AQA A-Level Sociology: Class Differences (Internal Factors) - The Self-Fulfilling Prophecy
Descrição
All credit goes to the 'AQA A Level Sociology Book One [Including AS Level]'. Any opinions expressed are the opinions of the sociologists mentioned. Author credits: Rob Webb, Hal Westergaard, Keith Trobe and Annie Townend
AQA A-Level Sociology: Class Differences (Internal Factors) - The Self-Fulfilling Prophecy
A Self-fulfilling prophecy is a prediction that
comes true simply by virtue of it having been
made E.g. if you label a pupil as unlikely to pass,
they may start acting up to the label and
consequently fail.
TEACHER'S EXPECTATIONS
Robert Rosenthal and
Leonara Jacobson
(1968) show the
self-fulfilling prophecy
at work.
They told the school that they had a
new test specifically designed to
identify those pupils who will 'spurt'
ahead. However, it was just a simply
IQ test - though the teachers were
unaware of this.
The researchers
tested all the pupils,
and randomly
selected 20%, telling
the school that those
were the spurters.
On returning to the school a year later,
they found that almost half (47%) of those
identified as spurters had made significant
progress.
This demonstrates the self-fulfilling prophecy: simply
by accepting the prediction that some children would
spurt ahead, the teachers brought it about.
Rosenthal and Jacobson suggest that the
teachers' beliefs about the pupils had been
influenced by the test results. The teachers
had then conveyed these beliefs to the pupils
through the way they interacted with them.
For example, through their
body language and the
amount of encouragement
and attention they gave
them.