Real Communication An Introduction

Chapter 2  Perceiving the Self and Others 51

and making no effort to be friendly. Others won’t like you, so your prophecy
gets fulfilled. Self-efficacy and self-fulfilling prophecy are thus related. Low self-
efficacy often causes you to exert less effort to prepare or participate than you
would in situations in which you are comfortable and have high self-efficacy.
When you do not prepare for or participate in a situation (such as at the party),
your behavior causes the prediction to come true, creating a self-fulfilling proph-
ecy (see Figure 2.3). One study of international soccer tournaments found teams
that had a history of losing (even if the current players were not a part of the los-
ing effort) were significantly less likely to win the penalty shoot-outs that decide
a tied game (Jordet, Hartman, & Jelle Vuijk, 2012). Why? It’s possible that the
players choked under a high degree of performance pressure, unable to predict
their own success from past performances. It is also possible that they hurried
their preparation and thus created their own demise.
Self-fulfilling prophecies don’t always produce negative results. If you
announce plans to improve your grades after a lackluster semester and then work
harder than usual to accomplish your goal, your prediction may result in an
improved GPA. But even the simple act of announcing your goals to others—for
example, tweeting your intention to quit smoking or to run a marathon—can
create a commitment to making a positive self-fulfilling prophecy come true
(Willard & Gramzow, 2008).

Assessing Our Perceptions of Self

Whenever you communicate, you receive feedback from people that allows you
to assess your strengths and weaknesses. These assessments of self are important
before, during, and after you have communicated. You evaluate your expecta-
tions, execution, and outcomes in three ways: self-actualization, self-adequacy,
and self-denigration.

Self-Fulfilling Prophecy (SFP)

My behavior

Self-fulfilling prophecy imposed on others:

Their cognition

Their behavior (SFP)

Try harder than

usual and succeed.

Don’t try as hard

and fail.

You can do it.

You can’t do this.

Cognition

Behavior (SFP)

I try harder than usual and succeed.

I don’t make a normal effort and fail.

I can do this.

I can’t do this.

I can do this.

I can’t do this. FIGURE 2.3

THE SELF-FULFILLING

PROPHECY