Self Fulfilling Prophecies
How Your Expectations Shape Your Future
New research shows that group expectations are the strongest predictor of future events. Here's how self fulfilling prophecies work to shape your future.
The definition of a self fulfilling prophecy is that negative beliefs predict negative behavior but, surprisingly, NOT that positive beliefs predict positive events. This flies in the face of the law of attraction. The original definition of a self fulfilling prophecy from Robert Merton is "a false definition of situation evoking a new behavior which makes the original false conception come true."
What you believe will come true because you will subconsciously and consciously act in ways that cause the event to happen. Self fulfilling prophecies are powerful.
How self fulfilling prophecies work
This is how a self fulfilling prophecy works: if you think he'll cheat on you, he probably will. There are several possible reasons for this self-fulfilling prophecy. It's possible that you knew going into the relationship that he's been unfaithful in the past. Maybe he left his last relationship to be with you. Or perhaps it's not about him – maybe it's about your lack of trust or fear of intimacy. Whatever the reason for your belief, your actions may set him up to cheat and set you up to get hurt. This is how self fulfilling prophecies work. For instance, if you treat him with distrust and suspicion he'll be more likely to live up to your expectations. If you refuse to believe him when he tells you the truth, he'll see no reason to stay honest. Your expectations shape your future.
Whether he cheats or not, it's not your fault. A self fulfilling prophecy is simply a cause-and-effect scenario that has been repeatedly proven true.
The group effect of self fulfilling prophecies
Self fulfilling prophecies work with groups, too, proving that two is better than one! It's called synergistic accumulative effect, and it simply means that two or more people's expectations are more powerful than one person's. New research from the American Psychological Society shows that group expectations predict events more accurately than individual expectations. Self fulfilling prophecies in families are common. For instance, if your whole family expects Junior to break the law or develop a drinking problem by the time he hits age 7, then he could very well live up to your expectations. This is the group effect of self fulfilling prophecies.
The synergistic accumulative effect (self fulfilling prophecies in a family or society)
The combined effect of self fulfilling prophecies is especially significant when applied to society's beliefs about minorities or stereotyped groups. For instance, if we as a community believe that Muslims are evil, then our beliefs could affect the behavior of Muslims in the future. If we believe we're raising a generation of obese, video-game addicted spoiled brats then that's what we'll get. This is the group effect of self fulfilling prophecies, or the synergistic accumulative effect.
A positive spin on self fulfilling prophecies
If self fulfilling prophecies work for negative outcomes, isn't it possible that they can work for positive outcomes as well? It seems that another term for "positive self fulfilling prophecies" is The Secret and the Law of Attraction. Visualization, in other words. The "normal" self fulfilling prophecies have been researched and proven true over the years and they focus on negative behaviors and outcomes.
It doesn’t really matter whether self-fulfilling prophecies apply to positive events, because life is simply more interesting and enjoyable with a positive perspective!
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