Final answer:
A self-fulfilling prophecy is when someone's expectations lead to behavior that makes the expectation come true, often negatively impacting individuals like students convinced of their own academic shortcomings. While specific details about the Curtis and Miller (1986) study were unavailable, the concept ties into the larger idea of how expectations can shape social interactions and perpetuate biases.
Step-by-step explanation:
A self-fulfilling prophecy is a psychological phenomenon where a person's expectation about a situation or another person leads to behavior that causes the expectation to come true. This aligns with the Thomas theorem which states that situations defined as real are real in their consequences. An example could be a student who is convinced they are poor at math; this belief may result in anxiety and a lack of studying, which leads to poor performance, confirming the original expectation.
One of the studies that explored this concept was conducted by Snyder, et al., 1977, which showed how expectations could affect social interactions. Unfortunately, the specific study by Curtis and Miller (1986) mentioned in the question is not found in the references provided, thus cannot be detailed here. However, it's important to assess the impact of expectancies on interpersonal dynamics and how they can perpetuate stereotypes and biases, as outlined in self-fulfilling prophecy descriptions.