Rosenthal believed that even attitude or mood could positively affect the students when the teacher was made aware of the "bloomers."
Rosenthal predicted that elementary school teachers may subconsciously behave in ways that facilitate and encourage the students' success.
When finished, Rosenthal theorized that future studies could be implemented to find teachers who would encourage their students naturally without changing their teaching methods.
The prior research that motivated this study was conducted in 1911 by psychologists regarding the case of Clever Hans, a horse that gained notoriety because it was supposed to be able to read, spell, and solve math problems by using its hoof to answer.
For instance, whenever Clever Hans was asked a question the observers' demeanor usually elicited a certain behavior from the subject that in turn confirmed their expectations.
According to a later analysis of the survey by Eden,[9] instructors were rated more positively on each of the four management leadership dimensions by Bowers and Seashore.
[11] The research also demonstrated that improving these trainees' performance levels may be accomplished by directly raising their expectations by telling them—rather than their instructors—that they had high potential.
Quoting a colleague, Thorndike wrote about the measurement problems of the study in this way: "When the clock strikes thirteen, doubt is cast not only on the last stroke but also all that have gone before" (p. 710).
Moreover, a meta-analysis conducted by Raudenbush[13] showed that when teachers had gotten to know their students for two weeks, the effect of a prior expectancy induction was reduced to virtually zero.
A 2005 meta-analysis of 35 years of research on teacher expectations found that, while self-fulfilling prophecies in the classroom do occur, the effects are usually small and temporary.
[16] To further this concept, Klein (1971) did the same kind of study involving teachers still unaware of any precondition to the classroom but with the class full of confederates who were instructed to act differently during periods over the course of the lecture.
Eden and Shani used instructors and trainees from Israeli Defense Force (IDF) training programs in 1982 to experiment with a military setting to verify the Pygmalion effect.
[19] The Pygmalion effect has also been discussed in relation to treating alcohol dependence since it was discovered that therapists who characterized their clients as "motivated" had a lower dropout rate than those who labeled them as "unmotivated".
This suggests that, unlike their male colleagues, the higher standards for female leaders could only sometimes result in increased subordinate performance.
Female subordinates have been utilized in many studies, which in turn failed to demonstrate a significant correlation between the Pygmalion effect.
For instance, King's unpublished research in 1970 provided two examples of failed Pygmalion effect attempts that both primarily involved female subordinates.
The Pygmalion effect was undetectable in Sutton and Woodman's research of female principal attendants in the retail industry.