams, T. (1976). Teacher prophecies and the inheritance of inequality. Sociology of Education, 49, 223-236.[CrossRef]
  • Wineburg, S. S. (1987). The self-fulfillmentof the self-fulfilling prophecy: A critical appraisal. Educational Researcher 16, 28-40.[Abstract/Free Full Text]

Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us   Add to Digg Digg   Add to Reddit Reddit   Add to Technorati Technorati    What's this?


This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 Journal of Career AssessmentHome page
J. Metheny, E. H. McWhirter, and M. E. O'Neil
Measuring Perceived Teacher Support and Its Influence on Adolescent Career Development
Journal of Career Assessment, May 1, 2008; 16(2): 218 - 237.
[Abstract] [PDF]

Home page
 International Journal of Behavioral DevelopmentHome page
M. P. Neuenschwander, M. Vida, J. L. Garrett, and J. S. Eccles
Parents' expectations and students' achievement in two western nations
International Journal of Behavioral Development, November 1, 2007; 31(6): 594 - 602.
[Abstract] [PDF]

This Article
Right arrow Abstract Freely available
Right arrow Free Full Text (Free PDF) Free
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Right arrow Citation Map
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to Saved Citations
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Right arrow Request Reprints
Right arrow Add to My Marked Citations
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Jussim, L.
Right arrow Articles by Harber, K. D.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Jussim, L.
Right arrow Articles by Harber, K. D.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us   Add to Digg   Add to Reddit   Add to Technorati  
What's this?