We went to the theater last night to see Neil Simon's play, Fools, directed by a good friend. It was a night of great fun with good friends, and the play perfectly illustrated a psychological truth.
It was about the citizens of Kulyenchikov, a small village in Russia where everyone was an idiot. They all knew that they were idiots and they all knew WHY they were idiots. Everyone for generations had been a idiot because of a curse placed on the village hundreds of years ago: "Everyone in the village will be an idiot." Sure enough, they all became idiots and bore idiot children.
Not to ruin the plot of the play for you, but an outsider broke the curse of idiocy. How? By statisfying the demands built into the curse, "You will be idiots until a beautiful girl in the village marries a man from the Slovanivic family."
The outsider had fallen in love with a beautiful village girl, convinced everyone in town that he was a member of the Slovanivic family, and married her.
Instantly, upon the pronunciation of "husband and wife" the idiocy was lifted and everyone in the village was of normal to above-normal intelligence.
The problem? He really wasn't a Slovanivic family. Why, then, was the curse lifted?
Because the idiocy wasn't actually the result of a curse. It was the result of what psychologists call, "the power of expectations." Everyone in the village expected to become an idiot because of the curse, and for that reason became an idiot. Everyone in the village expected the curse to be lifted at the wedding, and the idiocy dissipated.
The most famous "expectancy" study was the Rosenthal-Jacobson study in which they told school teachers which students, based on IQ tests, would "blossom" that year and which ones would not. They came back at the end of the year and the students who had been predicted to blossom actually had, and the others had not.
The truth? Assignment to the student groups was random, not by test results.
POP QUIZ: Why, then, did the ones that blossomed blossom?
ANSWER: Expectations.
Their teachers expected them to blossom, and they did. They expected the others to not, and they didn't.
The teachers refused to believe that they treated the two groups of students differently, but videotapes taken through the year showed subtle differences in how the teachers interacted with the students. Their expectations created a self-fulfilling prophecy.
Watch your expectations of people (including your children). They might live up to or down to them simply because you have the expectations.
(My friend, the Director, just emailed me and reminded me of the line in the second act, when Leon says to Sophia, “Kulyenchikov’s curse is self-inflicted.” Exactly!)
February 11, 2010
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5 comments:
This is Debbi. Just checking in.
This is interesting, because if some parents had better expectations of their kids, maybe the kids would do better. This world sure could use more expectations.
Developmental Psyc. Muskogee
This is another reason that people should look for the best in others. If you are expecting the best out of them, more than likely, you will get it. I used to think the worst in every situation and my reasoning behind it was that I would have a pleasant surprise if I was incorrect. Hoping for the best is definitely backed up by this post.
Social Psyc Muskogee
I truely believe that everyone can learn from this play. Because unfortanely no one wants to admit that they treat anyone different but we do. If we dont like a peir we are not as willing to help them with something, and if we do like that person asking for help then we are more willing to help them out. I find my self doing this to my fellow students. I know it is wrong and I should help them all equally. I cant help but finding a reason not to help the ones that dont try as hard as I do to study. Like I said I know that is wrong, but how do I change my reasoning for not wanting to help them????
I will always have high expectations for my son..just because he has a disability i dont have to treat him like hes disabled i want him to do great things and that wont happen if i dont push him to do his best
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