THINKER'S ALMANAC - March 2

How can the story of a mythological sculptor help us raise student achievement?

Subject:  Expectations - Pygmalion Effect

Event: Birthday of psychologist Robert Rosenthal, 1933

The visions we offer our children shape the future. It matters what those visions are. Often they become self-fulfilling prophecies. Dreams are maps. -Carl Sagan

An experiment was conducted in the 1960s that reveals the power of teacher expectations.  Harvard psychologist Robert Rosenthal -- who was born on this day in 1933 -- divided a group of elementary students into two evenly matched groups, based on age, sex, ethnic background, and IQ.  One-half of the students were assigned to teachers who were told that their pupils were above-average students and fast learners.  The other half were assigned to teachers who were told that their pupils were an average group.  One year later, when the students were assessed, the results showed that the students labeled “fast learners'' far surpassed the performance of the students who were labeled as “average.” 

Rosenthal’s study provided new insight into how the expectations of others affect us and how our own subjective perceptions can influence our behavior.  Furthermore, the research revealed that beliefs, biases, and expectations are much more than just abstractions that live in the mind; instead, they can be powerful forces that influence actual outcomes.

To name his discovery -- the Pygmalion effect -- Rosenthal turned to an ancient story told in Ovid’s Metamorphoses about a sculptor named Pygmalion who carved an ivory statue of his ideal woman.  After completing his work of art and naming her Galatea, Pygmalion fell deeply in love with his own creation. The sculptor then appealed to Venus, the goddess of love, to bring him a maiden as perfect as his Galatea.  Hearing the supplication, Venus transformed the statue into a living woman, who then married Pygmalion and bore him a daughter.

                                                        Image by Markus Baumeler from Pixabay 

To help teachers better understand the power of their teaching and their expectations of their students, Rosenthal published a book in 1968 called Pygmalion in the Classroom: Teacher Expectation and Pupils’ Intellectual Development.

Recall, Retrieve, Recite, Ruminate, Reflect, Reason: Who was Pygmalion? How does the Pygmalion Effect relate to learning? 

Challenge - It’s “Golem,” Not “Gollum”:  Do some research on the Golem effect.  What’s the origin of the effect’s name, and what exactly is the effect?  Hint: It’s not from the character in Lord of the Rings; that’s “Gollum.”

ALSO ON THIS DAY:

-March 2, 1904:  Today is the birthday of Theodore Geisel -- better known as Dr. Seuss, who said, “You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself any direction you choose.”

-March 2, 1955:  On this day, 15-year-old Claudette Colvin was arrested for refusing to give up her seat to a white woman on a bus in Montgomery, Alabama. This happened nine months before Civil Rights icon Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat.

Sources:

1-Goldberg, Philip.  The Babinski Reflex.  Tarcher, 1990.