The Rosenthal effect or the Pygmalion effect is a psychological phenomenon, which consists in the fact that a person's expectations of the realization of the prophecy largely determine the nature of his actions and the interpretation of the reactions of others, which provokes the self-fulfillment of the prophecy. It can manifest itself at any stage of research and in any science: both during the procedure of the experiment, and when processing the results, and when interpreting the results of the study, etc.
Experiment with sympathy
For example, a self-fulfilling prophecy can lead to sympathy. Rebecca Curtis and Kim Miller illustrated this process and performed the following experiment. A group of college students, none of whom knew each other, were divided into pairs. One person in each pair, chosen at random, received special information. Some students in a couple were told that their partner liked them, and some that they did not.
The pairs of students were then given the opportunity to meet and talk to each other. As predicted by the researchers, those students who thought they liked their partner behaved more pleasantly towards their partner; they were more frank, expressed less disagreement on the topics discussed, and in general, their manner of communication was more cordial and pleasant than that of students who believed that they did not like their partner. Moreover, those who believed that the partner liked them really liked him much more than those who believed that the partner had antipathy for them. That is, partners showed a tendency to copy the behavior of another person in a pair.
placebo
Placebo (from Latin placebo, literally - "I will like") - a substance without obvious medicinal properties, used as a medicine, the therapeutic effect of which is associated with the patient's belief in the effectiveness of the drug. Sometimes a placebo capsule or tablet is called a dummy. Lactose is often used as a placebo substance.
In addition, the term placebo effect refers to the very phenomenon of improving the health of a person due to the fact that he believes in the effectiveness of some effect, in fact, neutral. In addition to taking the drug, such an effect may be, for example, the performance of certain procedures or exercises, the direct effect of which is not observed. The degree of manifestation of the placebo effect depends on the suggestibility of the person and the external circumstances of the "treatment" - for example, on the appearance of the placebo, its price and the total difficulty in obtaining the "medicine" (this strengthens the credibility of its effectiveness due to the unwillingness to consider effort and money wasted) , the degree of trust in the doctor, the authority of the clinic.
Effect mechanism
The placebo effect is based on therapeutic suggestion. This suggestion does not require any special skills, since the criticality of consciousness (“I don’t believe”) is overcome by linking the suggested information to the actual object, usually a pill or injection, without any real effect on the body. The patient is told that this drug has a certain effect on the body, and despite the ineffectiveness of the drug, the expected effect manifests itself to one degree or another. Physiologically, this is due to the fact that, as a result of suggestion, the patient's brain begins to produce substances corresponding to this action, in particular, endorphins, which, in fact, partially replace the effect of the drug. The second factor that ensures the effectiveness of placebo is an increase in general immunity, the "protective forces" of a person.
The degree of manifestation of the placebo effect depends on the level of suggestibility of a person and the physiological possibility of the formation of the necessary chemical compounds.
Placebo in pharmacotherapy
Sometimes doctors deliberately prescribe a placebo to patients who are prone to self-hypnosis of painful sensations. In this case, it becomes possible to avoid unjustified pharmacotherapy, typical for suggestible people in modern society, and numerous drug complications. The positive effect of homeopathic remedies is also explained by the placebo effect.
Homeopathy is a type of alternative medicine that involves the use of highly diluted drugs that are supposed to cause symptoms in healthy people similar to those of the patient's illness. The concept of treatment according to the pseudoscientific principle "like like" Thus, the probability that 1 mol of dilution of 13C contains at least one molecule of the original substance is 1%, for 14C 0.01%, etc. Dilutions with an index of 40С approximately correspond to 1 molecule for the entire observable Universe, and those with an index of 200С (Anaferon, Oscillococcinum) correspond to 1 molecule per 10,320 Universes, respectively. In practice, it can be considered that dilutions with a "homeopathic index" of 12C and higher cannot have any physical effect, however, some homeopaths believe that the effect of the drug is even enhanced at high dilutions, explaining this by the fact that water has a memory that transfers biological information.
psychological syndrome placebo anchor
Placebo in evidence-based medicine
At the same time, many modern drugs act integrally, so their therapeutic effect also contains a "placebo component". Therefore, bright and large tablets generally act more strongly than small and nondescript ones, and drugs from well-known companies (and the same composition, and the same bioequivalence) give a greater effect than drugs from "market outsiders", etc.
placebo in pharmacology
It is used as a control drug in clinical trials of new drugs, in the procedure for quantifying the effectiveness of drugs. One group of subjects is given a test drug tested in animals (see preclinical trials), and the other is given a placebo. The effect of the use of the drug must significantly exceed the effect of the placebo in order for the drug to be considered effective.
Placebo is also used to study the role of suggestion in the action of drugs.
The typical level of positive placebo effect in placebo-controlled clinical trials averages 5-10%, while its severity depends on the type of disease.
Placebo in psychiatry
The placebo effect is widely used in psychiatry. The first reason for this is that the human brain, through autosuggestion, more easily corrects its own work than the work of other organs. Therefore, placebo is especially effective in mental disorders. The second reason is that for many mental disorders - such as insomnia, depression, nightmares - effective drugs have not yet been found, or these drugs are effective only for a small proportion of patients.
Placebo in addiction
Placebo is widely used in Russian narcology for the treatment of alcohol and drug addicts. Russian narcologist, treats alcohol addiction by such methods as "Capsule", "Torpedo", "Coding", "Filing", "MST", "SIT", "NIT" or non-existent (and not included in the State Register of Medicinal means) drugs such as: "Vitamerz Depot", "Actoplex", "Disulfizon", "Algominal" - exploits the so-called "placebo effect", that is, the patient's faith and his desire to recover. The mechanism of action is that the doctor convincingly tells his patient: "If you drink, you will die." These methods use people's "ignorance" and their "faith" to maintain the fear that makes people abstain from drinking alcohol.
To create fear, doctors use a variety of methods. Before the filing or coding procedure, the patient signs a legal document. The doctor offers the patient a contract that determines the time of "filing" and in which it is written that the patient bears all responsibility for the consequences of the breakdown. The document also provides for the possibility of "detaching" (usually a single dose of a substance that stops the action of the implant), which is performed by the same specialist. Faith in the "file" is strengthened by word of mouth dramatic stories about "file" friends, acquaintances or familiar acquaintances who died after drinking alcohol. Technologies for the use of placebo in narcology include various actions: from intravenous injections of a solution of nicotinic acid (vitamin PP), magnesium sulfate - causing a feeling of heat and suffocation, to simulating surgical operations with an imaginary "filing". During these procedures, the doctor uses the so-called "provocation", that is, he gives the patient alcohol to drink in order to cause a reaction and increase the fear of death. The use of placebos in narcology is practiced only in the Russian Federation and some CIS countries and grossly contradicts world practice in the treatment of narcological patients.
Based on one study conducted on 15 patients with anxiety disorder and published in 1965, it was shown that the placebo effect can work even when the patient was told that he was taking a "blank" drug. This phenomenon can be explained by the patient's faith in the method itself.
We get from life what we fear or crave, and it's our faultPygmalion effect. Remember, there was such a sculptor in Greek mythology: he sculpted a sculpture, and then fell in love with it? Our expectations are as powerful as the unfortunate master's love. Therefore, they come to life in reality in the same way that Galatea came to life.
The Pygmalion effect is that, under the influence of our own expectations, we begin to adjust events and facts to fit them. This happens when the investigator, out of fear of missing out on the only suspect, does not pay attention to the evidence of his innocence. But let's not blame our investigator - if it's not a bribe, then he acts subconsciously.
Rosenthal effect or experimenter bias effect
This phenomenon is also called the Rosenthal effect. It was the American psychologist Robert Rosenthal who identified it in 1966 and carefully studied it, along the way giving the phenomenon the name of an ancient Greek character. It turns out that the bias of the experimenter significantly affects the results of the experiment.
Rosenthal, in tandem with his colleague Lenora Jacobson, conducted psychological research with different groups of subjects. One of them concerned schoolchildren, so the experiment was called “Children of Rosenthal.” In one school, teachers were told that some children had the potential to develop intelligence and increase IQ. After a while, they really began to show better results in their studies.
The whole secret is that the teachers paid special attention to these children, supported them, sent non-verbal signals of approval.
A similar experiment was carried out with rats. Participants in the experiment were instructed to monitor the behavior of rodents in a maze. The rats had to perform simple tasks for ingenuity, and the subjects (who did not know that the experiment was being carried out on themselves) were to record the results. Some participants were told that they got a smart rat, others - that they were stupid. Indeed, "smart" rats did everything better, although they were all exactly the same.
The principle of the Pygmalion effect is that our brain is not able to distinguish the desired from the real. Under the influence of certain attitudes, we act as if our expectations have already come true, thereby bringing them to life. It turns out a vicious circle.
Visualization and affirmations work on the same principle. Presenting or pronouncing some facts, we launch in our brain the illusion of their reality. Our subconscious firmly believes in our words, thoughts and ideas, considering them part of the real world - the same as, for example, a tree or a salary.
Features of the Pygmalion effect:
- the bias of the experimenter leads to the fact that he discards "inconvenient" facts, paying attention only to those that confirm his theory;
- while working with people, positively minded experimenters express their expectations through intonation and non-verbal means - facial expressions, gestures. Therefore, the results are more distorted if the experimenter and the subject see each other;
- if they are familiar, the effect is further enhanced;
- knowing about the existence of the effect, the experimenter tries to avoid its influence, while again distorting the results, but in the opposite direction;
- under the influence of this effect, the researcher tends to discard unexpected and extreme results, averaging the indicators to those familiar to his mind;
- Women are more susceptible to the Pygmalion effect than men.
However, Rosenthal clarifies that expectations do not always influence the results - in some experiments, the settings did not affect the participants in any way. This means that a whole complex of factors is involved in the realization of expectations, and one desire is not enough to fulfill them.
Pygmalion effect as a psychological control method
In the psychology of management, a special role is given to the influence of the manager's expectations on the performance of subordinates. High expectations lead to high quality work and vice versa.
Experienced managers know how expensive companies areemployee motivation mistakes . The basis of business is people, because they do all the work. The right attitude in the team affects the performance no less than competent financial management and building a business plan.
The reward system works more efficiently than the punishment system. Expecting employees to be lazy and non-executive, the boss builds an appropriate line of behavior. Total control, fines, checks. An atmosphere of distrust and pressure increases, motivation falls, and productivity follows it.
A high level of trust, small indulgences, holidays, bonuses and a sense of "family" in the corporate culture give a much better result. An example of the highest personal freedom of an employee can be consideredRicardo Semler's management model . The Brazilian entrepreneur and company leader allowed his employees not only to decide when to come to work, but also to set their own salary. The Sampler delegated almost all of his rights to subordinates, and they jointly make decisions about the company's activities.
Such trust and transparency in the work of the team had a miraculous result. Despite the skepticism and gloomy forecasts of competitors, the company has been thriving in the market for many years and does not even think about going bankrupt.
This example can also be considered an experiment. In different working conditions, the same person will behave differently. The employees of Ricardo Sampler's company are no better than other specialists. The high level of expectations and respect performed a miracle of management: considering the company as their brainchild, each employee tried to put maximum effort into its development.
But there is a caveat: any of us has a limit. Therefore, setting the bar of expectations, you need to be careful. Unable to justify excessive demands, a person becomes discouraged, gives up and may even quit what he started. Positive attitudes are like medicines: an overdose leads to even worse consequences.
Guided by knowledge of the psychological effects in corporate culture, the leader understands more clearlyhow to make effective decisions . He involves subordinates in the life of the company not only with the help of salary (and money, as we already know, is a rather weak motivator), but also with the help of emotional leverage.
How to use the Pygmalion effect in your own life?
Knowing about the existence of the Pygmalion effect, we can observe it in action, minimize the negative impact and use it as a tool for self-development.
By itself, it cannot be a method of improving the intellect and mental qualities - as, for example,Jose Silva method . But it is great as a way to motivate. By creating the right creative attitudes and getting rid of destructive thoughts, we can achieve a lot in school, work, sports and other areas. Even a simple attitude “I will succeed, and I will go through this path to the end” can perform miracles.
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» Pygmalion Effect
Personnel Management
Dictionary-reference
Pygmalion effect
According to ancient Greek mythology, Pygmalion was a sculptor, the king of Cyprus, who, according to legend, sculpted a sculpture so beautiful that he himself fell in love with it and begged the gods to revive it. The American psychologist Rosenthal (1966) called Pygmalion effect a phenomenon consisting in the fact that a person who is firmly convinced of the correctness of some information involuntarily acts in such a way that it receives actual confirmation.
The existence of the Pygmalion effect (the psychological phenomenon of justified expectations) was first proven in the classroom. In an experiment that later became a classic, teachers were told that among their students there were children who were very capable and who were not very capable. In reality, there was no difference between the two groups, and the level of ability of all students was about the same. However, teachers' expectations related to students turned out to be different. As a result, a group of supposedly more able students scored higher anonymously than a group of "less" able students. The expectations of the teachers were somehow transferred to the students and influenced their actual academic success.
In the practice of personnel work, the Pygmalion effect is manifested in the fact that the expectations of managers regarding the results of the work of subordinates can influence these results themselves. Thus, there is a tendency in accordance with which managers, highly estimating their subordinates and expecting good results from them, get better results. And managers who consider their subordinates to be a bunch of lazy and slow-witted people, i.e. initially configured for bad results, they get exactly them.
The fact that the expectations associated with the actions of the staff tend to come true has been proven by many researchers. This phenomenon is more pronounced in men's teams (in particular, in the army) than in women's, and is extremely characteristic of those workers with whom not only management does not associate any expectations, but who themselves have given up on themselves. The performance of their work usually corresponds to negative expectations.
Examples
Paranormal activity
It has been noticed that in experiments to verify paranormal phenomena, as a rule, supporters of parapsychology get positive results, and opponents get negative results.
Experiment with sympathy
For example, a self-fulfilling prophecy can lead to sympathy. Rebecca Curtis and Kim Miller illustrated this process and performed the following experiment. A group of college students, none of whom knew each other, were divided into pairs. One person in each pair, chosen at random, received special information. Some students in a couple were told that their partner liked them, and some that they did not.
The pairs of students were then given the opportunity to meet and talk to each other. As predicted by the researchers, those students who thought they liked their partner behaved more pleasantly towards their partner; they were more frank, expressed less disagreement on the topics discussed, and in general, their manner of communication was more cordial and pleasant than that of students who believed that they did not like their partner. Moreover, those who believed that the partner liked them really liked him much more than those who believed that the partner had antipathy for them. That is, partners showed a tendency to copy the behavior of another person in a pair.
Other factors that threaten internal validity
see also
Literature
- E. Aronson, R. Eikert, T. Wilson Social Psychology. Psychological laws of human behavior in society = Social Psychology. - 5th international edition, updated and expanded. - St. Petersburg. : Prime-EUROSIGN, 2004. - ISBN 5-93878-134-5
- Zarochentsev K. D., Khudyakov A. I. Experimental psychology: textbook. - M.: Prospekt, 2005. S. 66.
Notes
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See what the "Rosenthal Effect" is in other dictionaries:
Rosenthal effect- see Pygmalion effect. Dictionary of practical psychologist. Moscow: AST, Harvest. S. Yu. Golovin. 1998 ...
Rosenthal effect- (Rosenthal effect) general evidence that the results of any experiment often confirm the experimenter's expectations... General Psychology: Glossary
Barnum effect (Forer effect, subjective confirmation effect) is a general observation that people highly appreciate the accuracy of such descriptions of their personality, which they assume are created individually for them, but which in fact ... ... Wikipedia
Barnum effect (Forer effect, subjective confirmation effect) is a general observation that people highly appreciate the accuracy of such descriptions of their personality, which they assume are created individually for them, but which in fact ... ... Wikipedia
The effect of the audience (the effect of Zayonts, the effect of facilitation) is the influence of outside presence on human behavior. This effect must be taken into account when conducting, for example, psychological research: the audience effect can be considered as one ... ... Wikipedia
The Rosenthal effect or the Pygmalion effect is a psychological phenomenon, which consists in the fact that a person's expectations of the realization of the prophecy largely determine the nature of her actions and the interpretation of the reactions of others, which provokes self-fulfillment ... ... Wikipedia
Pygmalion effect- (Rosenthal effect) is related to the expectations of the experimenter. When he is deeply convinced that the reactions of the subjects will change, then, even with his desire to maintain objectivity, it is very likely that he will somehow unwittingly and imperceptibly convey his ... ... Great Psychological Encyclopedia
- (Forer effect, subjective confirmation effect) a general observation according to which people highly appreciate the accuracy of such descriptions of their personality, which they assume are created individually for them, but which in fact ... Wikipedia
“If a person defines a situation as real, it is real in its consequences.” Thomas
Dear reader, how do you feel about the statement that thought is material?
Opinions on this matter differ. Someone thinks that this is absurdity, nonsense, fiction and fantasy. And someone is firmly convinced that this is reality. Most psychologists believe that thought is material.
The Pygmalion effect - consisting in the fact that if a person is firmly convinced of the fidelity, the truth of some information, if he is absolutely sure that some event will happen, then he will unconsciously behave in such a way that, with a high degree of probability, after a while his desire will materialize, and this the event becomes a reality. In other words, the greater the person's confidence in the reliability of some information, the greater the chance that it will be confirmed. And this phenomenon got its name in honor of the hero of the ancient Greek myth Pygmalion.
According to this myth, King Pygmalion once ruled Cyprus. He was not married, as each of the women found many shortcomings and flaws. Being a talented sculptor, Pygmalion decided to create a statue of an ideal woman who would have every virtue imaginable. From precious ivory, he carved a statue of a girl of amazing beauty, whom he named Galatea. The statue was so beautiful that it seemed alive. Pygmalion spent days and nights contemplating his creation. He attributed numerous virtues to the statue, talked to her, in a word, treated Galatea as if she were a living woman. And the longer Pygmalion looked at the statue, the more perfect it seemed to him. Pygmalion, in love with Galatea, turned to the goddess of love Aphrodite with a plea to give him a wife as divinely beautiful as the statue he created. Aphrodite condescended to his pleas of a sculptor in love and breathed life into his creation. The beautiful statue came to life and became the wife of Pygmalion and the queen of Cyprus.
The Pygmalion effect is also called the Rosenthal effect, named after the psychologist Robert Rosenthal, who, together with Leonora Jacobson, conducted a study in 1968 that convincingly confirmed the existence of this phenomenon.
The essence of Rosenthal's experiment was as follows: at the beginning of the school year, together with his assistant, Rosenthal came to one of the schools, allegedly to determine the level of intelligence of students. In each class, psychologists identified a few students who, teachers were told, were tested to have exceptional intellectual abilities. Many teachers were at a loss, because in their opinion the selected children did not stand out among their classmates.
“If these students have not shown themselves in any way yet, after a while it will definitely happen.” psychologists assured the perplexed teachers. And there was a reason for bewilderment, since the supposedly talented students were in fact the usual "middle peasants", nothing more. And they were selected by experimenters for no apparent reason, by random selection. Remarkably, when Rosenthal and Jacobson returned to the school a few months later to re-test the students' intelligence, it turned out that the IQ of the students selected at the beginning of the year had indeed increased significantly.
Why did this happen? Here's why. The belief of the educators that the selected students had exceptional abilities was unconsciously transferred to these students, who, in turn, did not deceive the expectations of the teachers and showed remarkable results at the end of the year.
Here are the basic principles of how the Pygmalion effect works: when communicating with this or that person, we often unconsciously expect certain behavior, certain actions from him. Our expectations will involuntarily manifest in our behavior - words, intonations, gestures, actions, which will cause an unconscious response and actions of the person with whom they are connected. And this, in turn, can lead to the fulfillment of the prophecy.
The Pygmalion effect is very pronounced in the relationship between children and parents. If a parent sincerely believes in his child, he will help him in every possible way and develop his strengths. If, however, you constantly pay attention only to the shortcomings of the child, humiliate him and say that he is mediocre, lazy, that he is of no use, etc., it is not surprising that the child will behave in this way. It is no coincidence that there is a saying.
