One of the most interesting stories in an article that
a colleague of mine recently discovered concerned
an experiment a professor of social psychology
undertook in the 1970s.
The professor told his students that he had
developed a strain of super-intelligent rats that could
run mazes quickly. He then passed out normal rats
at random, telling half of the students that they had
the super rats and the others that they had the bog
standard variety.
The rats that the students believed to be bright
improved daily, running the maze faster and more
accurately, while the "dull" rats seemed less
interested and only made very minor improvements.
This particular story took me back to my own
experience as a 10-year old at junior school. I
remember being frightened of my maths teacher, Mr
Stanton, who was extremely authoritarian and used
to rap us across the knuckles with a wooden ruler
when we got maths questions wrong, which needless
to say I frequently did.
Unfortunately for me Maths was one of my weakest
subjects.
Then one term Mr Stanton left and Mr Schwarz, an
amiable teacher who believed in encouragement and
praise, took over in the role of my maths teacher.
Within a year maths became my best subject and
remained so throughout my school career.
So what happened there? Well, it demonstrates the
effect and power of positive and negative
expectations on the receipient. As Eliza Doolittle
explains to Pickering in Pygmalion , “I shall
always be a flower girl to Professor Higgins, because
he always treats me as a flower girl, and always will,
but I know I can be a lady to you because you
always treat me as a lady, and always will.”
If you're not convinced, next time you’re out
shopping, watch how parents treat their children,
and when in a work environment take notice of what
expectations bosses are communicating to their
subordinates. Do the children and subordinates live
up (or down) to the expectations placed on them?
What self-fulfilling prophecy are those parents and
bosses inflicting on the individuals that they
influence, through the power of their expectations?
Finally, where are you doing the same to others who
you influence? And I include your expectations of
yourself here.
So, what steps are you going to take in the
next month to raise your expectations and act from
those raised expectations?
Thanks for reading. If you enjoyed this coaching tip
why not forward it to a friend or colleague? Next
issue on March 29th.
Until next time,
