SELF-FULFILLING PROPHECY

Mohit's mum decided that she had had enough. Everyone in her family thought that Mohit was susceptible in Math and that to help him overcome his mental block, they would send him to me. When Mohit came with his mother one morning it appeared that they believed I was a magician. Of course you will be able to help him score 90% his mother started, all that you have to do is psyche him to perform. He is a very capable boy and all that is required is that he zaps himself out of his self-fulfilling prophecy.

The self-fulfilling prophecy is, in the beginning, a false definition of the situation evoking a new behavior that makes the original false conception come 'true'. Mohit believed that he was poor in Math. And he had believed this for a very long time. At age five whenever he would sit down to try and do simple addition and subtraction problems and would fumble, he got responses like a shake of a head, a frown, and a disdainful look from his mum.

People react not only to the situations they are in, but also, and often primarily, to the way they perceive the situations and to the meaning they assign to these perceptions.

He would then believe that his mum was displeased and that the subject that he was attempting to do was beyond his ability. Often his mum would shout and get so upset at his mistakes that Mohit also began to believe that he was not clever enough like the other children when it came to mathematical ability.

In a self-fulfilling prophecy, people's behavior is determined in part by their perception and the meaning they ascribe to the situations they are in, rather than by the situations themselves. Once people convince themselves that a situation really has a certain meaning, regardless of whether it actually does, they will take very real actions in consequence. In other words, a prophecy declared as truth when it is actually false may sufficiently influence people, either through fear or logical confusion, so that their reactions ultimately fulfill the once-false prophecy.

Mohit 'thought' that it was a difficult subject, not easy to grasp and whenever he sat to attempt problems he had kind of given up even before he had begun!

The only way to break the cycle of self-fulfilling prophecy is by redefining the propositions on which its false assumptions are originally based.

As I started working with Mohit, I tried to help him see that he had added meaning to his mum's responses, in fact too much of it! That until he continued to subscribe to a philosophy or an idea that he was 'dumb' mathematically he could never help himself achieve what he was capable of. Mohit was sharp and asked me a very poignant question about the self-fulfilling prophecy. He asked, "Varkha, suppose I had believed to the contrary, that I was damn good in Math and that I had no problem in the subject, do you think I would get a hundred on hundred? Would I create a self-fulfilling prophecy of achievement?" I smiled. I said, "well no, you may not get hundred on hundred because you believe that you are so good, but if you believe that you're good you will at least be able to get what you are capable of! So a self-fulfilling prophecy works in a way that it deters us from our abilities, becomes a stumbling block to achievements. But one must have some ability to begin with. Just believing that you are super in Math isn't enough to ace your exams. Backed by attitude and consideration, has to be aptitude and a flair. Like everyone can't be a superlative dancer or singer likewise everyone cannot necessarily be a whiz in Math. But what you seem to be doing Mohit is compounding your problems. You may have average ability in Math, however, it remains unrealized. And that I would attribute to the self-fulfilling prophecy!"

While one's attitude cannot necessarily influence the larger things, such as a hurricane or the possibility of an earthquake, one's attitude can influence the smaller things, like the way we relate to other people and their responses to us. And whether we will achieve what we are capable of.