Keren Smedley 3rd October 2016
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Self fulfilling prophecy
In 1948, sociologist Robert Merton described a phenomenon he called the self-fulfilling prophecy. He used this to explain how a belief or expectation, whether correct or not, affects the outcome of a situation or the way a person (or group) will behave. This work was followed up in 1968 in the field of education by Robert Rosenthal and Lenore Jacobson. They gave all the children in an elementary class in the USA a test, randomly picked out some of the papers and told the teachers that these particular children were unusually clever, when in fact they were the same as the rest. They re-tested the class at the end of the year and no prizes for guessing who had done best. The children singled out had improved their scores far more than the rest. This is known as the Pygmalion effect.
I wonder how many of you are walking round proving these theories? I expect most of you are, in one area or another of your life. How often do you say to yourself I am no good at X or Y?
Jot down a list of the negative self-talk you have about your abilities and the reasons why. Then ask yourself what you have been successful at, and re-frame your statements.
If you are sitting at home thinking you are wasting time, feeling unproductive, or not great as a family member, or in the work place thinking you are not as clever or not as able as your colleagues or that your qualifications are rubbish or that you will never keep up because you weren’t on a computer by the time you were five, it is not going to help you. All you are doing is lowering your self-esteem and making yourself feel bad.
If you feel stuck in this position, we at Experience Matters can help you change these thoughts. Contact us at info @experience-matters.org.uk and a coach will contact you to explore how coaching or joining one of our groups or a seminar can help you to move forward and be successful in every aspect of your life.
If this blog has raised some issues for you, you may want to talk to one of our life coaches. Please contact us: [email protected]
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