Pygmalion effect

Conclusion

The result is visible at first. A group of students who were imposed low expectations were demotivated, confused and insecure about their abilities, while a group of students who were imposed high expectations responded better to the task. They were confident, fast, agile and eager to achieve the best and highest quality result.

As teachers we need to have faith in our students. We need to motivate them and give them the wind in their backs in order to achieve the best possible result and be happier ... because when the students are happy and satisfied, only then have we achieved our goal.

Pygmalion effect How to Get Your Students to Perform Better – the Scientific Approach

Author: Mia Dodig Construction and Geodesy Vocational School Osijek, Croatia

Teaching can be extremely challenging. Often you find yourself faced with a classroom made up of a diverse students. To deal with each student’s individual needs can be difficult, if not impossible.

 The Pygmalion effect is also known as the Rosenthal effect and follows the premise that the expectations of others can affect that person’s performance.  Psychologist Robert Rosnthal wrote that teachers who hold high expectations of their students have better-performing students than those teachers with low expectations.

What is pygmalion effect?

Pygmalion was a skilled sculptor who could not find a girl who would possess a sufficient number of qualities for marriage. He decided not to get married so he started carving a statue of his ideal wife. As the statue was completed, he fell in love with it. Pygmalion fell so in love with the statue, which he named Galatea. He prayed to the Gods wanting Galatea to become his wife. Venus, hearing his prayers, decided to help him and revived Galatea.

Greek mythology

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Robert Rosenthal is a German-born American psychologist who is a distinguished Professor of Psychology at the University of California, Riverside. His interests include self-fulfilling prophecies, which he explored in a well-known study of the Pygmalion effect: the effect of teachers' expectations on students.

 Dr. Rosenthal, therefore, using Pygmalion's name in his research, wanted to say the following: at some point, people will start behaving the way others expect them to. He proved this in the mentioned research on students and teachers of a California elementary school.  At the beginning of the school year, IQ testing was conducted on all elementary school students.

Teachers were told that a certain number of students (approximately 20 percent) have a very high chance of achieving outstanding academic achievement.  The truth was that the "selected" 20 percent of students did not stand out from the rest, that is, children whose names were communicated to teachers were selected at random. Yet in the minds of their teachers, a certain expectation and belief was formed about their success.  At the end of the school year, Rosenthal and coworkers again tested students with an IQ test. The results proved to be a very interesting discovery. Namely, randomly selected 20 percent of students on re-testing achieved significantly better results than other students, on average they made greater progress.  Rosenthal thus showed that if teachers believe in student progress they will show better result.

The Pygmalion effect not only applies from adults to children. It can be applied across all interactions between all people. As a result, a teacher’s performance can be affected by the way their students perceive them. A teacher who is perceived as a bad teacher by the students will attribute this label and perform poorly. Alternatively, a teacher whose students have positive perceptions of him or her will perform better as a result of positive labels. These labels will also affect their interpersonal relationships. When a student has a negative perception of a teacher, their interactions will usually be bad and poor. Teachers who use technology tend to have a more positive reception from students

How do students view teachers?

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As a result, many teachers are looking for research-backed study methods to encourage their students to perform well regardless of ability. The Pygmalion effect is one such

method.

Here are some ways to get your students to perform better in classes: One way to get students feeling positive in the classroom is by giving them a choice. When students get to make choices about their learning, they feel more responsible and in control. When students are given responsibilities, they feel a positive affection towards class and the teacher. They feel like the teacher believes they are capable and will perform better. When students are independently in control of their learning, they feel more motivated to learn what is expected from them.

Give student a choice!

While the teacher is the authority in the classroom, it is essential that students feel included While teachers have to reach certain curriculum requirements each week, allowing students to help decide which goals to reach each week, how to reach them, and what tasks are most important can help foster positivity. Students who take part in the curriculum planning process can feel cared for and may perform more positively.

Inclusion

Flipped classroom The flipped classroom method is a good way to encourage students to take charge of their learning. Students can explore topics at home and use classroom time for critical thinking and intensive discussions. They then get to bring that new information to the school to discuss, allowing time for more exploration and deep discussion. Engaging students in this way allows them to relax, to open opportunities for better performance.

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