The Pygmalion Effect
The Basic Idea
A common storyline in movies is that of the bad-boy jock: he does poorly in his academics and skirmishes with all his teachers, except one. The teacher who believes in him when nobody else does upturns his life trajectory – and he usually ends up in a reputable college as a direct result.
Although cliché, there’s a lot of truth to the storyline described above. When people don’t believe in us, we tend not to believe in ourselves. Conversely, when someone expects more from us, we work harder in order to meet those expectations. Our tendency to live up to someone’s expectations is known as the Pygmalion Effect. We commonly see The Pygmalion Effect in academic or work settings because students and subordinates are expected to live up to their teachers’ and bosses’ expectations.
Leaders should always expect the very best of those around them. They know that people can change and grow.
– American scholar and organizational expert, Warren G. Bennis
About the Authors
Dan Pilat
Dan is a Co-Founder and Managing Director at The Decision Lab. He is a bestselling author of Intention - a book he wrote with Wiley on the mindful application of behavioral science in organizations. Dan has a background in organizational decision making, with a BComm in Decision & Information Systems from McGill University. He has worked on enterprise-level behavioral architecture at TD Securities and BMO Capital Markets, where he advised management on the implementation of systems processing billions of dollars per week. Driven by an appetite for the latest in technology, Dan created a course on business intelligence and lectured at McGill University, and has applied behavioral science to topics such as augmented and virtual reality.
Dr. Sekoul Krastev
Sekoul is a Co-Founder and Managing Director at The Decision Lab. He is a bestselling author of Intention - a book he wrote with Wiley on the mindful application of behavioral science in organizations. A decision scientist with a PhD in Decision Neuroscience from McGill University, Sekoul's work has been featured in peer-reviewed journals and has been presented at conferences around the world. Sekoul previously advised management on innovation and engagement strategy at The Boston Consulting Group as well as on online media strategy at Google. He has a deep interest in the applications of behavioral science to new technology and has published on these topics in places such as the Huffington Post and Strategy & Business.
