The Pygmalion Effect

. It only needed someone to put the questions.statue came to life and the couple married and lived
On investigation, it was found that when the questionerhappily ever after.
knew the answer, he or she transmitted various veryThe story was also the basis of George Bernard
subtle body language clues to Hans such as the raisingShaw’s play “Pygmalion”, later turned into the
of an eyebrow or the dilation of the nostrils. Hansmusical “My Fair Lady”. In Shaw’s play,
simply picked up on these clues and continued tappingProfessor Henry Higgins claims he can take a
until he arrived at the required answer. The questionerCockney flower girl, Eliza Doolittle, and turn her into a
expected a response and Hans obliged.duchess. But, as Eliza herself points out to Higgins’
In similar vein, an experiment was carried out at afriend Pickering, it isn’t what she learns or does that
British school into the performance of a new intake ofdetermines whether she will become a duchess, but
pupils. At the start of the year, the pupils were eachhow she’s treated.
given a rating, ranging from “excellent prospect”“You see, really and truly, apart from the things
to “unlikely to do well”. These were totallyanyone can pick up (the dressing and the proper way
arbitrary ratings and did not reflect how well the pupilsof speaking and so on), the difference between a lady
had previously performed. Nevertheless, these ratingsand a flower girl is not how she behaves but how
were given to the teachers. At the end of the year,she’s treated. I shall always be a flower girl to
the experimenters compared the pupils’Professor Higgins, because he always treats me as a
performance with the ratings. Despite their real abilities,flower girl, and always will, but I know I can be a lady
there was an astonishingly high correlation betweento you because you always treat me as a lady, and
performance and ratings. It seems that people performalways will.”
as well as we expect them to.The implication of the Pygmalion effect for leaders and
The self-fulfilling prophecy is also known as themanagers is massive. It means that the performance
Pygmalion Effect. This comes from a story by Ovidof your team depends less on them than it does on
about Pygmalion, a sculptor and prince of Cyprus, whoyou. The performance you get from people is no more
created an ivory statue of his ideal woman. The resultor less than what you expect: which means you must
which he called Galatea was so beautiful that healways expect the best. As Goethe said, “Treat a
immediately fell in love with it. He begged the goddessman as he is and he will remain as he is. Treat a man
Aphrodite to breath life into the statue and make heras he can and should be and he will become as he
his own. Aphrodite granted Pygmalion his wish, thecan and should be.