PYGMALION EFFECT:
TEACHERS’ EXPECTATIONS
AND HOW THEY IMPACT
STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT
Glen Gochal
Professor O’Connor-Petruso
Seminar in Applied Theory and Research 2
CBSE 7202T
Spring 2013
Table of Contents
• Abstract
• Statement of the Problem
• Review of Related Literature
• Statement of the Hypothesis
• Participants
• Instruments
• Research Design
• Threats to Validity
• Data Source
• Results
• Data Summary
• References
Pygmalion in the Modern World
Abstract
Pygmalion Effect is defined as: a superior’s expectations of his subordinates’ abilities becoming
manifested in reality as the subordinates’ actual perceived and performed abilities. When
adapted to the field of education, the effect has far reaching implications regarding the validity
of today’s pedagogical practices. The purpose of this Action Research Project is to examine the
prevalence and impact of the Pygmalion Effect in second grade classrooms and this is
accomplished by focusing on two second grade classes in a Title 1 elementary school in
Brooklyn N.Y. This project has a two part hypothesis, first that a teacher’s stated opinion about
student academic performance tends to become reality and second, presented with a teacher’s
anticipation of his academic performance, a student will perform accordingly. The ARP focuses
on establishing the existence of self-fulfilling prophecy, the factors that lead teachers to
establish expectations, and the effects that varying expectations have on students. Students
were queried through the use of several surveys to determine their feelings and perceptions of
teacher expectations. Teachers were queried about their attitudes and behaviors via a
different survey. Data collected indicates a moderate to strong correlation between students’
performance and attitudes and their teacher’s expectations and behaviors. The ARP also
provides a framework for teachers to implement strategies toward developing positive student
achievement through expectations that encourage learning via a workshop conducted after the
survey. Same-teacher surveys conducted post-workshop indicate a moderate change in
attitude and behaviors compared to initial survey and should positively impact classroom
performance.
Statement of the Problem
• When adapted to the field of education, the Pygmalion effect
has far reaching ramifications on the effectiveness of today’s
teaching approach and execution. It is essential that educators
become distinctly aware of just how much effect their
assumptions on a student’s performance can have on that
student’s abilities. This is particularly critical when those
assumptions have negative connotations. When an educator
anticipates that a student will perform poorly, the student will
inevitably perform according to those expectations.
Literature Review
Classroom observation reveals consistent patterns of differential teacher behavior toward high-and lowexpectation students. No model has yet emerged, however, which integrates particular treatment findings into
an influence sequence. Such a model is presented, outlining the cognitive processes through which teacher
expectations can sustain a given level of achievement. The model suggests that teachers frequently give
affectively balanced feedback to low-expectation students as a mechanism for interaction control. Highexpectation students more frequently receive feedback based on their effort expenditure. These different
evaluation contingencies may lead lows to believe less strongly than highs that effort will influence academic
outcomes. Differences in effort-outcome covariation perceptions may lead to less persistence and more failure
on the part of lows than highs, thus sustaining poorer performance. Possible means for identifying Pygmalionprone teachers and research needed to validate the model are discussed.(Cooper.1979)
Literature Review
“Strong empirical support was found for a reciprocal relationship
between teachers’ behavior and students’ engagement. Teachers’
interactions with students predicted students’ behavioral and
emotional engagement in the classroom, both directly and
through their effects on student’s perceptions of their
interactions with teachers.” (Skinner, E.,& Belmont, M.1993).
Literature Review
Efforts aimed at helping teachers to avoid harmful stereotyping of students
often begin with activities designed to raise teachers' awareness of their
unconscious biases (Cotton. 1989 )
Teachers' expectations about a student's achievement can be affected by
factors having little or nothing to do with his or her ability, and yet these
expectations can determine the level of achievement by confining learning
opportunities to those available in one's track (Bamburg, 1994)
Literature Review
Rosenthal and Jacobson (1968) found that when the teachers believed that the
children were intelligent the children tended to improve in their schoolwork, while
others not labeled as intelligent achieved less dramatic of an increase (Rosenthal &
Jacobson, 1968).
Rosenthal and Jacobson’s research, conducted at an elementary school, required
teachers to administer to each student the Test of General Ability (TOGA), which is
designed to measure a student’s IQ . After the students completed the test, some were
chosen at random to be labeled as academic bloomers, and their names were then
given to their teachers . At the end of the academic year, when the students were retested, those students thought by teachers to be academic bloomers showed a more
significant increase in TOGA scores than students not thought to be academic
bloomers . Thus, Rosenthal and Jacobson concluded that teachers’ expectations could
influence students’ intellectual abilities (Spitz, 1999).
Statement of Hypothesis
Hypothesis 1:
• When teachers express an opinion towards a student’s academic
performance, that opinion tends to become reality. A survey of 3
second grade teachers in the below cited public school will ask them
the importance of information being passed on between teachers year
to year.
Hypothesis 2:
• Presented with an anticipation of what his academic performance will
be by a teacher, a student will perform accordingly. A group of 60
second grade students in an urban public school will be surveyed to
ascertain their opinions of what, if any, feelings their teacher has
verbally or nonverbally expressed about them.
Participants
The study will consist of surveys of both educators and students from the same grade level in
the same school. If the results of this action research project verify the existence of the
Pygmalion Effect a workshop for the teachers will be conducted. A group of 48 second grade
students in an urban Title 1 public school will be surveyed to ascertain their opinions of what, if
any, feelings their teacher has expressed about them. The group consisted of 48 boys and girls
of which 20 boys and 28 girls. Four of the students were born outside of the United States, three
being born in a Caribbean Country and one being born in Africa. The family structure of the
participants consisted of 40% single parent household, all of those households the parent
present was the mother. All 48 participants reported that both parents had graduated high
school, and 35% of the answers, or 17 responses, classified at least one parent as having some
college background. The population consisted 90% Black, Afro-American, and 10% Hispanic.
The participants primarily, 80%, live in rented apartments.
In 2011the public school these participants were attending had 74% of students eligible for free
or reduced price lunch programs. Eligibility for the National School Lunch Program is based on
family income levels.
Instruments
Both sets of participants in this study will
be surveyed to ascertain if the Pygmalion
effect was active in these groups.
Research Design
• The type of research design used in this Action
Research Project will be Pre-experimental,
specifically a One-Shot Case Study design.
Two 2nd grade classes will be chosen from the
four available 2nd grade classes. The two
classes will not be further divided in any fashion.
The teachers and student will be administered a
survey at the same time in order to eliminate
any cross contamination of answers. The
survey will be used to detect the existence and
depth of the Pygmalion Effect on both students
and teachers. The symbolic design for this
research is XO.
Threats to Internal Validity
• Maturation: There is a possibility that in a short period of time participants
in the study could mature and have a change of mind about their feelings
towards their teachers but am not expecting any material impact from such a
small number change.
• Training Validity – Does workshop coordinator’s training performance meet
criteria for workshop program?
• Transfer Validity – Does workshop coordinator’s job performance meet
criteria?
Threats to External Validity
• Selection-Treatment Interaction: Selection will be 2 entire 2nd grade classes;
there will be no randomness or volunteering for the groups.
• Experimenter Effects: The only interaction the experimenter will have with
the groups will be passing out of the surveys.
• Intraorganizational Validity: – Will workshop be effective on new group of
teachers?
• Interorganizational Validity: – Can workshop program be used successfully
at other schools?
Data Sources
• Student Survey:
Self-Attitude Rating Scale
A) Frequencies
B) Attitudes
• Teacher Survey:
Self-Attitude Rating Scale - Attitudes.
Data Analysis and Correlations: Student
Surveys
• For the purpose of this analysis, the following abbreviations are used
on charts and graphs:
• For the purpose of this analysis, questions asked were as generating
a positive feeling for the student or a negative feeling for the student.
Negative questions are indicated by the letter N and positive
questions are indicated by the letter P.
Number of Students
Data Analysis: Student Surveys
45
40
35
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
SD
D
N
A
I usually I think my I feel my
My 1st
I got bad
When
I usually I think my I feel my
My 1st
I got good I never get
feel my 2nd grade teacher
grade
conduct something feel my 2nd grade teacher
grade
conduct into trouble
teacher
teacher thinks I am teacher did marks in 1st goes wrong teacher
teacher thinks I am teacher marks in 1st for my
thinks I am does not
a badly not like me. grade. in class,my thinks I am likes me.
a well
liked me.
grade. behavior In
not smart. like me.
behaved
classmates very smart.
behaved
class.
child.
blame me.
child.
SA
Survey Questions
Question Pairings Correlation
1st pair
-0.362858
2nd pair
-0.124393
3rd pair
-0.331416
4th pair
-0.144721
5th pair
-0.30332
6th pair
-0.527399
Survey was designed with statement pairs, a negative and a positive for
each to determine if student answers were consistent or arbitrary. Above
chart and correlations reflect that students were consistent in their answers,
though they did struggle with consistency on some of the question pairs.
The first two statements are the 1st pair, the next two questions are the
second pair and so on.
Aggregate Means
SD
D
N
A
SA
Correlation
Negative Question
31
7
3
3
4
-0.328371821
Positive Question
6
6
6
10
22
Data Analysis: Student Surveys
40
Number of Students
35
30
25
20
15
0 or never
10
1-2 times
3 times
5
4 times
0
In class, I get I get a gold My teachers I do not get My teacher
My
Last year I In the first
blamed for star even if I calls my in trouble in tells me I do homework got good grade I got
something I wasn't that parent to class, even if a good job gets a 4 out grades. good grades
did not do.
well
discuss my I misbehave on my work.
of 4.
behaved in
bad
class
behavior.
Survey Questions
The teacher
calls on me
to answer
questions
The teacher
calls on me
to come to
the board
5 times
Aggregate Question Means
Negative Question
Positive Question
0 or never
24
3
1-2 times
10
5
3 times 4 times
4
3
5
10
5 times
8
25
Correlation
-0.342464693
Statements were either negative or positive. A response of 5 times to a positive question is the same as a Strongly Agree
in the previous survey, while a 0 would be the same as a Strongly Disagree. This allowed correlation between the results
of the two surveys
Correlation between survey responses
Negative Question 0.97614
Positive Question 0.99394
Teacher Surveys: Pre and Post Workshop
Pre-Workshop
1-Strongly
Disagree
2- Disagree
Post-Workshop
3- Neither Agree
nor Disagree
4-Agree
5-Strongly
Agree
1-Strongly
Disagree
2- Disagree
3- Neither Agree
nor Disagree
A
1
I value the non-academic feedback I get from other teachers on their previous students.
A
X
X
2
I think passing along my own opinion to other teachers is important to pupil development.
A
X
AX
3
I feel asking a previous instructor for non-academic information on a student is simply doing my due
diligence.
4
Non-academic information passed along from previous instructors is more valuable in evaluating
students than academic information.
A
5
I do think there are “bad” children who cannot be changed.
X
6
Well-behaved children are always smarter than those who do not behave well in class.
X
7
I always evaluate my students based only on their individual merits and behaviors in my classroom.
8
Children who misbehave in class do so because they cannot perform well academically.
9
I make some decisions, like beginning of year seating charts, based on feedback from previous
instructors, without having interacted with children in the class.
X
It is especially important for new teachers to seek the non-academic feedback of their students’ prior
teachers.
A
10
AX
X
A
A
X
A
X
X
A
X
A
AX
A
A
X
X
X
5-Strongly
Agree
AX
AX
A
4-Agree
AX
A
Data Summary: Student Survey
Statements comprising each survey are categorized as either positive or negative, in terms
of the response that the question should solicit in the average student. For example, the
statement “I think my 2nd grade teacher likes me” is positive while the statement “I think
my 2nd grade teacher does not like me” is negative. This allows the results to be viewed
as an aggregate as well as on an individual statement basis. It also permits comparison
between the two surveys, despite different answer types. The data gathered produced
some interesting results. In order to analyze the whole of the self-attitude rating survey,
I took the average response per category (Strongly Agree, Agree, Neither, Disagree,
Strongly Disagree) and compared them based on whether the question was intended to
elicit a primarily positive or negative response. In designing the survey I asked 6
questions, and then I reworded them to elicit the opposite response. The results were
somewhat surprising. The data indicates a correlation of -.3284 between positive and
negative questions. While I was anticipating a negative correlation, I had thought the
relationship between the two data sets would be stronger, close to a -.6 correlation.
Similarly, for the frequency survey, the responses were aggregated and averaged based
on negative versus positive questions. Again, a moderately negative correlation of -.3425
was achieved. What is interesting is that the correlation between the two surveys’
responses is a positive .97614 on the negative questions and a positive .994 on the
positive questions, so the responses from the students were consistent across the two.
While the data does not definitively indicate the existence of the Pygmalion effect, it does
support the existence of a relationship between teacher expectations and student
performance and attitudes.
Data Summary: Teacher Survey
• Teachers’ initial responses indicated the existence of Pygmalion
effect, but not to the degree the researcher would have
predicted. However, the survey responses after the workshop
show an improved awareness of the Pygmalion effect and a
tendency to try to avoid its influence in future classes.
References
•
Bamburg, J.D. (1994). Raising Expectations for students. Office of Educational Research and Improvement (ED), Washington,
DC
•
Cooper,H. (1979). Pygmalion Grows Up: A Model for Teacher Expectation Communication and Performance Influence.
Review of Educational Research 49 (3) .389-410
•
Cotton, K (1989). Expectations and Student Outcomes. School Improvement Research Series. Office of Educational Research
and Improvement (OERI), U.S. Department of Education. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office.
•
O’Connor-Petruso, S. (2010). Descriptive Statistics Threats to Validity [PowerPoint slides]. Retrieved from
http://bbhosted.cuny.edu/webapps/portal
•
Skinner, E.,& Belmont, M. (1993). Motivation in the Classroom: Reciprocal Effects of Teacher Behavior and Student
Engagement Across the School Year. Journal Of Educational Psychology 85 (4). 571-581.
•
Spitz, Herman .(1999). Beleaguered Pygmalion: A history of the controversy over claims that teacher expectancy raises
intelligence. Intelligence, 27, 199-234.
•
Rosenthal, R., & Jacobson, L. (1968). Pygmalion in the classroom: Teachers‘ expectations and pupils' intellectual
development. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston.