Question

When we are unaware of the role that our behaviour played in shaping another person's behaviour and we then interpret the other person's behaviour as evidence that our expectation of the other person was correct all along, a____is said to have occurred.

a. self-serving bias
b. self-reinforcement process
c. self-verification process
d. self-fulfilling prophecy

Answer 1

A self-fulfilling prophecy refers to the scenario where our expectations about someone's behavior lead us to act in a way that makes those expectations come true, thus seemingly confirming our initial beliefs.

Step-by-step explanation:

When we are unaware of the role our behavior played in shaping another person's behavior, and then interpret that person's behavior as evidence that our expectations were correct, this is known as a self-fulfilling prophecy.

This phenomenon occurs when our expectations about a person lead us to act in ways that encourage the person to fulfill those expectations, which in turn seems to confirm our initial beliefs.

A classic example of a self-fulfilling prophecy is seen in the research by Rosenthal and Jacobson (1968), whereby teachers' expectations of students' performance influenced the actual performance of the students, thereby confirming the teachers' original expectations.