Brock Dickerson
Instructor Elise Bui
Psych 33205
11/4/2013
Self-Fulfilling Prophecies Stereotyping is prevalent all around us in the world, whether we want it to exist in us or not, it does. We all have beliefs and notions about people and groups and situations and places. One way these beliefs can be reinforced whether we realize it or not, is through a process called self-fulfilling prophecy. This concept is when we expect something to happen and because we are expecting a certain result, our behaviors are unconsciously striving to make that result occur. (Lecture 10/21) The expectation could even be false, but because the person or group of people believe that this result is going to occur, it eventually does occur because of their actions and behaviors. This concept can also be applied to social groups, for example; if a person is about to realize a negative stereotype for their social group they will strive to avoid it, but in thinking about this stereotype for so long and stressing over it so intensely, their social group actually forms that stereotype. I actually witness this concept at my workplace a lot. Sometimes we will have people transfer stores and this means a lot of people work with each other from different restaurants and sometimes a guy or gal will transfer to my store and a fellow employee will tell me, “Hey, this guy is a real jerk.” or, “This girl is real shy.” They plant this notion in my mind and now, without even realizing it, I am behaving differently than when I would normally behave around someone when I first meet them. I'm not talking as much to the girl, for instance, because I assume she's shy, which makes her appear shy because I'm not speaking to her that much. I'm acting stand-offish to the guy because I'm told he's a sketchy dude, which makes it seem like he is. These are stereotypes that were planted in my mind and thus became true because of my behavior towards those individuals, otherwise known as a self-fulfilling prophecy.