Pygmalion Effect

Max S. Skidmore

The possibility of increasing student achievement through modifications in teacher behavior has produced research and controversy for more than half a century. The first major experiment to address the issue was conducted by Robert Rosenthal and Lenore Jacobson in the mid-1960s with the results being published in their book Pygmalion in the Classroom . Their “experiment” used false information about students to influence teacher expectations, which resulted in a reported significant increase in student scores on a general intelligence test, even though the teachers were unaware that their behavior toward the students had changed. Influencing teachers to subconsciously raise expectations for student achievement has become known as the ...

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