What is “self-fulfilling prophecy”?
The term “self-fulfilling prophecy” sounds a bit mystical, doesn’t it?
But it is actually a sociological term that can help us a lot in our daily lives. It was created in 1948 by sociologist Robert K. Merton.
“Self-fulfilling prophecy” is when a person’s expectation about a subject becomes a reality because that person believes it.
But I am not talking about manifesting it…
It is more about how we understand the world around us, and how our actions change accordingly.
What do I mean?
For example, if a teacher believes that their students will be very successful and treat them this way, this can cause students to work harder, resulting in them being truly successful.
And it is not just about how someone else treats us, it is also about how we treat ourselves. We can make these prophecies against ourselves as well as others or others against us.
Say you are having a really bad morning. You could not sleep, you have a pile of emails to return, there is traffic, and you are late to work. If that leads you to believe you will not accomplish your daily tasks, you may be more likely not to achieve them.
How so?
According to “self-fulfilling prophecy, believing that a particular event will happen affects your behavior regarding that event, and this causes your own prophecy to come true.
Your prophecy influences your behavioral response leading to the expected outcome of your prophecy.
It is a good thing that self-fulfilling prophecies do not have to be bad and we can use self-fulfilling prophecies to our benefit, by simply believing in ourselves.
