Pygmalion, Galatea, and the Golem: Investigations of biased and unbiased teachers

Examined differential expectancy effects as a function of teachers' susceptibility to biasing information and the distinction between positive ("Galatea") and negative ("Golem") outcomes of teacher expectancies. 26 biased and unbiased student teachers were identified on the basis of their susceptibility to biasing information in scoring drawings allegedly made by high- or low-status students. High-bias teachers treated the students they perceived to be of low potential negatively while at the same time treating randomly selected students in a manipulated high-expectancy group as favorably as they treated the students they themselves nominated as being of high potential. Unbiased teachers treated all 3 groups of students (N = 202) equitably. The strongest and most consistent Golem effects were observed for behavioral manifestations of dogmatism. These patterns of differential negative expectancy effects were evident not only in teachers' behavior but also in students' actual performance of specially designed tasks. (27 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2006 APA, all rights reserved).