The effects of self-esteem and source credibility on self-denying prophecies

Self-fulfilling prophecies are a well-studied phenomenon. The study of self-denying prophecies, however, is rare. Self-denying prophecies shift people's behavior in the direction opposite to the prophecy. The existence of self-denying prophecies was investigated in 222 students. The effects of self-esteem and the source of the prophecy were also investigated. The results suggest that self-denying prophecies exist and that self-esteem is an important moderator of self-denying prophecies. If managers and industrial/organizational psychologists had an understanding of self-denying prophecies, they might be better able to structure negative performance reviews in a way that could lead to improved employee performance.