The perspective of an event tends to facilitate its fulfillment not only in us, in any person and in any field. And no, we are not talking about a phrase from a Mr. Wonderful mug, but about psychology.
Specifically something called Pygmalion effect and the Galatea effect, two psychological terms that will help us get the best out of ourselves and the people around us.
The myth of Pygmalion and Galatea
Before explaining what the Galatea effect is, we are going to tell you a story, that of Pygmalion and Galatea that is told in metamorphoses from Ovid.
Although Pygmalion is a figure from Cyprus mythology, he is the Greek version of the Phoenician royal name Pumayyaton. It refers to an ancient king of Cyprus and a sculptor who, looking for the perfect woman for him, made a white ivory statue that he called Galatea. And she was so beautiful that she fell in love with her.
Metamorphosis (Out of Collection)
Every night Pygmalion spent hours with the statue until one day, while a party was being held in honor of the goddess Aphrodite, the sculptor begged him to bring his work to life. When he woke up, Ovid relates that “Pygmalion went to the statue and, touching it, it seemed to him that it was hot, that the ivory was softening and that, giving up its hardness, it yielded to the fingers gently, as the wax of Mount Hymetus softens. to the rays of the Sun and is allowed to be handled with the fingers, taking on various shapes and becoming more docile and soft with handling. Seeing him, Pygmalion is filled with great joy mixed with fear, believing that he was deceived. He touched the statue again and made sure that it was a flexible body and that the veins gave the pulsation of him when he explored them with his fingers.
Galatea had come to life.
Aphrodite, moved by Pygmalion’s wish, had given life to the statue. “You deserve happiness, a happiness that you yourself have embodied. Here’s a queen you’ve been looking for. She loves her and defends her from evil ”. It is not just a love story, it is the myth that serves to name the Pygmalion effect and the Galatea effect.
What is the Pygmalion effect?
If we pay attention to the definition of affective responsibility, we will understand that what we do and say will have an impact on those around us. The Pygmalion effect or Rosenthal effect refers to that influence. In psychological terms, the Pygmalion effect is the potential influence that one person’s belief exerts on the performance of another, thus causing a self-fulfilling prophecy. It is a principle of action based on the expectations of others.
In education, for example, when a teacher trusts a student’s abilities, it can have a positive effect on their grades. What others expect from us invites us to meet these expectations, as if the trust they place gives us wings to achieve more difficult goals.
What is the Galatea effect?
When we talk about the Galatea effect, that influence does not come from a third party but from ourselves. According to psychology, it refers to the power that expectations have regarding our own abilities and possibilities when it comes to achieving our objectives, and in the same way, the absence of them to not achieve them. It is, to simplify even more, it is to believe in us.
“Believing is power”, or at least that’s how psychology sees it in some way. The Galatea effect leads us to carry out all those behaviors that help us meet and achieve those objectives proposed in reality. The person who feels safe and capable of achieving a specific goal increases their chances of achieving it, since these expectations cause their behavior to be result-oriented and to make more effort to achieve it. He is committed to that goal.
But it also works the other way around. That person who is insecure and does not believe in himself will tend to doubt and will not try as hard to achieve it, thus reducing his chances of meeting the objective. In fact, the psychologists Maribel Moreno and Francisco Herrera already told us that “good self-esteem is related to a greater ability to face challenges and difficulties of life.
Self-perception and confidence are also projected abroad through our attitudes and behaviors and these make those who know us have a more or less positive image of us. In this way we receive the effect also from them because the perception they have of us influences us. His expectations of us. The Pygmalion effect on their part, and Galatea on ours.
Although Dr. Ashlee Greer states in a Huffpost article that we should not care about the opinions that others have of you because “we end up being slaves to what they want, trying to meet the expectations of others and not listening to our true needs”, if we use those positive expectations in our favor, we will be benefiting from the Pygmalion effect and the Galatea effect.
It is true that people with high self-esteem and self-confidence are more prone to a positive Galatea effectbut that trust can be worked for example avoiding negative self-talk.
Iria Reguera, psychologist and editor-in-chief of Trendencias, affirms that the first thing is believe that we are capable, trust in our abilities. and “knowing that we will have the capacity to cope with what lies ahead and if not, knowing where and how to look for the missing information or ask for help from those who do know.”
It’s not about memorizing the best motivational phrasesis about learn to practice self love and working our self-esteem is vital. In case there is any doubt, the way we think of ourselves directly affects what we are capable of achieving and the people around us. The good thing is that we have a lifetime to improve the vision we have of ourselves.
Photos | Priscilla DuPreez, Catalin Pop, Estée Janssens and SOCIAL . CUT in Unsplash
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