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Self Fulfilling Prophecy

From Wikiversity

"A self-fulfilling prophecy is a prediction that directly or indirectly causes itself to become true, by the very terms of the prophecy itself, due to positive feedback between belief and behavior."[1]
This means that if you believe that something will happen, it probably will. For example, if a teacher tells a student they are going to fail at their classes, the fear that it brings will make the prophecy more likely to happen. This was credited by sociologist Robert K Merton in his book Sociological Theory and Social Structure.

Discussion questions and essay ideas

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  • How can self fulfilling prophecies be potentially harmful?
  • How can self fulfilling prophecies be potentially beneficial?
  • What are some examples of self fulfilling prophecies?

Learning resources

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External

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  1. "Self-fulfilling prophecy". Wikipedia. 2022-02-28. https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Self-fulfilling_prophecy&oldid=1074536766.