The expectation effect

1. Expectation Effect

2. Who is this man?
Describe your
impressions.
Is he friendly or
unfriendly?
Is he smart or
uneducated?
What is his profession?
What aspects influence
your impressions?

3. What is Expectation Effect?
A phenomenon in which perception and
behavior change as a result of personal
expectations or the expectations of
others

4. Halo Effect
Rating the
performance of
someone based on an
overall impression of
them.

5. Pygmalion Effect
People perform better
or worse based on
expectations of their
supervisors/teachers
Also called “Self-
Fulfilling Prophecy”
Rosenthal and
Jacobsen study

6. Rosenthal Effect
Similar to Pygmalion
effect, but in reverse
Teachers treat
students differently
based on their
expectations of how
students will perform

7. Placebo Effect
Patients experience
treatment effects
based on their belief
that a treatment will
work

8. Hawthorne Effect
Any change in the
environment produces
a temporary gain in
productivity.
Hawthorne Works
electric company study
using different levels
of lighting.

9. Demand Characteristics
Similar to Hawthorne
effect
Participants of an
experiment or
interview provide
responses and act in
ways they believe are
expected

10. Implications:
When trying to persuade,
leverage the effect by
setting expectations in a
credible fashion to guide
the audience to the
desired conclusion rather
than letting them form
their own.
When evaluating, aim to
avoid biases.

11. Implications:
When teachers expect
students to do well and
show intellectual growth,
they do!
When teachers do not have
such expectations,
performance and growth
are not so encouraged and
may in fact be discouraged
in a variety of ways.

12. Implications:
1.Avoid forming inaccurate expectations.
Frequent sources of inaccurate expectations
are:
performance of siblings
information from other teachers
social stereotypes (based on race, sex, or ethnic
variables)
labeling (e.g., learning disabled).

13. Implications:
Isolated students vs. Stereotyping

14. Implications:
2.Periodically reassess expectations.
Student's potential for performance may
change without your knowing it.
3.Reward the effort and initiative of low-
performing students.
not the same as accepting substandard
performance
praise legitimate effort!
if students believe their effort will pay off, they
will eventually experience success

15. Implications:
4.Be aware of the problems that are likely to
arise because of teacher expectancy, and
take direct steps to contradict their
negative impact.
Wait longer for slower students
Smile at and create a positive socioemotional
environment for students you think are weak
Look for weak students to initiate contact with
you, and reward them for doing so
Call on weaker students. (It is OK to ask them
easier questions!)

16. What is Expectation Effect?
A phenomenon in which
perception and
behavior change as a
result of personal
expectations or the
expectations of
others

17. “It is the nature of man to rise
to greatness if greatness is
expected of him.”
-John Steinbeck