Personality theories have been used for a long time to address the issue of what makes up an individual’s personality. Personality refers to how an individual thinks, behaves, and feels. Personality will determine how an individual interacts with the environment. Most personality theories try to discourse whether the character is nurtured or occurs by nature. The essence of someone can therefore be affected by the background of an individual. The prophecy fulfillment theory of personality addresses that an original idea or expectation leads to an expected or new outcome. The paper will discuss how the approach named above affects individuals’ behaviour.
The idea of this theory is that an expectation spurs a behaviour that makes people act in a way to prove a point to the original expectation. The nature vs. nurture debate has taken center stage in discussing the issue of personality. The nature vs. nurture debate addresses whether the character is learned or whether it is genetic. Nature refers to our genetics and appearance, while nurture is how our environment affects our behaviour (Sabatello et al., 2020).
The nature vs. nurture debate theories address that inherited factors have a ripple effect on behaviour or personality, but this differs from the prophecy fulfillment theory of personality. Unlike other theories, the prophecy fulfillment theory of personality claims that personality is affected by expectations or an initially false or true idea. Therefore, the prophecy fulfillment theory of personality does not support that inherited factors affect personality. In this theory, the environment highly affects personality since the expectations imposed on an individual make them act in a certain way.
According to Olivia (2022), early childhood experiences affect children throughout their life to adulthood. Adverse childhood experiences tend to affect children in their adulthood negatively. For example, the prophecy fulfillment theory of personality addresses that a child who grew up seeing his parents’ abuse drugs and alcohol are expected to be involved in the same practices when they grow up. Therefore, such a child might grow up to fulfill these expectations or live a completely different life.
These adverse childhood experiences will also affect an individual’s physical and mental health in adulthood. The prophecy fulfillment theory of personality suggests that when a child grows up in a family where he does not receive love and affection, he is expected to grow up lacking a sense of self-esteem. Such people in adulthood tend to seek societal validation in everything they do. This personality occurs due to the stigma associated with early childhood experiences that shape the behaviour of individuals.
However, the prophecy fulfillment theory of personality explains that there are exceptions to how these childhood experiences might affect children in adulthood because individuals might tend to act differently from what they were exposed to in their early life. A good example is that some individuals in their adulthood tend not to go to church despite growing up in a strongly religious home. Individuals may also opt never to abuse drugs even after growing up in an environment full of drug addicts. In such a scenario, the expectations of these individuals should become a mystery. This behaviour happens because the individual grew up seeing what drugs did to addicts and is trying to avoid these adverse effects of substance abuse.
The nature vs. nurture debate addresses that genetics and environment affect human development. The main focus is on how inheritable and environmental factors affect an individual’s behaviour. According to Krueger & Johnson (2020), nature and nurture are two integrated words since they affect each other differently. They claim that some factors, such as intelligence, being a musician, and leadership, can be heritable and thus affect an individual’s behaviour. The Prophecy fulfillment theory of personality differs from this idea since it addresses that such factors as intelligence and leadership are highly effective if nurtured. For example, teaching someone how to sing might make them a better musician than someone who is perceived to have inherited the talent. The expectation of making this person a good musician makes him work towards improving his skills.
Pygmalion effect is a study that proves the self-fulfilling prophecies (Ackerman, 2020). In this study, an IQ test was performed on students in an elementary school. This study aimed to see whether the student’s performance could fulfill the expectations of their teachers. Therefore, the IQ test was given to students, and the researcher informed the teachers which students were going to be “bloomers” and which ones would be “average.” The teachers had little hope in the average students and more hope in the bloomers. At the end of the test, it was found that the bloomers scored high levels of IQ, unlike the average students. According to these findings, it was concluded that the teacher’s expectations worked as a self-fulfilling prophecy.
A simple loop is a system influenced by two or more aspects. The Prophecy fulfillment theory of personality addresses that a casual loop is where event A leads to event B, which leads to event C, which will again lead to event A. This cycle keeps repeating itself in that manner. This loop is a perfect example of a feedback cycle since when this cycle begins, it becomes difficult for someone to remove themselves from that situation. These feedback loops make it difficult to prevent uncontrollable behaviours. This situation is self-fulfilling due to the prophecy, which helps as the drive to action.
According to Ackerman (2020), a casual loop occurs better in the event of a rumour. For example, when a rumour is spread that a bank is collapsing, more people will enter the bank to withdraw their money. As a result of this rumour, the bank will start to collapse due to the increasing number of people trying to withdraw their money. When this cycle begins, it becomes difficult to stop it. This cycle will continue until the bank collapse, thus completing the self-fulfilling prophecy. The belief that the bank collapses later becomes a reality after many individuals fuel this false idea.
Cognitive behavioural therapy is a perfect example of a simple loop since our behaviour is affected by our thoughts and feelings. People living with depression are helped by interrupting the cycle of their thoughts, feelings and behaviour. Interrupting this cycle tends to control the behaviour of these people. However, if these people do not comply with these changes, they continue being depressed, thus completing the self-fulfilling prophecy in the causal loop.
Extroversion, on the other hand, is the act of receiving gratification from an outside source. An extroverted individual is characterized by talkativeness, sociability, excitability, and assertiveness. According to Vargas & Orduno (2022), extroversion occurs from a vital genetic factor. Twin studies addressed that genetics contribute to about 50%-60% variance between introversion and extroversion. Researchers argue that leadership behaviour is associated with extroversion. On the other hand, the Prophecy fulfillment theory of personality theory suggests that individual experiences highly contribute to extroversion. This theory addresses that most extroverts are considered energetic, highly adaptable, and friendly as a way of self-fulfillment.
Culture in psychology has been seen to have an influence on the personality of humans for eternity. However, in some places, people respect their culture, while in other places, people do not respect their culture. Researchers address that culture sometimes shapes behaviour, and other times it does not. Culture has a way of putting false realities into an idea, thus hindering the psychological response of humans. In some cultures, misrepresenting reality causes behaviours or personalities that render these hypotheses accurate. Culture controls people’s behaviour by introducing shared expectations that determine their behaviour in a given situation. Ethical and practical consequences offer an improved understanding of the effect of culture on behaviour. People who often violate cultural rules have the personality trait of openness since they are more creative and adventurous beyond culture.
Sexual orientation refers to whom a person is attracted to and who wants to pursue a relationship. The sexual orientation of an individual can change during their lifetime. It is unclear what causes a person to be gay, lesbian, straight, or bisexual. However, studies show that biological factors that start before birth likely cause sexual orientation in individuals.
Taking someone to therapy will not change his/her sexual orientation since people often do not choose to whom they want to be attracted. You cannot turn an individual into a lesbian or gay since people discover their sexual orientation early. For example, exposing a boy child to feminine toys will not make him gay. Most people claim that they realized they were gay or lesbian before puberty. The Prophecy fulfillment theory of personality theory explains that Sexual orientation is usually determined at a young age. When individuals grow up, they explore their sexual interests to fulfill their prophecy.
However, the sexual orientation of some people may change at some point, and the labels they use might shift too. Sexual offences or gender-based violence towards someone might contribute to a shift in their sexual orientation. For example, recent studies show that most lesbians result from rape cases. Most lesbians claim that they underwent rape at some point in their life, which made them hate men and find an attraction to their fellow women. According to the Prophecy fulfillment theory of personality theory, such experiences tend to psychologically change the cycle of cognitive behaviours of an individual, which makes them behave otherwise.
Social or economic class refers to the position of someone or a group of people on the socioeconomic ladder. The Prophecy fulfillment theory of personality theory suggests that an individual who ranks high on the socioeconomic scale is a result of his previous self-prophesies. This theory claims that these people started by seeing themselves in those positions and worked towards achieving that. The thought of being successful triggered them to work hard toward their current position. Hard work is the personality that shaped them to fulfill their prophecies.
Most personality theories tend to explain human behaviour while seeking reference to the biological aspect of behaviour. These theories usually try to understand how the biological aspect of humans affects their behaviour or personality. On the other hand, the Prophecy fulfillment theory explains personality from the context of what an individual wants and how it will change their behaviour to fulfill their self-prophesies.
References
Ackerman, C. E. (2020, April 17). Self-Fulfilling Prophecy in Psychology: 10 Examples and Definition. Positive Psychology.
Krueger, R. F., & Johnson, W. (2021). Behavioural genetics and personality: Ongoing efforts to integrate nature and nurture
Olivia, N. Saracho (2022) Developmental Theories in Early Childhood Education. Curr Res Psychol Behav Sci, 3, 1053.
Sabatello, M., Martin, B., Corbeil, T., Lee, S., Link, B. G., & Appelbaum, P. S. (2022). Nature vs. Nurture in Precision Education: Insights of Parents and the Public. AJOB Empirical Bioethics, 13(2), 79-88.
Vargas, M., & Orduno, V. (2022). Personality Traits: Introvert and Extrovert in Different Social Environments.
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