Self-Fulfilling Prophecies
If you review some of my previous posts, you may already get a feeling of what topics and concepts are important to me. I am a firm believer in positivity and the mind-body connection. Therefore, it is not a surprise that I chose to discuss self-fulfilling prophecies for my topic of choice. To set the foundation of my discussion I want to review what Newman says about reality and self-fulfilling prophecies.
"Some features of reality are grounded in physical evidence - fire is hot, sharp things hurt. But other features of reality are often based not on sensory experiences but on forces such as culture and language, self-fulfilling prophecies, and faith (Newman, 2012)."
I feel that it is important to understand reality and truth in order to fully grasp the concept of self-fulfilling prophecies. How do we become who we are? In part, we are the product of interactions with others. When we interact with others and situations we use language, symbolic communications, direct and indirect actions, reactions, and interpretations to define what we construct to be our reality. This reality is a man-made construction. It becomes what we define as and know to be the truth and what we believe to be true. Take these two common sayings, for example, "seeing is believing" or "I have to see it to believe it!" Are these statements true? Do you believe them? It depends on how we define "seeing." For example, if you mean only in the physical sense, I guess if you can not see it then you can't believe it. Otherwise, what if "seeing" we mean to imagine or see it in our "minds eye?" If we use this definition of "seeing" then "seeing (in our minds eye) is believing" is the truth and a reality. In understanding the social constructions of our reality and our truths we can better understand self-fulfilling prophecies.
Simply stated, self-fulfilling prophecies means if you
believe something to be true (even if it really is not true to begin with), you gravitate towards actions that support this socially
constructed reality and this original believed truth begins to manifest and actually comes to fruition.
An example of a self-fulfilling prophecy is if a child thinks that he is unlikeable. This belief, even if it is not really true in the first place, becomes true because of the interactions with others. For example,
this person acts/behaves/creates certain situations that reaffirms the initial
belief of not being likable in the first place. Situations do not magically occur because
he is not likable. Instead, the mere belief of not being likable may leave
him with a sense of hopelessness, or other ideas that makes him act certain and different ways compared to if he believed he s likable. He may be withdrawn because he thinks nobody likes likes him. By acting withdrawn, others may see him then as unfriendly, stand-offish, or thinks that he is not interested in being friends with them. Because others are reacting to how he is behaving, then he in turn, interprets their lack of approaching him as a sign and reaffirmation that he was correct, therefore, it must be true that he is unlikeable. These interactions go back and forth
and they continue to manifest into the reality and his original thought of being unlikeable (which originally may not have been true, but now because of this circular interactions) actually becomes true over time.
There are many examples of self-fulfilling prophecies. Newman (2012) mentions how teachers and students interact and change the outcome of educational experiences for students. Doctors see this phenomenon with placebos. In the video above, the speaker talks about how recessions can be self-fulfilling prophecies. Very interesting and makes you think about your thoughts, interactions with others, and your actions.
More examples of self-fulfilling prophecies.
There are many examples of self-fulfilling prophecies. Newman (2012) mentions how teachers and students interact and change the outcome of educational experiences for students. Doctors see this phenomenon with placebos. In the video above, the speaker talks about how recessions can be self-fulfilling prophecies. Very interesting and makes you think about your thoughts, interactions with others, and your actions.
Personally I have always been intrigued by self-fulfilling
prophecies because it is similar to the law of attraction. You get results in
your life based on what you put forward. If you think you can’t, you won’t. If you think you can, you will. Self-fulfilling
prophecies and the law of attraction works hard behind the scenes to give you what
you ask for. Our subconscious mind is always working even when we do not realize it. That is why we are able to take something that is not true, but think that it is, and without realizing the situations, attitudes, and actions combined with interactions with others (including ourselves) we orchestrate the perfect set-up to make it become real. This can be both positive and negative things in our life. For this, I caution everyone to look at what your truths are. What are you saying to yourself?
In closing, because I mentioned how similar the "Law of Attraction" is to self-fulfilling prophecies, I wanted to share a clip of the first twenty minutes of the move, "The Secret." I find it to be very thought provoking.
I think it is very important to be aware of this concept because it really has many different ways and ample opportunity to shape is into the people we are today and in the future.
Can you think of a an example when you experienced a self-fulfilling prophecy in your life?
In closing, because I mentioned how similar the "Law of Attraction" is to self-fulfilling prophecies, I wanted to share a clip of the first twenty minutes of the move, "The Secret." I find it to be very thought provoking.
I think it is very important to be aware of this concept because it really has many different ways and ample opportunity to shape is into the people we are today and in the future.
Can you think of a an example when you experienced a self-fulfilling prophecy in your life?
References
Newman, D. (2012). Sociology: Exploring the Architecture of Everyday
Life: 9th Edition. SAGE Publications. (p.63-64)
Nice post
ReplyDeleteIt is amazing how one's thoughts could actually alter their reality and future as discussed in the video clip of "The Secret." I may have to try that out, along with the idea of self-fulfilling prophecies, which I also find very interesting. Sometimes, one can feel like they really have no control over their life, but something simple such as changing the way you feel or your expectations will begin to, hopefully, change one's life for the better.
The example of the placebo effect really made me wonder about how the U.S. sees sickness. We instantly try to use medication as a means to get better so even if the medicine was not potent or real, there is the possibility of getting better. I go to the chiropractor, and I remember my chiropractor telling me that it wasn't always the headache medication that was helping me. It was the fact I was drinking more water and feeling confident that my migraine would go away. I wonder if our values towards medicine inhibits our reality regarding health. Not saying that we don't need medicine or doctors, but that we also have some control over our health that we don't really realize.
Allison
I am very interested in Integrative Health & Healing. I also believe that there is a time and a place for traditional medicine. I am looking forward to the day when the United States can see the way the Eastern Medicine practitioners see and these alternative modalities should be more mainstream and integrated with our medical, social, and psychological practices without the stigma.
ReplyDeleteI like your example of the boy who believes he is unlikable. It's interesting the way you think about it; he may have been likable if he didn't act those certain ways where he thought he was unlikable. It can get confusing to think about but it you read it thoroughly it actually makes a lot of sense.
ReplyDeleteI especially like your quote: "You get results in your life based on what you put forward"...if you think you're going to win you'll win and if you think you'll lose then you'll lose. Being a gymnast those thoughts are always running through my head. I know my results will show if I put 100% effort in at practice, I will compete the way I practice. But I know that if I slack off at practice then I won't compete as well, since I'm not putting a lot forward I won't see the results I want. It's a great way to think about life because I believe it to be especially true! Good work!
Thank you.
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