What Did You Expect?

What Did You Expect?

Listen to my voice in the morning, LORD. Each morning I bring my requests to you and wait expectantly.

Psalm 5:3

One of the classic early studies in psychology and learning was conducted by Robert Rosenthal, professor emeritus at Harvard. He told elementary school teachers that some of the students had been identified as “intellectual bloomers” by a test they took. The teachers were told the names of those students and were led to expect that those students would do particularly well over the course of the coming academic year.

In fact, the information given to the teachers was bogus. The students identified as bloomers were not necessarily any different academically from the other students: their names were selected at random. Only their teachers’ expectations for them differed. Yet, sure enough, the students who were expected to bloom really did do better, significantly better, than the others by the end of the school year.

Some years later, another research team performed a similar experiment, but this time focusing on the students’ expectations of the teacher. One group of students was told their teacher was “quite effective,” and another group was told their teacher was “incompetent.” This time the teachers knew nothing about it. The results? Students with a negative expectation rated the lessons as being “more difficult, less interesting, and less effective.” They also scored lower on their exams than the other group. Students with a positive expectation leaned forward more in their chairs and had better eye contact with the teacher, in addition to earning higher test scores.

It’s difficult to dispute: expectations are a powerful influence on learning outcomes. But the research on expectations goes far beyond education. These studies were conducted decades ago. By now, the power of expectations has been clearly demonstrated not just in classrooms, but also in workplaces, courtrooms, the military, doctors’ offices, parent-child interactions, counseling, consumer transactions, and more. In short, expectations are a powerful influence in all relationships—including yours.

A fundamental shift takes place in the life of every couple when they expect the best from each other. You may think this sounds silly, but research backs it up. When we expect our spouses to behave in positive ways toward us, we are likely to see such behavior. The bottom line is that our expectations impact our reality and create self-fulfilling prophecies as a result. So what are you expecting from each other these days?

High achievement always takes place in the framework of high expectation.

—Charles F. Kettering