Reality can be influenced by our expectations and those of others.
Some reflections on the Rosenthal effect and the elasticity of the soul.
(The Rosenthal effect, known also as the Pygmalion effect, is the phenomenon whereby higher expectations lead to an increase in performance. The effect is named after the Greek myth of Pygmalion, a sculptor who fell in love with a statue he had carved, or alternately, after the Rosenthal–Jacobson study.
A corollary of the Pygmalion effect is the Golem effect, in which low expectations lead to a decrease in performance; both effects are forms of self-fulfilling prophecy.)
