self-fulfilling prophecy

Examples of self-fulfilling prophecy in the following topics:

• Cultural and Societal Influences on Child Development

  • American children raised by authoritative parents tend to have high self-esteem and social skills.
  • Importantly, stereotype threat has been shown to be something of a self-fulfilling prophecy—not because the negative stereotype is accurate, but because fear of fulfilling that stereotype can lead to additional anxiety, which in turn can reduce performance.

• How Culture and Society Impact the Elderly

  • The stereotypes, discrimination, and devaluing of the elderly seen in ageism can have significant effects on the elderly, affecting their self-esteem, emotional well-being, and behavior.
  • Studies have also specifically shown that when older people hear these stereotypes about their supposed incompetence and uselessness, they perform worse on measures of competence and memory; in effect, these stereotypes become a self-fulfilling prophecy.

• The Intellectually Gifted

  • This may lead them to feel self-conscious about being different or to be bullied by their peers.
  • By labeling some children as "gifted" and others as "not gifted," schools can create a self-fulfilling prophecy where those who are not accepted into the program do not perform as well as those who are accepted.

• Cluster B: Antisocial, Borderline, Histrionic, and Narcissistic Personality Disorders

  • Identity disturbance: markedly and persistently unstable self-image or sense of self;
  • Pejorative terms are often used to describe people with BPD (such as difficult, treatment resistant, manipulative, demanding, and attention-seeking) and may become a self-fulfilling prophecy, as the negative treatment of these individuals triggers further self-destructive behavior.
  • The person consistently uses physical appearance to draw attention to self;
  • People with NPD are characterized by exaggerated feelings of self-importance.
  • Valued by parents as a means to regulate their own self-esteem.

• Maslow's Humanistic Theory of Personality

  • He was mainly concerned with an individual's innate drive toward self-actualization—a state of fulfillment in which a person is achieving at his or her highest level of capability.
  • Each layer of the pyramid must be fulfilled before moving up the pyramid to higher needs, and this process is continued throughout the lifespan.
  • Maslow believed that successful fulfillment of each layer of needs was vital in the development of personality.
  • The highest need for self-actualization represents the achievement of our fullest potential, and those individuals who finally achieved self-actualization were said to represent optimal psychological health and functioning.
  • Maslow viewed self-actualizers as the supreme achievers in the human race.

• Rogers' Humanistic Theory of Personality

  • Carl Rogers' humanistic personality theory emphasizes the importance of the self-actualizing tendency in forming a self-concept.
  • Rogers further divided the self into two categories: the ideal self and the real self.
  • The ideal self is the person that you would like to be; the real self is the person you actually are.
  • We experience congruence when our thoughts about our real self and ideal self are very similar—in other words, when our self-concept is accurate.
  • He claimed that a fully functioning person would continually aim to fulfill his or her potential in each of these processes, achieving what he called "the good life."

• Positive Psychology

  • Positive psychology has roots in the humanistic psychology of the 20th century, which focused heavily on happiness and fulfillment.
  • The next level of needs are esteem needs, which are concerned with gaining recognition and respect from others and self.
  • Once these four levels of needs are met, Maslow believed people turn toward what he called self-actualization.
  • Also referred to as "being needs," these include such things as a desire for knowledge and understanding, an appreciation of beauty and order, and a desire for fulfillment of one’s potential.
  • Maslow's research on self-actualization was a central component of both humanistic and positive psychology.

• Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs

  • People will often look for ways to achieve a sense of mastery, and they may seek validation and praise from others in order to fulfill these needs.
  • At the highest level of the hierarchy, attention shifts to the need for self-actualization, which is a need that essentially equates to achieving one’s full potential.
  • According to Maslow and other humanistic theorists, self-actualization reflects the humanistic emphasis on positive aspects of human nature.
  • Maslow suggested that this is an ongoing, life-long process and that only a small percentage of people actually achieve a self-actualized state.
  • In Maslow's hierarchy of needs, higher levels of needs can only be pursued when the lower levels are fulfilled.

• Humanistic Psychology

  • Humanistic psychology adopts a holistic view of human existence through explorations of meaning, human potential, and self-actualization.
  • In the late 1950s, a group of psychologists convened in Detroit, Michigan, to discuss their interest in a psychology that focused on uniquely human issues, such as the self, self-actualization, health, hope, love, creativity, nature, being, becoming, individuality, and meaning.
  • Self-actualized people, he believed, have more of these peak experiences throughout a given day than others.
  • The top of the pyramid is self-actualization, in which a person is believed to have reached a state of harmony and understanding.
  • In Maslow's hierarchy of needs, a person must first have their lower-level, physical needs met before they can progress to fulfilling higher-level, psychological needs.

• Arousal Theory of Motivation

  • According to drive-reduction theory, the body is motivated to engage in whatever behavior is necessary to fulfill an unsatisfied drive.
  • This behavior is called electrical self-stimulation.
  • Electrical self-stimulation apparently provided a reward that reinforced the habit to press the lever.
  • Fulfilling the impulse brings about a physiological reward similar to the rat pressing the button.