Understanding Self-Fulfilling Prophecy & Stereotypes in Organizations

1. Self-Fulfilling Prophecy • Defined -- The process by which a person’s expectations about someone can lead to that someone behaving in ways which confirm the expectations • Pygmalion in the Classroom -- Research by Rosenthal and Jacobson • Attractiveness in the beholder’s eye -- Research by Snyder, Tanke, & Berscheid

2. How Self-Fulfilling Prophecy Works Perceiver forms impressions Perceiver treats target differently than others Target adjust s behavior to match perceiver’s actions

3. Confirmatory Bias • Defined -- The tendency to seek, interpret, and create information that verifies existing beliefs • Seeking information -- Snyder and Swann research on interviewing intro- and extro- verts • Interpreting information -- the case of Hannah

4. The Function of Expectations • Add stability to perceptual world • Permit economy of effort • Give us good enough accuracy • Allow attention to focus on new information

5. Forming Stereotypes • Learning to stereotype • putting people in to pigeon holes • if you see one pigeon, you’ve seen them all • The belief - congruence theory • assume that those who appear different have different values

6. When and Why We Stereotype • Superficial contact • Ego-defensive purpose • Instrumental to goals • Dysfunctionality of stereotypes

7. Applications in the Organization • Performance appraisals • attribution bias • confirmatory bias • recency effects • Impression management • self promotion • conforming to norms • flattery

8. Summing Up • From confirming our impressions and beliefs • To influencing others’ behavior through self-fulfilling prophecies • To looking at how stereotypes form and persist • To exploring two applications in the organization

9. Next Time • The role of abilities and personalities in the organization