Stephanie Madon

Associate Professor in Psychology

Iowa State University

W112 Lagomarcino Hall Department of Psychology Iowa State University Ames, IA 50011-3180 e-mail: madon@iastate.edu

Vita

Publications

Graduate study in social psychology

Courses Taught:

Psychology 280: Introduction to Social Psychology

Psychology 380: Social Cognition

201 Presentation: Self-Fulfilling Prophecies

Research Interests:

Self-fulfilling prophecies are false beliefs that come true via social interaction. Self-fulfilling prophecies have long been thought to create social problems by perpetuating inequalities. However, because of high levels of perceiver accuracy in many naturalistic contexts, the magnitude of naturally-occurring self-fulfilling prophecies is small. One of the challenges for those who research self-fulfilling prophecies, therefore, is to identify when they exert their greatest influence on targets’ outcomes and how these effects may contribute to social problems. My main line of research addresses these issues by identifying the targets among whom and the conditions under which perceivers’ inaccurate beliefs are particularly likely to elicit confirmatory behavior from targets. I have investigated these issues in two naturalistic contexts: (1) public school math classrooms – examining the self-fulfilling effect of teachers’ beliefs on students’ achievement and (2) families – examining the self-fulfilling effect of parents’ beliefs on their children’s drug use.

My findings indicate that self-fulfilling prophecies are more powerful among stigmatized targets (Madon et al., 1997, JPSP) (Jussim, Eccles, & Madon, 1996, Advances) (Smith et al., 1998, JESP). Although this pattern appears to provide support for the idea that self-fulfilling prophecies contribute to social problems, there was little evidence to suggest that perceivers had disproportionately undermined the outcomes of stigmatized targets. Moreover, I consistently find that self-fulfilling prophecies help targets more than they harm them. For example, I have found that teachers’ inaccurate beliefs raise students’ achievement more than they lower it (Madon et al., 1997, JPSP) and that mothers’ inaccurate beliefs buffer their children against increased alcohol use rather than put them at greater risk (Madon et al., 2003, JPSP). Given these findings, one might infer that self-fulfilling prophecies contribute less to social problems than has traditionally been thought. However, these studies examined the self-fulfilling influence of a single inaccurate belief on a target’s outcome. This focus may underestimate the true extent to which individual targets are influenced by others' negative beliefs because they do not take into consideration the possibility that self-fulfilling prophecy effects may accumulate.

Therefore, I have recently begun to examine how multiple inaccurate beliefs combine to elicit confirmatory behavior from targets. One recent study examined whether the inaccurate beliefs held by multiple perceivers potentiated one another's self-fulfilling effects – that is, it tested whether self-fulfilling prophecy effects accumulated across different perceivers (Madon et al., 2004, Psych. Science) (press release) (newstory). I addressed this issue within the context of the family by investigating whether mothers' and fathers' beliefs about their children's alcohol use had cumulative self-fulfilling effects on their children's alcohol use. Results indicated that while positive self-fulfilling prophecies were more powerful than negative ones overall – a pattern that matches my earlier findings – it was only negative self-fulfilling prophecies that accumulated across perceivers. This finding provides evidence that self-fulfilling prophecies can benefit targets in general, while simultaneously harming targets who are disproportionately exposed to unfavorable beliefs from multiple perceivers. In another study, I examined a different kind of accumulation: Accumulation over time. Data from two independent samples of mothers and their children converged on the finding that mothers' self-fulfilling effects on their children's alcohol use accumulated over time. Specifically, the inaccurate beliefs that mothers developed about their children at different points during adolescence had unique and additive self-fulfilling effects on their children’s alcohol use at all subsequent points in time (Madon et al., 2006, JPSP). For example, children whose mothers consistently overestimated their alcohol use year after year exhibited greater increases in their drinking than children whose mothers had consistently underestimated their alcohol use year after year. Moreover, the accumulation of mothers' self-fulfilling effects served to widen the gap in these children's alcohol use over time. These findings support the long held belief that self-fulfilling prophecies play an important role in the creation of social inequalities.

Additional Work

Self-fulfilling Prophecies and Self-Verification: My colleagues and I (Madon et al., 2001, PSPB) examined whether self-fulfilling prophecies and self-verification processes occurred simultaneously among 108 teachers and 1692 students in 108 sixth-grade public school math classrooms. Results demonstrated three main findings. Self-fulfilling prophecies and self-verification occurred simultaneously in a context where teachers and students had highly valid information on which to base their initial perceptions. The availability of highly valid information led teachers and students to develop initially similar perceptions before mutual influence took place. High similarity between teachers' and students' initial perceptions had no effect on the power of self-verification, but weakened the effect of self-fulfilling prophecies for some students. These findings are discussed in terms of their implications for extended and close relationships and how the nature of people's perceptions may influence the power of self-fulfilling prophecies and self-verification.

If you are interested in reading summaries of other research relevant to self-fulfilling prophecies that I have been involved with see my publication list.

Stereotype content, change, and inaccuracy:

I have also examined several issues relevant to people's stereotypes about social groups. In one article (Madon et al., 2001, PSPB), we assessed changes in the content, consensus and favorableness of ten ethnic and national stereotypes by replicating and extending the Princeton trilogy (Gilbert, 1951; Karlins, Coffman & Walters, 1969; Katz and Braly, 1933). Results indicated that over the past 60 years, almost all of the ethnic and national stereotypes that were examined had changed in content, and more than half had changed in consensus. Most changes in consensus reflected increases, rather than decreases, suggesting that modern members of stereotyped groups may confront stereotypes more frequently than did previous members of stereotyped groups. However, the damaging effects that consensual stereotypes can have on members of these groups may be tempered by the finding that most of the stereotypes became more favorable.

Stereotype Accuracy:

In other research examining the content of people's stereotypes, I (Madon et al., 1998, PSPB) have examined the accuracy and power of sex, social class and ethnic stereotypes in person perception. Participants included 49-56 teachers and nearly 2,000 students in seventh-grade public school math classes. Results indicated that teacher perceptions regarding achievement and motivation differences between girls and boys, lower and higher social class students, and African American and White students were mostly accurate. Results also showed that although teachers generally relied on students’ personal characteristics to form their perceptions, they occasionally relied on stereotypes. We discuss these results in terms of the classic view that stereotypes are inaccurate, rigid, exaggerated and exert powerful effects on person perception.

Stereotype Content:

I have also examined the content and strength of the gay male stereotype (Madon, 1997, Sex Roles).In this research, analyses examining content assessed (1) stereotypic and counterstereotypic attributes of gay males including personality traits, behaviors and physical characteristics and; (2) different subtypes of gay males. Analyses examining strength measured how strongly people associated with gay males (1) personality traits, behaviors and physical characteristics and; (2) the identified subtypes. Results indicated that the stereotype’s content included attributes from multiple components and formed two subtypes. The first subtype reflected the perception that gay males have positive female sex-typed qualities. The second subtype reflected the perception that gay males violate acceptable male gender roles. Results regarding the stereotype’s strength indicated that people most strongly associated behaviors with gay males and the subtype that they violate acceptable male gender roles.

My colleagues and I have recently extended this work to examine the content and consensus of gay men as it relates to psychopathology (Boysen, Vogel, & Madon, in press, Sex Roles). We performed three studies to examine the mental health stereotypes about gay men among college student and therapist trainee samples. Results from Study 1 indicated that (a) college students and therapist trainees endorsed a stereotype of the mental health of gay men that was similar in terms of its content and strength, and (b) the stereotype was consistent with five DSM-IV-TR disorder categories: mood, anxiety, sexual and gender identity, eating, and personality disorders. In Studies 2 and 3 we investigated whether homophobia or a tendency to report cultural beliefs could account for the lack of difference between college students and therapist trainees. Results did not support either explanation.