Pygmalion Effect

I have seen many parents of my students staring at me with unconcealed scepticism when I tell them that their son or daughter is going to score very high in the final exam. “But she never opens the English textbooks,” once a mother told me with palpable vexation. “I am her textbook,” I said with my usual serene smile, “leave it to me.” The mother didn’t know what to say and she left looking rather unhappy. When the final result came, her daughter had scored 96%, one mark more than I had predicted for her.

This happened in an early period of service at my present school. Now most parents know I mean what I say and they don’t stare anymore. Most of my students score enviably high marks in the final exam. How do I do it?

I didn’t know until yesterday that my strategy had an official name in psychology: the Pygmalion Effect. You put your trust in a person’s merits, tell him that he has the potential to achieve such and such, and support him as and when required. You will get the result you want. Sure. This strategy is foolproof, I assure you from experience. I have worked wonders with this.

Original Pygmalion was a sculptor

My Penguin dictionary of psychology defines Pygmalion Effect as “the oft-observed effect in which people come to believe in ways that correspond to others’ expectations of them.” I let my students know my expectations of them. I give them all the support they require. And miracles happen. Those miracles are the Pygmalion effects.

I came across the name, Pygmalion Effect, yesterday while reading Rutger Bregman’s book which I have mentioned many times in my recent posts. Bregman puts it this way: “Beliefs we’re devoted to – whether they’re true or imagined – can … come to life, effecting very real change in the world.”

It’s not only about academic results of young students. The Pygmalion Effect can work miracles anywhere, even in politics. Mahatma Gandhi used this strategy very effectively. He trusted people’s goodness. And people became better. He worked miracles in the lives of thousands of people. He transformed them. With Pygmalion Effect.

We can create a much better world if we all start making use of this effect in our day-to-day life. This is what Bregman argues in his book.

I cannot give any guarantee about the world. All I know is that it works very well with young students. Maybe, Bregman is right. A charismatic leader like Gandhi can bring about miraculous transformations even in the political jungles of India. The leader does matter.

PS. This post is a part of Blogchatter Half Marathon.