What Is Self Fulfilling Prophecy and How Does It Affect Educational Outcome
OGUNLADE, PHIBEAN OLATUNDE
REG. NO: 2012/4018
COURSE: SOCIOLOGY OF EDUCATION
COURSE CODE: EFC 705
COURSE LECTURER: DR A.O. K. NOAH
What is Self Fulfilling Prophecy and how does it affect educational outcome?
INTRODUCTION
Robert K. Merton (1910 – 2003) Professor of sociology invented the word self fulfilling prophecy to help make tangible and popular the idea that some pronouncement or statement positive or negative can alter peoples action to bring about fulfillment of same pronouncement. It is, however a tragedy of human nature and experience that negative thoughts, ideas statements and actions bond more easily than positive ones. The word self fulfilling prophecy conveys an impression of a prophecy/statement that alters action and in itself is laden with the power and potentials of causing own fulfillment In actual and practical sense it is a prediction and a prediction has a probability of either coming to pass or not. In absolute term the prophecy depends on the powers that define whether it is errant or inerrant; in other words its ability to be beyond manipulation or interference.
Wagar W.W (1963) posits that “the ultimate function of a prophecy is not to tell the future but to make it”.1 According to Wikipedia online dictionary @ en.wikipedia.org/wiki, Self Fulfilling Prophecy is a prediction that directly or indirectly cause itself to become true by the very terms of the prophecy, itself depending on a positive feedback between belief and behavior.2
The idea or the principle behind the self fulfilling prophecy had for long being part of human experience and implied in the thoughts and writings of early disciplined and observant minds like Bishop Bossuet in his seventeenth century defense of Catholic orthodoxy; Mandeville in his eighteenth century observations on the paradox of the human society; Karl Marx in his revision of Hegels’ theory of historical change. In the Literary world the principle of the concept was relayed by William Shakespeare in
REG. NO: 2012/4018
COURSE: SOCIOLOGY OF EDUCATION
COURSE CODE: EFC 705
COURSE LECTURER: DR A.O. K. NOAH
What is Self Fulfilling Prophecy and how does it affect educational outcome?
INTRODUCTION
Robert K. Merton (1910 – 2003) Professor of sociology invented the word self fulfilling prophecy to help make tangible and popular the idea that some pronouncement or statement positive or negative can alter peoples action to bring about fulfillment of same pronouncement. It is, however a tragedy of human nature and experience that negative thoughts, ideas statements and actions bond more easily than positive ones. The word self fulfilling prophecy conveys an impression of a prophecy/statement that alters action and in itself is laden with the power and potentials of causing own fulfillment In actual and practical sense it is a prediction and a prediction has a probability of either coming to pass or not. In absolute term the prophecy depends on the powers that define whether it is errant or inerrant; in other words its ability to be beyond manipulation or interference.
Wagar W.W (1963) posits that “the ultimate function of a prophecy is not to tell the future but to make it”.1 According to Wikipedia online dictionary @ en.wikipedia.org/wiki, Self Fulfilling Prophecy is a prediction that directly or indirectly cause itself to become true by the very terms of the prophecy, itself depending on a positive feedback between belief and behavior.2
The idea or the principle behind the self fulfilling prophecy had for long being part of human experience and implied in the thoughts and writings of early disciplined and observant minds like Bishop Bossuet in his seventeenth century defense of Catholic orthodoxy; Mandeville in his eighteenth century observations on the paradox of the human society; Karl Marx in his revision of Hegels’ theory of historical change. In the Literary world the principle of the concept was relayed by William Shakespeare in
References: 1) Wagar W.I (1963) The city of man; prophecies of a modern civilization in 20th century thought. Boston Houghton Mufflin. 4) Thomas W.I (1928) The child in America Behaviors Problems & Programs. New York Alfred A Knort pp 572 5) Clive Thompson Is Taylor Swift really good or is she a “self fulfilling prophecy” www.collisiondetection.net/mt/archive 6) Robert K. Merton (1968) Social theory and social structure. New York: Free Press. pp477. 9) Popper Karl (1976) Unended Quest: An intellectual autobiography. LaSalle, Illinois: open Court 10) Robert K 11) Fasoranti Olayiwola O (2003) Understanding sociology.