hey everyone and welcome to top think today we're going to learn about the pygmalion effect
and the psychology of success now let's begin how do our expectations affect our achievements
what happens when you expect yourself to fail your expectations influence and empower your goals they
motivate you they inspire you they challenge you but above all your expectations contribute to your
success if you expect yourself to fail then you will if you expect yourself to succeed
you may just do it this correlation was discovered in 1968 by robert rosenthal and lenoir jacobson in
their famous book they explored how expectations affected success just imagine this a researcher
hands you a box of puzzle pieces he gives you 30 seconds to solve the puzzle but before you
get started he says don't worry this puzzle will be easy for you you'll solve it in no time
in other words he has high expectations of you he anticipates that you're going to
do well by encouraging you he shows that he has faith in you and you respond positively
you solve the puzzle in less than 30 seconds just like he expected now let's run this scenario again
this time we're going to change the researcher's expectations like before he hands you a box of
puzzle pieces and you have 30 seconds to put it together but before you get started he says
this puzzle is way too difficult for you i don't think you can solve it this time the
researcher has low expectations of you he does not have faith in your ability and so you fail
it's the same puzzle with the same time limit but expectations can make or break your performance
rosenthal and jacobsen call this the pygmalion effect high expectations create positive results
low expectations on the other hand decrease performance and motivation
this psychological phenomenon can affect you in any setting and its impact can last a lifetime
all right let's say one of your co-workers makes a lot of careless mistakes they make so many
mistakes that everyone expects them to mess up other employees make fun of them your boss gives
them trivial meaningless responsibilities they're consistently ignored for raises and promotions
no one expects them to succeed so they don't instead they make more mistakes
they hold themselves back they become the failure that everyone expects them to be
the pygmalion effect is like a self-fulfilling prophecy the expectations of others can change
who you become for better or for worse but there's something we've missed we've yet to
uncover the real power behind the pygmalion effect yes the expectations of others are
important you may perform better when your bosses clients and mentors expect great things from you
however your greatest source of strength is you no one's expectations affect you more than your own
your expectations can lift you up as easily as they can tear you down so how can you take
advantage of this psychological phenomenon how can the pygmalion effect motivate your success
and where does self-confidence come from to answer these questions let's explore three different
pieces of this mysterious self-confidence these pieces influence your expectations and change your
perspective on yourself thanks to the pygmalion effect they may even lead you towards success
number one the four experiences experience may be your greatest asset it can motivate a lifetime of
confidence and passion it expands your mind and sharpens your identity but how does it work all
right let's say you're terrified of jumping off a high dive but you muster up all your courage
and you leap from the diving board despite all your worries and fears you land safely in the
water below suddenly your opinion of the high dive changes you know what it's like to jump
from the top you've conquered that challenge you've overcome that fear you've done it once so
you can do it again and again and again in other words your expectations of yourself have changed
the first time around you expected to get hurt you expected yourself to fail so you ran away
now that you have experience you expect yourself to succeed and that's exactly what you do every
experience in life works the same way take a new job for example it seems overwhelming or
intimidating at first but experience will help you overcome your fears you'll learn to have higher
expectations of yourself you'll learn to believe in your ability and that self-belief will give
you the confidence to succeed if you want to find success you need to gain meaningful experiences
and plenty of them these experiences fall into four different categories each category influences
you in a different way but they all play an important role in your self-confidence and success
the first category mastery experiences teach you resilience and courage to have a mastery
experience you have to overcome an obstacle usually something that scares you the high
dive for example by jumping from the high dive you faced a significant challenge and you came
out on top that courage will stick with you for years to come next we have vicarious experiences
these experiences supply you with motivation and inspiration to have a vicarious experience you
need to perceive something through someone else go to the olympics and watch someone take home a gold
medal sit in the audience while trained actors sing their hearts out when you witness another
person's success you grow inspired to chase your own our third category is modeling experiences
a modeling experience gives you a path to follow because you're learning from a role model or
mentor these lessons help you find purpose and direction when you watch the people you admire
your own path in life becomes clearer finally we have emotional and physical experiences these
experiences come in all shapes and sizes from breakups to broken bones they teach us about
ourselves they mature us as individuals and they force us to confront uncomfortable and sometimes
painful situations in life you'll encounter experiences from each and every category some more
than others but that's okay it's not important that you chase each category individually
everyone has different experiences at different times some are empowered by lifelong mentors
others face physical and emotional hurdles on a daily basis you never know what kinds
of experiences you'll have but you never stop searching for them so make yourself vulnerable
step out of your comfort zone take risks say yes to things you never thought you'd say yes to
each experience will push you in a new direction each experience will reinvent
and dispel your fears in its own unique way each experience will prepare you for success number two
basic autonomy experience cannot create self-belief on its own it's a powerful foundation
it stimulates trust vulnerability and ultimately growth but your confidence cannot flourish without
a sense of control this concept comes from self-determination theory self-determination
theory explores the roots of human motivation people have three basic needs relatedness
competence and autonomy each need is important for your dedication passion and happiness but
the last one autonomy plays a crucial role in your self-confidence autonomy is your ability to make
independent decisions you need to feel control over your own life if you don't feel control
you stand no chance of being successful because autonomy gives you agency and agency lets you grab
hold of your future but how do you nurture this sense of control in your life you
start by taking responsibility for yourself you practice for example making your own decisions
look in your closet yeah take a hard look at the clothes you wear do you wear these things
because you like them did you choose to dress like this or did someone make that decision for you
now ask the same questions of your habits your lifestyle and your career did you decide these
things for yourself if you had it your way would you make changes if the answer is yes then make
those changes gain control of your life decide for yourself and then actually follow through
not only will you satisfy a basic human need you'll learn to believe in yourself
you'll raise your expectations of yourself and you'll push yourself toward personal success
number three bandura's theory the final piece is called self-efficacy this concept comes from a
psychologist named albert bandura self-efficacy he says is your personal judgment of your capability
if you have high self-efficacy you believe in your ability to face challenges and overcome
them on the surface self-efficacy is very similar to autonomy but the two concepts differ in one
very important way autonomy is a human desire for control self-efficacy on the other hand
is your perception of your autonomy you may have plenty of control over your life but what if you
don't believe you have control now if that happens your self-confidence will plummet and your success
will follow low self-efficacy increases the likelihood of failure just like low expectations
all right let's say your boss gives you an important project for the week he gives you some
loose instructions and you follow his instructions to the letter in the end the project turns out
terribly you have the knowledge to fix it you have the ability to fix it but you don't feel like you
have the control to fix it so the project fails low self-efficacy has the same effect on your life
if you perceive yourself as passive and helpless if you don't think you're in the driver's seat
then you'll never find success together these three pieces transform your internal narrative
experiences give you confidence autonomy gives you control and self-efficacy gives you faith
in yourself because of the pygmalion effect we know just how powerful this narrative can be
so expect yourself to achieve and there's a good chance you will hey thank you for watching
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