The Pygmalion Effect - The Psychology of Having High Expectations

First named by the psychologist Robert Rosenthal; The Pygmalion Effect is where the someone who is in a position of leadership has expectations of someone to perform a task well and can encourage them to actually meet those high expectations and display higher levels of performance compared to if there wasn't any expectations at all. Conceptually it is similar to having Confirmation Bias where expected behaviors are shaped creating an expected outcome.

An example of the The Pygmalion Effect is in an office setting where Supervisor A is considerably favorable to one of his office workers and has high expectations him to do well in any task that is given to him. This office worker in response thrives under his supervisors leadership and does his utmost to live up to his high expectations. It motivated him to work harder and to do his best. 

Then then another supervisor comes along, Supervisor B. Things changed when Supervisor B replaced Supervisor A. Supervisor B did not think so highly of this favorable office worker. In fact, it would be safe to say he didn't think very highly of him whatsoever. Eventually Supervisor B's low expectations became a reality. The office worker made mistakes and didn't seem to have the same pride in his work he did when Supervisor A was in charge, his mind went blank whenever he was asked questions, his confidence evaporated along with his motivation. His performance suffered in Supervisor B's presence.

What seemed to have happened was the office workers good performance was encouraged by Supervisor A's high expectations and because he worked well Supervisor A would praise him on his good work which would spur this office worker to keep perform well again. And this would cycle over again and again. The opposite would happen with Supervisor B would have little to no expectations of the office workers performance causing him to behave accordingly, having a similar cycle.



SIGN UP. VERIFY. RECEIVE $5 IN FREE BITCOIN. ONLY WITH NBX! CLICK HERE!

Psychologist Robert Rosenthal performed a study which proved that if teachers were led to expect a higher level of performance from students, then these students performance would improve accordingly.

 A selection of students in a California school in the 1960s were given a disguised IQ test. The teachers were told at the start of the study that some of their students could be expected to be "intellectual bloomers" that year, performing better than expected compared to the other classmates. The bloomers' names were revealed only to the teachers. At the end of the study, all students were again tested with the same IQ-test used at the start of the study. 

True enough the experimental group the "intellectual bloomers" performed higher than the other students keeping in mind that they were chosen at random. The conclusion of the study was that the teachers may have without realizing that they had given the supposed academic bloomers more personal interactions, more positive feedback, approval, and other positive gestures, such as nods and smiling as a result of having higher expectations. On the other hand, teachers would may have paid less attention to low-expectancy students, seat them farther away from teachers in the classroom, and offer less reading and learning contributing to a poorer learning experience. 

The power of the Pygmalion effect, can be used for better or for worse in the classroom, in the workplace, in the military, and elsewhere.

Continue

Group perceptions

When we observe or first encounter a group we inevitably have an opinion of them, we use all available and necessary information to create a mental picture of that group, and the information we use will be all relative to who we are individually, our experiences and their general impression. As we know opinions and impressions of a group don't always stick and they can and do change the more information we receive about a given group thus changing how we may respond to them whether they're negative or positive. This post will be discussing two aspects of group perceptions; one theory will be regarding how the observer and the observed perceive group decisions and the other will be regarding how groups perceive other groups in relation to themselves.

Group Attribution Error
Studied by social psychologist Professor Scott T. Allison in 1985 the group attribution theory comes in two layers, where a group that makes a decision for a course of action the members within the group believe that the decision outcome was a result of group effort following group norms while on the other hand an observer watching the same group will attribute the decision outcomes as a result of the roles of each individual member of the group having their part to play with the decision making.

For example when a group of advertisers come together to make the decision for the type of advertising campaign they want to use and they all agree on the models they will use, the colour scheme, fonts etc and go ahead and create and their campaign. After their efforts the advertising campaign they all worked on turned out to be a failure due to not getting the kind of response they were looking for. In reflection the members of the group would attribute their failure as a result of the decisions made by the group as a whole while to the contrary an observer such  

as their manager would attribute their decision failures to certain individuals within the group. In other words group members usually believe that their actions are driven by the group as a whole while the observer believes the groups actions are driven mainly by individual personalities within the group. 


In-group bias
The idea that we favour people that we perceive as part of our group is quite a common one. As a result of this we act positively towards the people within our group while anyone who isn't associated with our group are seen as outsiders and therefore are tainted in a less than positive light. This creates an us versus them mentality and can of course be the root of any larger scale animosities such as rival gang fights, racial tensions and hostilities between whole nations.



SIGN UP. VERIFY. RECEIVE $5 IN FREE BITCOIN. ONLY WITH NBX! CLICK HERE!

A common and smaller scale form of the in-group bias phenomenon can often be found in team sports such as football. Where if you support one football team you automatically assign positive attributes to the team you support and also view anyone else who supports the same team to be associated with your in-group and assign them with similarly positive attributes. Also this means that because you're a supporter of one team this would paint other teams and their supporters as outsiders or potential rivals, and this can result in the your team using such behaviours such as team chants/rituals talking about the other teams shortcomings to feel a sense of superiority over them and even using mockery all resulting in further reinforcing your preference to your own team. Contrary to the idea that being involved in a group depends on an automatic conflict to an outside group this in fact is strictly not the case though it can be a common theme. Marilynn Brewer Professor of psychology at Ohio State University in 2007 stated that people join groups to feel security and a sense of belonging and these qualities are in no relation to having a sense of conflict with other groups what so ever. 

Continue

Human needs... its not just air, food and water.

Being interested in human psychology naturally helps you understand human needs which is a good foundation for this thought provoking subject, knowing this psychologist Abraham Maslow wanted to know what would motivate humans to achieve their own individual goals whether big or small. Interestingly enough according to Maslow these human needs weren't to be fulfilled at a random or casual order, these needs were taken care of in a sequence or order of importance so when one need was taken care of then the person will then advance to seek the next need up the hierarchy and so on. Maslow in 1943 developed a chart called the hierarchy of needs in which there are five needs in the chart and the lower the needs in the hierarchical order the more essential they are and the more likely the person will prioritize and give more attention to the lower need over the higher need, for instance when we are deprived of food the last thing on our mind is to go to a club to be social, meet people and improve our self esteem. 

Maslows Hierarchy of needs.

Types of needs

Deficiency needs

Believing that these needs are similar to instincts Maslow thought that these needs play a large part in the psychology that drives our behaviour. Physiological, security, social and esteem needs are deficiency needs otherwise known as D-needs, these needs motivate people when they are deprived or are threatened which cause people to take action to avoid bad feelings and negative consequences.

Growth needs

These needs are at the peak of the pyramid as opposed to deficiency needs where the motivation comes from a lack of something, growth needs tend to come from a place of wanting to grow as a person and learn about themselves and expand their own capacity to learn and reach their potential.

Hierarchy of needs

Physiological needs

These are the most basic needs as this need is heavily rooted in sustaining energy and survival, this will include food, water, air, sleep and recovering from injuries and illnesses.

Security needs

Another need with strong links to survival though not as demanding as physiological needs but still necessary. Security needs include shelter, safety, employment and a stable environment.

Social needs

Not as basic as the physiological and security needs this need is more of a psychological  and emotional need.  Its more of feeling of belonging whether it is a club, religious or community groups, friendships, relationships and family attachments also.

Esteem needs

After the last three are achieved you start to focus on your self worth and everything that you have experienced or have at that moment will be reflected onto your self image and your self worth will be in question until it is satisfied.


Free £59.50 from Topcashback. Click here to learn how!

Self actualization needs

At the top of the pyramid when you are attempting to satisfy this need you become more self aware, and are more likely to look at problems and challenges objectively, have less concern with peoples judgements and think about personal growth. Your thinking would shift to an existential sense (why am I here? what can I achieve if I really pushed myself) rather than the smaller material concerns (I want that car, I need a bigger house, I want popularity)

Though everybody is capable of moving up the hierarchy towards self actualization sometimes you may hit certain roadblocks which take you back a step or two away from self actualization such as losing your job and home which affects your lower needs such as food, water and safety, life experience can often cause a person to bounce between two needs.

Limitations to Maslows needs theory.

Even though Maslows hierarchy is widely known and is used by many professionals it is only used as a framework and used loosely. While some research do back up some of Maslows work other research by Mahmoud Wahba and Lawrence Bridwell showed the contrary stating that there is little or clear evidence that these needs come in any particular order and are hierarchical in nature.

Criticisms also suggest that self actualization is a concept difficult to research and measure and Maslow based his self actualization concept against mainly highly educated white males neglecting other races, cultures and the female gender, with the examination of cultures living in poverty lacking in food, water and security it has been made clear people can achieve higher ranking needs such as love, belonging and companionship, while according to Maslow physiological and security needs have to be met first in order for this to be possible. In the current age we live in Maslows needs do not hold well as peoples needs nowadays are met but not in a strict sequential fashion, his research should be used as a philosophical point of reference rather than a strict set of rules. 

Continue

Understanding motivation.

Definition.

mo-ti-va-tion   [moh-tuh-vey-shuh-n]

Noun
1. the act or an instance or motivating, or providing with a reason to act a certain way: I don't understand her motivation was for quitting her job. Synonyms: motive, inspiration, inducement, cause, impetus.
2. the state or condition of being motivated: We know that these students have strong motivation to learn 
3. something that motivates; inducement; incentive: Clearly the companies motivation is profit.


Motivation is known as the reason behind an action or behaviour. This is the driving force and what causes us to begin and then commit to an action whether its going to the shop because you're hungry, going for a jog to get into shape, read a book to increase your knowledge etc. The list goes on. When finding your own motivations there are a few components to help build and maintain motivation.

Goal setting
When setting goals it is important to set them in a way that they are realistic and achievable, nothing will be more deflating than a goal which is far too unrealistic and out of reach. For example you may want to make £10,000 in 6 months but just this goal alone in its self can seem quite a feat depending on how much you are earning already. What you want to do is make mini-goals that will stream line themselves directly towards your main goal making it that much more easier to achieve. So once you have achieved one mini-goal you are one step closer to your main goal, then you focus on to the next mini-goal getting you closer again. Think of it as a staircase heading towards a treasure chest, each step is a mini-goal and the main goal is the treasure chest.

Extrinsic motivation
Extrinsic motivation is when someone is motived by an external incentive of one form or another. This can be a trophy at the end of a game, money to perform a deed, even praise from other people. A psychologist named Mark Lepper performed some psychology researched on motivation where he asked two groups of children to do some drawings. One group was promised a medal for the drawings whilst the other group was promised nothing. the children were given paper and crayons to do their work, what was observed was the reward group spent less time on their work than the no reward group, meaning the motivation of the reward pushed the children to work faster and harder in hope of receiving their medal. Lastly extrinsic motivations can come in many forms such as praise, money, prizes, medals trophies, recognition. It all depends on what you want and what you are after.

Free £59.50 from Topcashback. Click here to learn how!


Intrinsic motivation
A very simple motivational factor where you engage in an activity just for the sake of doing it, you have no reason to do it other than the enjoyment of it. This is actually is more powerful than extrinsic motivation because your very own values align with performing the activity itself meaning you doing it is part of your identity as a person (as cheesy as it sounds). For instance most people have a hobby which they are intrinsically motivated, a sport you like doing because you've being doing it since you were young or collect stamps because you love the look of them and keep them, even going to the gym because it makes you feel healthy and fit. Arguably intrinsic motivation is another word for passion and people who are passionate about what they do tend to get further than people who are extrinsically motivated.

Persistence
Persistence is a mixture of everything I have mentioned above but mostly it would relate to intrinsic motivation. This means actually pushing yourself to reach to the end of your overall goal despite all the hurdles, bumps and hiccups you will naturally encounter along the way. It takes a certain amount of drive to take punishment and keep pushing forward but the rewards always outweigh the punishment as the delay will make victory taste that much sweeter when you finally get it. 

Usually when you do something for the first time you never get it right straight away, you probably practised until you got the hang of it and now comfortable with it. Now imagine giving up at the first sign of trouble. Now imagine having that attitude with everything you do. You'd get nothing done. You'd essentially be weak as you wouldn't have the inner strength to see anything through. Nothing ever comes easy, you have to push yourself towards your maximum limit to get to where you want to be. Sometimes things make come easier than others but sometimes thats just one skill you've previously worked hard at already being translated into another skill. Similar to a professional journalist turning into a successful book writer.


''Persistence is the twin sister of excellence. One is a matter of quality, another is a matter of time.''
Author unknown

Continue

How we learn: The Principles and Mechanics. Chapter two

So in the last chapter I spoke about the general physiological aspects of how we learn and process information, and continuing from that I will be visiting some principles and concepts discovered by psychologists to help anyone reading this to have a more concise understanding of how learning takes place.

Classical conditioning.

If you have a steady interest in psychology you may have heard of the name ''classical conditioning'' floating around, this is where you have a stimuli along side an emotional response though they have no relationship with each other, now if you repeat this process of activating the stimuli along side this emotional response eventually there will be a cause and effect. The stimuli just by itself will elicit this emotional response. Interesting stuff.

An example of this just to simplify, if you hear a song that you are normally indifferent to you would forget about it right? it would have no significance to you. Now if you are in high spirits for whatever reason (you may have had a pay rise, you've won a luxury car etc.) and you hear this song at that very point, the very next time you hear it you will have a positive emotional response, why? because the last time you heard it you was in a good mood anyway so when you did hear it you unconsciously made the association between those good feelings and that song, I'm gathering most of us has been through this at some point or another. 

This form of learning was discovered by a world renowned Russian physiologist Ivan Pavlov who created an experiment with his dog, a bell and dog food. By ringing the bell the dog basically took no notice, nothing. So Pavlov rang the bell and soon after fed it. Eventually after repeating this all Pavlov did was ring the bell without feeding the dog and it would salivate thus the bell creating a physiological response in the dog proving that the dog made an association between the bell and its food.

Operant conditioning.

Another interesting one where you are ''learning by consequences'' as opposed classical conditioning which is learning by automatic preprogrammed responses. In other words operant conditioning teaches the subject to increase their behaviour by reinforcement or decrease it by punishment, much like when a parent wants you to stop misbehaving and do your homework he/she will send you to your room until you behave and do your homework. Once you have behaved and done your homework you are rewarded with ice cream. Being sent to your room is your punishment the ice cream is your reinforcement thus making you more likely to do as your told.

There are four types of operant conditioning by which behaviour may be altered.

Positive reinforcement: This is typically when you are rewarded for your behaviour, e.g. if you help a neighbour clean his car and he lets you borrow his gaming console, you are more likely to clean his car next time.

Negative reinforcement: Negative reinforcement happens when a behaviour is increased as a result of a negative condition or negative stimuli, e.g. if you don't clean your bedroom you will have to clean the toilet instead. To avoid cleaning the toilet you clean your bedroom thus strengthening that behaviour.

Punishment: Punishment is simply a behaviour decreased as a result of a negative consequence, e.g. by placing your hand on a hot stove you end up burning it/feeling discomfort, as a result of this you learn to not place your hand on a hot stove. very simple.

Extinction: Another simple one where a behaviour is decreased by typically no response. There is no negative or positive consequence, e.g. A mischievous young child screams for attention. There is no response. The child learns not to repeat behaviour.

B.F Skinner was the psychologist who introduced these theories of operant conditioning which was based off Edward Thorndikes law of effect that stated any behaviour which had good consequences will be repeated and any behaviour which had bad consequences will be avoided. Skinner conducted experiments where he would put rats and pigeons in a box with an electric grid where there was a lever to press to receive food. They quickly learned to press the leaver.

Free £59.50 from Topcashback. Click here to learn how!

Observational learning

Also known as social learning theory, where typically you learn by watching your surroundings whether it by watching people advertisements, magazines etc etc. The thinking behind this ''what ever has worked for the this person must work for me'', with children they look up to adults and other children for successful behaviour while adults look to their peers and anyone that may have authority or success over their hobbies and interests. Its the good old game of ''monkey see monkey do.'' 

The opposite is true as well if somebody is seen having a negative response due to a performed action the observer learns not to repeat that action to avoid the same treatment, this similarly goes back to Thorndikes law of effect. Learning by observation involves four different processes...

Attention: The observer cannot learn unless he is paying attention to what's going on around them, this process is influenced by how much they have in common with the model, the characteristics, and how much the observer like the model also. Expectations and mood have an influencing factor also.

Retention: The observer must be able to remember and retain the observed action for an extended period of time and during so rehearse the action mentally or physically but this all depends on the observers ability to structure the said action in his/her mind.

Production: The observer must be able to reproduce this act, how well it is performed is dependant on the observers general skill level, experience and ability. You can watch a gymnast do three somersaults in a row, it doesn't mean you can reproduce it without practice.

Motivation: Motivation is generally dependant on the incentive to perform the observed action, it all depends if the action results in a punishment or a reward.

Attention and retention account for acquiring an action and production and motivation control the performance.

A psychologist named Albert Bandura believed behaviours and actions were learned through imitation. He conducted an experiment with a bobo doll where he had a group of nursery children observe an adult male or female behave aggressively towards a bobo doll, prior the experiment the researchers observed the children just to see how aggressive they were on an everyday basis and take notes of their base/regular behaviour. 


During the experiment the adult participants behaved towards this doll differently each time, some would use a hammer, others would throw around the doll, some would shout ''Pow.'', ''Boom.'' and other random words.

Another group of children were exposed to a non-aggressive model and a final group was not exposed to any model at all.

Soon after each child were invited in to an experimental room containing toys including the bobo doll to be observed on how they interact with the toys and the doll.

It was discovered that the children who observed the aggressive models were found to more aggressive than the ones which observed the non-aggressive model and the ones who didn't have a model. Well no surprise there. Also boys were more likely to imitate same sex models while this didn't prove strong for girls, it was also found that boys were more physical aggressive than girls though when it came to verbal aggression there was no not much difference at all.

Continue

How we learn: The Principles and Mechanics. Chapter one.

It’s funny how from a very young age we are told the importance of learning and gaining knowledge so we can eventually leave school and education to be very successful in our lives. We have teachers telling us what we need to learn and take in, we have our exercise books so we can refer back to anything we have been taught and of course we have our parents teaching us what to do and what not do at home and lastly we have our friends showing us the latest trends, gimmicks and what not.

But nobody tells us how to actually learn in the first place.

In my experience I think this is huge and rarely addressed, it is one of the most basic things we are told throughout not only our adolescence but most of our adulthood though we are not actually taught how to do this. Now if this was handled in the first place then a lot more people would have easier mental access to their areas of interest and learning wouldn't be deemed as a chore, it would be more like a process which in itself would be more understandable and even enjoyable due to greater and easier comprehension.

In this post and the next I'm going to shed some light on some of the ways we learn and what we can do to be more aware of the processes of how we go about learning so you can go away and observe yourself and maybe others while understanding how it all happens and comes together.

What happens in our brains when we are learning. 

Without going into too much detail about how the brain works I'm going to tell you a few of the relevant nuts and bolts about the brain which are actually working in respect to learning and what they do when you learn something new and what happens when you practice or don't practice what you have learnt:

Neurons
Neurons are basic cells of the nervous system, they act to send, retrieve and process information to and from the brain at a speed of around 200 mph via electro-chemical nerve signals. There are around 100 billion neurons in the brain, these cells are what holds and stores information in your brain much like a floppy disk (remember those?) there are different types of neurons, I'll cover a few here though there are more. 

Sensory neurons
Sensory neurons receive information from the outside world through our five senses. They run from stimulus receptors to the central nervous system        

Inter-neurons
Inter-neurons receive information from one or more other neurons and intergrates this and transmits information to other neuron. Alot of the brain is made up of inter-neurons.
Motor neurons
Motor neurons send signals to muscles to move the body. This can range from moving limbs to turning eyes to making the heart keep pumping even moving your tongue. most motor neurons are stimulated by inter-neurons, although they can be stimulated also directly by sensory neurons.



Parts of the neuron

Soma
The soma is the main cell body of the neuron that contains the nucleus and much of the other life of the neuron. Dendrites and axons reach out from the soma to connect with other neurons much like a branch.
Dendrite
dendrites stretch out from the soma much like branches from a tree breaking down into smaller branches and twigs (dendrite Greek for the word tree), dendrites receive information, connecting with axons from other neurons.
Axons
There is usually one long axon per neuron that reaches out to connect with other neurons, this can divide into smaller branches normally towards the end of the axon allowing it to connect with multiple other neurons in close proximity. Axons often connect with dendrites though they can also connect with the soma or even other axons. The basic messages transmitted down the axon are electrical/chemical events, are called action potentials.

How do neurons work? 
Neurons work by sending electrical signals through the axon, the neuron sends an electrical impulse of information through its arms. Neurons don't actually ever touch although they are very close to each other, the space between a neurons axon and another neurons dendrite are called a synapse. This is where the information exchange occurs much like sending an email from one email address to another, this process is known as synaptic transmission. Once the synaptic transmission occurs, the data enters through the dendrites, the electrical signal is now successfully transferred from the first neuron to the second one. The signal then moves to the axon and passes through the synapse to the next neurons dendrite and so on...

Now when your learning something new, inside your brain you are creating new connections, a lot of new connections. And the more you learn the more connections you make thus creating a network of neuro-brain cells. But over time these connections weaken and deteriorate if what you have learnt is not practised or reviewed (much like if you haven't lifted heavy weights in a long time you wont be as strong as you were when you was actively lifting them) and by exercising your new learnt skill you will nurture these junctions between these neurons, called a synapses maintaining a healthy memory only through repetition. 

Within the next chapter I will be going through a few principles and ways in how we go about actually learning.

Continue