Others can influence us.

Doctor Swigmon Fwad, Kiwi

The Pygmalion Effect

I happened upon an article in Psychological Babble Today that showed the enclosed photo of a horse standing before an easel obviously reading it, with this caption,
“The Pygmalion Effect is a powerful secret weapon. Without even realizing it, we can nudge others towards success. In this article, discover how expectations can influence performance for better or worse.”

I became curious and found the horse to be a hoax that fixated on others belief that it was exceptional which led to The Pygmalion Effect.

The Pygmalion effect is a psychological phenomenon whereby others high expectations of a target person positively affect the target person's performance.

Its name comes from the story of Pygmalion, a mythical Greek sculptor who carved a statue of a woman and appealed to Aphrodite, the goddess of love. She took pity and brought the statue to life.
They suggest in the same way Pygmalion’s fixation on the statue brought it to life, our focus on a belief or assumption can do the same.

What part of mythical do they not understand? I should think a more appropriate name would be The Pinocchio Effect, as a block of wood was at least once alive. Stare at a rock as long as you like, it will always be a rock.
Fairytale or myth neither is reality and in life, reality is all that matters.
The concept of a self-fulfilling prophecy is attributed to sociologist Robert K. Merton. In 1948, Merton published the first paper on the topic. In it, he described the phenomenon as a false belief that becomes true over time.
He would like us to believe that anything is possible over time if you believe in it. Reality seems to have escaped him.

The flipside is the Golem effect, wherein low expectations lead to decreased performance.

I have experienced neither. I had high expectations for this article, which became low. Shall we call it The Bummer Effect?

Swigmon Out,
By George
NoPo8