Self-fulfilling prophecy – a term
coined by Robert K. Merton, has its roots deeply planted in the field of
sociology. Nevertheless, it is a phenomenon that we all would have experienced
at some point in our lives. Let me make it simple for you. Remember that famous
SRK dialogue from his movie titled Om Shanti Om, in which he says – “agar kisi cheez ko dil se chaaho, toh poori
kaaynaat usey tumse milaane ki koshish mein lag jaati hai”? This phrase summarizes
the entire concept of self-fulfilling prophecy. Precisely the same message was conveyed
by Paulo Coelho in his book called ‘The Alchemist’, when he quoted – “When you really want something, the entire
universe conspires in helping you to achieve it.”
In literal terms, a self-fulfilling
prophecy is a prediction that causes itself to become true due to a positive
feedback that exists between our beliefs and our behavior. Our attitudes play
an important role in shaping up the outcomes that we are going to see in the
future. If we possess the faith and confidence in our dreams and we re-iterate
them over and over, we are increasing the probability of our dreams turning
into reality. On the other hand, with every negative emotion, we tend to pull
ourselves away from achieving that dream. Behavioral finance is one of the
emerging fields in finance that seeks to combine cognitive psychological
theories with the conventional finance to determine irrational decisions that
people take. It has been extensively seen that the sentiments of the investors
have an important role in deciding whether a market is going to be bullish or
bearish. Why else do you think that share prices of a company surge up as soon
as there is positive news about that company in the market? Studies have shown
that rising optimism that prevails in the financial market about any company is
one of the key factors that contribute to a rise in share prices of that
company. On the other hand, it has often been seen that the companies that are
nearing a bankruptcy tend to become bankrupt much sooner than they would have
predicted!
In 2006, a documentary named ‘The
Secret’ and a companion book with the same name by Rhonda Byrne created a
sensation in the media all around the world. Despite facing huge criticism over
some of its elements, it postulated a new hypothesis – The Law of Attraction.
This law advocated one simple thought which is “Like attracts Like”. This
belief is based upon an idea that our thoughts are made up of pure energy and
the energy that we feel now is the energy that we are attracting for our
future. Despite a lack of considerable scientific evidence supporting the law
of attraction, there are quite a few phenomena which have striking resemblance
to the theories stated in the law. One such phenomenon is termed as the Placebo effect. Coined in early 18th
century, the term placebo is used to describe a medicine that is adapted more
to please than to benefit the patient. The efficacy of this effect was
investigated by demonstrating that the results from a dummy remedy were as
useful as from the alleged remedy, as long as the patient believed that the
remedy, he was being given, was real. All that the physicians used to do was to
praise the dummy remedy’s efficacy in front of the patient and they started
noticing positive changes with each dummy medication. Now the scientists know
that the placebo effect is related to the perceptions and expectations of the
patients. If a substance it viewed as helpful, it can heal. On the contrary, if
a substance is viewed as harmful, it can cause negative effects (known as the Nocebo effect). It has been hypothesized that placebo effects
are produced by the self-fulfilling effects of response expectancies.
Yet another phenomenon that is quite
often correlated with self-fulfilling prophecy is the Pygmalion effect. In contrast to the phenomena discussed till
where, where the behavior and the outcomes were found linked to one’s own
positive beliefs, the Pygmalion effect is based on beliefs of the followers in
their leader and vice-versa. The idea
behind this effect is that increasing the leader’s expectations and firm belief
in the followers’ abilities result in better performance by the followers. The
same is true for the perceptions about the leader in the followers’ minds. According
to the Greek mythology, Pygmalion was a sculpture who fell in love with the
statue of a lady that he had carved. The affection he had for that realistic
statue was so powerful that the beautiful woman was subsequently brought to
life!
The Pygmalion effect and application
of self-fulfilling prophecies can be very well seen in practice in the modern
organizations. Research has revealed that the expectations of managers from
their subordinates have a direct impact on the performances of the
subordinates. If managers’ expectations are high, productivity is likely to be
excellent. If the expectations are low, the productivity is likely to be poor. Moreover,
the way the managers treat their subordinates is a direct reflection of what
they expect from them. It is impossible to mask the negative emotions of the
low expectations. Even if the managers decide not to communicate their
feelings, they unintentionally tend to convey those low expectations in a more
effective way than a direct tongue-lashing. This is because saying nothing or
being cold and uncommunicative is usually a sign that the manager is displeased
by a subordinate or believes that the subordinate is hopeless. Hence, such
indifferent treatment communicates low expectations and leads to poor
performance. However, it is also important that the expectations of the
managers must pass the test of reality before they can be translated into
performance. This is because the subordinates will not be motivated to reach
high levels of productivity unless they consider the boss’s expectations to be
achievable.
This brings us to the very
fundamental question that we started this article with – Is the concept of
self-fulfilling prophecies a reality? Well, by now, you must have realized that
the answer to this lies in your own beliefs. If you firmly believe that it is a
reality, and you start developing a positive self-belief in yourself, then it
will definitely do wonders in your life. I would like to end this article with
an inspirational quote by Mr. Henry Ford that summarizes the entire article – “Whether you think you can or whether you
think you can’t, you are right!”
