Self-fulfilling prophecy is a unique concept in social psychology, which refers to the situation when the expectations of a favorable or unfavorable outcome reinforce and eventually cause this outcome. For example, the social psychologist Robert Merton first suggested the example of the American dream to illustrate the self-fulfilling prophecy (Ackerman, 2018). Social prejudices and biases are an even better example, as they cover the element of not understanding how expectations lead to consequences (Madon et al., 2018). This paper aims to critically discuss the concept of self-fulfilling prophecy in social psychology.
The self-fulfilling prophecy greatly impacts all social spheres, including education, healthcare, and politics. The manipulations with a public opinion have an effect of a self-fulfilling prophecy, as it was proven that exit polls include an element of voter programming (Toff, 2018). Madon et al. (2018) speak of the cumulative effect of prejudices that force people to become what they are thought of by society. Hence, society today is critically vulnerable to the manipulations with their intrinsic motivations and beliefs, which are often carried out through social media.
People’s vulnerability to external manipulation of their desires and goals is also a key tool for marketers who successfully use social psychology concepts. Creating an ideal image of a person through his possession of a beautiful body and things becomes a self0fulfilling prophecy, when a person makes the first purchase. Looking at the manipulations with public opinion from the social psychological perspective adds the insight of universality of manipulation practices – starting from political and ending with the consumer choices, and even choices of partners and friends. Conversely, the modern application enriches the theory, as it demonstrates its applicability for the widest audiences, and its practical capacity to force people to make their choices.
Thus, the concept of self-fulfilling prophecy in social psychology was critically discussed. This concept, implying that expectations become an element of the realization of these expectations can be very widely applied to the social fabric of today. Political and marketing manipulation, individuals face in targeted news and advertisements on TV and online, is a perfect illustration of how large-scale the application of the concept can be. Therefore, understanding the social nature of the concepts and analyzing it from the social psychological perspective will allow a more critical assessment of the existing social environments.
References
Ackerman, E. (2018). Self-fulfilling prophecy in psychology. Web.
Madon, S., Jussim, L., Guyll, M., Nofziger, H., Salib, E. R., Willard, J., & Scherr, K. C. (2018). The accumulation of stereotype-based self-fulfilling prophecies. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 115(5), 825.
Toff, B. (2018). Exploring the effects of polls on public opinion: How and when media reports of policy preferences can become self-fulfilling prophesies. Research & Politics, 5(4), 1-12.