Pygmalion Effect

The possibility of increasing student achievement through modifications in teacher behavior has produced research and controversy for more than half a century. The first major experiment to address the issue was conducted by Robert Rosenthal and Lenore Jacobson in the mid-1960s with the results being published in their book Pygmalion in the Classroom. Their “experiment” used false information about students to influence teacher expectations, which resulted in a reported significant increase in student scores on a general intelligence test, even though the teachers were unaware that their behavior toward the students had changed. Influencing teachers to subconsciously raise expectations for student achievement has become known as the Pygmalion effect. The study and subsequent book came under sustained attack from the research community, which accused the researchers of overgeneralizing from their data and resorting to using tables with false zero lines and elastic scales. The study was also scored for design and sampling problems as well as for the selection of a measuring instrument that had not been normed on young children, especially those from low-income brackets. The Janet Elashoff and Richard Snow critique of the so-called Pygmalion effect was that it failed to be demonstrated in the Rosenthal and Jacobson study.

Several subsequent studies of teacher expectations for student performance used different treatments that produced mixed results, but they helped to broaden understanding of the conditions through which teachers may influence student achievement. Researchers also have been interested in discovering if the Pygmalion effect could apply to leadership activities in other leader-follower relationships not related to teaching. Studies such as those by Dov Eden, whose work focused on military leadership, have provided significant information about the strengths and limitations of the Pygmalion effect.

In a work environment, the Pygmalion effect shows more prominently when the group is new and the leaders and followers do not know each other well. The effect has not been observed in groups that have been established for a significant length of time and where the members are well acquainted with the leaders and with each other.

Sex differences also influence the Pygmalion effect. Men seem to be better at developing increased performance than women. Males do well leading groups of men or women. Females are not as effective in creating higher levels of performance when they are leading either male or female groups.