Self‐Fulfilling Prophecies: Mechanisms, Power, and Links to Social Problems

Abstract

Abstract A core theme of social psychology is that perceivers can shape targets’ future behaviors through self‐fulfilling prophecies. Self‐fulfilling prophecies occur when perceivers’ false beliefs about targets initiate a sequence of events that ultimately cause targets to exhibit expectancy‐consistent behaviors, thereby causing perceivers’ initially false beliefs to become true. This article reviews theory and research relevant to self‐fulfilling prophecies with particular foci on the underlying mechanisms that produce self‐fulfilling prophecies, the power of self‐fulfilling prophecies to alter behavior, and the extent to which self‐fulfilling prophecies contribute to social problems.