The Pygmalion effect, or Rosenthal effect, refers to the phenomenon in which the greater the expectation placed upon people, often children or students, the better they perform. The effect is named after Pygmalion, a Cypriot sculptor in a narrative by Ovid in Greek mythology, who fell in love with a female statue named Galatea he had carved out of ivory. This is their story.
Pygmalion was a gifted sculptor who lived on the island of Cyprus. He thought nature had given women so many faults that they were detestable and he vowed never to marry. His work was his life and he devoted all his time to it. The strange thing was that his greatest work was that of a woman.
Pygmalion worked tirelessly to create the perfect work of art, a figure of a woman carved of ivory. The more he worked on his creation the more obsessed he became with it. Every day he worked on it and it became more and more beautiful. It was lovelier than any living woman. Strangely enough, Pygmalion fell deeply and passionately in love with the object he had made.
He was so hopelessly in love with his creation that he would stroke its arms and kiss its lips, but, of course, there was no response. He tried dressing her with clothes, putting rings on her fingers, laying a string of pearls around her neck and bringing her gifts of shells, polished stones and beautiful flowers. He laid her on a couch putting a soft pillow under her head and pretended she was real. She remained hard and cold so finally he gave up.
All of this was observed by Venus, the Goddess of Love and she determined to help this young man. Her feast day at Cyprus was celebrated with great pomp. She was offered snow-white heifers with gilded horns, incense was spread on her alters and her temples were crowded with throngs of people offering gifts. Many lovers were there to ask assistance from Venus and so was Pygmalion. He asked Venus for a woman like his beautiful ivory creation, but she knew that he really wanted his statue to be real. She offered him a sign that his prayer had met favor with her.
When Pygmalion went home after being in the temple, he immediately approached his statue on the pedestal where she had been placed. She was so very beautiful that he began caressing her and found she felt warm to his touch. As he kissed her lips he felt them grow soft against his. He couldn’t keep from touching her, holding her in his arms and feeling the blood pulse through her. As he looked into her eyes he saw her smile, look back at him and blush.
Venus was present at their marriage but nothing is known about what happened after that except that Pygmalion named his love Galatea and they had a son Paphos.
Quotations
James Rhem, executive editor for the online National Teaching and Learning Forum, commented:
- “When teachers expect students to do well and show intellectual growth, they do; when teachers do not have such expectations, performance and growth are not so encouraged and may in fact be discouraged in a variety of ways.”
- “How we believe the world is and what we honestly think it can become have powerful effects on how things will turn out.”
aphrodite was the goddess of love