Abstract

This research examined moderators of naturally occurring self-fulfilling prophecies. The authors assessed whether positive or negative self-fulfilling prophecies were more powerful and whether some targets were more susceptible to self-fulfilling prophecies because of their self-concepts in a particular achievement domain and previous academic records. Participants were 98 teachers and 1,539 students in sixth-grade public school math classes. Results yielded a strong pattern showing that teacher perceptions predicted achievement more strongly for low achievers than for high achievers. Results also yielded a much weaker pattern showing that teacher overestimates predicted achievement more strongly than teacher underestimates. Implications for social perceptual accuracy, self-enhancement theory, and understanding when self-fulfilling prophecies are stronger are discussed.

Keywords

Self-fulfilling prophecyPsychologySocial psychologyPerceptionSocial comparison theorySelf-conceptSelfAcademic achievementSocial perceptionDevelopmental psychologyMathematics education

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Publication Info

Year
1997
Type
article
Volume
72
Issue
4
Pages
791-809
Citations
285
Access
Closed

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Stephanie Madon, Lee Jussim, Jacquelynne S. Eccles (1997). In search of the powerful self-fulfilling prophecy.. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology , 72 (4) , 791-809. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.72.4.791

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DOI
10.1037/0022-3514.72.4.791