In the study conducted by Robert Rosenthal and Lenore Jacobson, they wanted to test the probability of the expectancy effect (called Pygmalion effect by Rosenthal) existing in a classroom setting. The expectancy effect proposes that when someone expects a person to perform a certain way it actually causes the person to fulfill that expectancy. In this study, Rosenthal and Lenore told teachers which of their students had greater potential for intellectual growth, creating an expectation that they would perform better throughout the school year. [1]
Procedure: First through sixth grade students from Oak School were given the Tests of General Ability (TOGA) at the beginning of the school year. When given the students' scores the teachers were told that the students were given the Harvard Test of Inflected Acquisition and that the test helped predict which students would have an academic growth. The teachers were also given a list with the names of the students who scored in the top 20% and had the greatest probability of growing academically. The only information not given to the teachers was that the students in the list were randomly chosen and their IQ scores did not play a role in them being included in the list. At the end of the school year, the students were retested using the TOGA in order to find any increases in IQ, and if there were any differences between the experimental group (students in the top 20% list) and the control group (students not included in the list). [1] Results: After being retested, the students whom the teachers expected to demonstrate growth experienced a larger increase in IQ when compared to the students not expected to show any growth. The difference in growth is more apparent in students in first and second grade, than in students in higher grade levels. Thus showing that the Pygmalion effect is more effective on younger students than on older students. [1] Interpretations: With a larger difference shown in younger students, it is believed that they are easier to influence, thus making the expectations from teachers have a greater impact on younger students. Since younger students have been in school for a shorter amount of time than older students they are not known as well and have not created a reputation at the school. Making the teachers more prone to believe on the results of a test stating that the students have an opportunity to grow intellectually, while for the older students the teacher may already have an opinion about the students and their abilities. In the study, Rosenthal and Jacobson stated that a possible influence on the results could have come from the teachers behaving different with the students depending on their age. If any differences in behavior were present at all, they were not detectable during the study, making the probability of such an influence unlikely. [1] [1] Hock, R. R., (2009). Intelligence, Cognition, and Memory. In Forty Studies That Changed Psychology: Explorations Into the History of Psychological Research (6th ed., pp. 93-100). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall. |
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