[What is] the Pygmalion Effect

A phenomenon within the coach-player relationship whereby if a coach has high expectations of a player then the player is more likely to fulfill those expectations.

The effect is described as also working in reverse. A player with low expectations from a coach will perform worse.

Researchers on the effect, Rosenthal and Jacobsen within Education, offered that players internalise ‘positive (or negative) labels’ from coaches and these play out in a self-fulfilling prophecy. 

From a Greek myth, Pygmalion was a sculptor who fell in love with a statue he created.

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