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Do self-fulfilling prophecies accumulate, dissipate, or remain stable over time?
A E Smith1, L Jussim, J Eccles
1Department of Psychology, Rutgers, State University of New Jersey, New Brunswick 08903, USA. aesmith@rci.rutgers.edu
Self-fulfilling prophecies in education showed mixed results, with some dissipating and others remaining stable over time. Teacher expectations influenced student math performance, impacting academic self-fulfilling prophecies.
Area of Science:
- Educational Psychology
- Social Psychology
Background:
- Self-fulfilling prophecies can significantly impact educational outcomes.
- Understanding the long-term effects of these prophecies is crucial for educational interventions.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate whether self-fulfilling prophecies in academic settings accumulate, dissipate, or remain stable.
- To assess the predictive power of teacher perceptions on student math achievement over time.
Main Methods:
- Longitudinal study of over 500 students in public school math classes (6th-12th grade).
- Multiple regression analyses were employed to examine the relationship between teacher perceptions and student outcomes.
- Controlled for student motivation and prior academic achievement.
Main Results:
- Findings supported both the dissipation and stability hypotheses regarding self-fulfilling prophecies.
- Teacher perceptions were found to predict students' final math marks and standardized test scores.
- The influence of expectations on academic performance varied over the studied period.
Conclusions:
- Social perception plays a role in shaping social reality within educational contexts.
- The stability or dissipation of expectations highlights the complex nature of self-fulfilling prophecies in student development.
- These findings have implications for addressing social problems rooted in expectations.
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