Self-Fulfilling Prophecy Theoretical Description
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Figure 2.3 How the Self-fulfilling Prophecy Works Kaufman, 2012
Twenty years after Merton 1938 originally published self-fulfilling prophecy theory, Rosenthal and Jacobson 1968 in their empirical tests provide
the first direct evidence that teacher expectations, whether it is high or low might be self-fulfilling. As state in Madon, Willard, Guyll
Scherr 2011, “Rosenthal and Jacobson 1968 hypothesized that one reason disadvantaged students may
perform more poorly in school than their more advantaged counterparts is because that is what their teachers expected them to
improve academically”. To test this, Rosenthal and Jacobson 1968 conducted an exam that supposedly identified
“late blooming” students, or children who were expected to experience substantial academic improvement in the coming year. Rosenthal and Jacobson chose random
students and informed the teachers that these children were “late bloomers”.
20 Rosenthal and Jacobson showed both that teachers expected these
students to be more academically successful and that these students in fact learned more as measured on intelligence tests than did students who had not been
identified as “late bloomers”. Because the subset of students who were designated as “late bloomers” were chosen randomly, Rosenthal and Jacobson argue that the
difference in students’ achievement between the two groups can be attributed in changing teacher expectations.
Referring to Schunk, Pintrich, Meece 2008, Rosenthal and Jacobson 1968 concluded that teacher expectations can act as self-fulfilling prophecies
because students’ achievements come to reflect the expectations. In the other words, if the teacher believes that the students can reach high levels of
achievements, there is a good chance that the students will be too. However, if the teacher has low expectations about what level the students can achieve, the
students will probably always remember to these expectations. According to Madon, Willard, Guyll Scherr 2011, Rosenthal and
Jacobson 1968 from their past research, state that the teach ers’ expectation of
their students’ behavior became a self-fulfilling prophecy. Rosenthal and Jacobson 1968 state that when teachers expected that certain children would
show greater intellectual development, those children did show greater intellectual development. It also means that when students are accustomed to obtain
communication of high expectation from the teacher, then their self-fulfilling prophecy will increase automatically. Self-fulfilling prophecy is feeling when
students want to prove that they can do everything better as what the teacher s’
21 expects. It happens because a classroom is such a work place for student. It is a
powerful social network, and students’ feeling about both teachers and classmates have important implications for how much students willing to make an effort to be
successful in learning. Given the power of lecturers’ expectations, students are expected to
improve their learning and to have potential feelings about themselves. When lecturers have high expectations for students and provide tasks that are engaging
and of high interest, the students will build self-esteem, increase confidence and improve academic performance Brophy, 1983. The s
tudents’ confidence is critical because it is linked to the
student’s willingness to tackle challenging learning activities. The students will have their confidence when a teacher uses
high expectation communication to the students. High academic expectations start and finish with the lecturer
’s belief in every student. The lecturer needs to believe and show that belief that all students can learn, grow, and get a successful
learning. Then, the students must be sure that their lecturer believes in the students’ potentials; they can learn and can do things that are even harder than
they might think they can do. In summary, this self-fulfilling prophecy based on Rosenthal and Jacobson 2000 who state that:
a Teachers form different expectation for their students. b These expectations are communicate to students.
c Teachers’ expectations impact, either positively or negatively on students’ behavior and performance.
22 Self-fulfilling prophecy obviously relates to the field of educational
psychology and especially is related to the lecturer as a learning facilitator. The l
ecturers’ expectations for students –whether high or low- can become a self- fulfilling prophecy. That is, the students tend to give to lecturers as much or as
little as lecturers expect of them. Therefore, it can be said that when the lecturers engage in differential treatment of high- and low- expectation students, the
students are aware of these differences. However, this research does not address the
students’ awareness of the differential treatment.