Trying Maya Best... Not to Be Awkward

Coined by Robert Merton in 1948, self-fulfilling prophecies occur when a belief or expectation about a person or situation causes us to behave in ways that make that belief come true. Merton illustrates this with an example of a bank during the Great Depression in the 1930s. When rumor spread that the bank was struggling and would be filing for bankruptcy, customers frantically withdrew their money and closed their accounts. This ultimately caused the bank to fail, thus turning the false expectation into reality.


One of the strongest pieces of evidence supporting Merton’s (1948) idea comes from a study conducted by Robert Rosenthal and Lenore Jacobson (1968), a school principal. After administering a test to students, elementary school teachers were told that, based on the results, certain students were expected to improve academically and intellectually. This was done to examine whether teacher expectations could influence student performance. In reality, these students were chosen at random. Eight months later, the students were tested again, and as predicted, the randomly selected students performed better academically than their peers. Rosenthal and Jacobson’s (1968) study demonstrates that teachers’ beliefs and expectations can shape students’ behavior in ways that align with those expectations, providing a clear real-life example of a self-fulfilling prophecy.


My self-fulfilling prophecy occurred when I was about to turn fifteen. Not only was I navigating my awkward teenage years, I was also dealing with a period of intense social anxiety, especially after falling out with my longtime best friend. In Mexico, being surrounded by friends and classmates my age meant being invited to many “Quinceañera” parties— important and large celebrations marking a girl’s transition into young womanhood. Because I wasn’t close to anyone else at the time, I didn’t feel excited about attending these parties. Instead, I felt overwhelmed with anxiety about who I would talk to or hang out with at these parties, imagining the night would be extremely awkward and that people would judge me.


These expectations shaped my behavior, leading me to overanalyze my every movement, avoid initiating conversations, and keep to myself throughout these events. As a result, I truly struggled to connect with others, and over time, people stopped trying to approach me. Eventually, I began leaving the parties early and ultimately stopped showing up entirely, which reinforced my original belief that I didn’t belong and would be judged by others for my awkwardness. In this way, my expectations influenced my behaviors, making it harder for me to interact and connect with others.


My experience clearly demonstrates a self-fulfilling prophecy in action. Thankfully, with some therapy, a change of country, and a little help from anxiety meds, I eventually outgrew that awkward, anxious phase and am now actually good at socializing—truly Trying Maya Best out here!


n = 459


Honor Code: I have acted with honesty and integrity in producing this work and am unaware of anyone who has not. /s/ Maya Moran Piedfort


References:


Merton, R. (1948). The self-fulfilling prophecy. Antioch Review, 8, 193-210

Rosenthal, R., & Jacobson, L. (1968). Pygmalion in the classroom: Teacher expectation and pupils’ intellectual development. Holt, Rinehart and Winston.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Welcome to my Blog!

Hello beautiful people! My name is Maya Moran Piedfort, and I'm a senior at Southwestern pursuing a B.A. in Psychology with a minor in Feminist Studies. On campus, I'm involved in Alpha Xi Delta, the Student Foundation, the Senior Committee, and Psi Chi the International Honor Society in Psychology. I'm extremely passionate about understanding people and learning how to support them, which is why I'm so excited to be taking Social Psychology. That's all for now, see you in my next blog!
Read more

Theory of Planned Fitness

As demonstrated by sociologist Richard LaPiere (1934), our attitudes do not always perfectly predict how we behave. People sometimes act in ways that don't fully align with their beliefs. To better explain this gap, Icek Ajzen proposed the Theory of Planned Behavior (1991), suggesting that behavior is influenced not only by our attitudes but also by subjective norms and our perceived control of the behavior. According to this theory, behavior is predicted by a person’s intention, which is shaped by three factors. Attitudes , or our positive or negative evaluations of something or someone, help shape these intentions. In general, attitudes that are stronger and more specific are better predictors of behavior because they’re more accessible in memory through priming. Moreover, subjective norms also influence behaviors. The social pressures and expectations we experience from others—such as friends or family—can strongly affect the choices we make. Lastly, perceived control/self...
Read more

FAE-ling to Make the Right Attribution

The fundamental attribution error , introduced by Lee Ross (1977), refers to the tendency to explain others’ behavior as a reflection of their disposition while underestimating the influence of situational factors. This bias occurs because people naturally focus on observable behavior, which is more salient than situational factors (Heider, 1958), leading them to automatically attribute actions to the person rather than the context. One of the first and most widely known pieces of evidence for the fundamental attribution error comes from a study by Jones and Harris (1967). In this experiment, participants read essays written by students that either supported or opposed Fidel Castro, the leader of Cuba at the time. Participants were told that the writers either freely chose their position or were assigned it, when in reality, all positions were randomly assigned. After reading the essays, participants were asked to infer the writers’ true attitudes toward Castro. When participants beli...
Read more