Alternative explanations for self-fulfilling prophecy

Discusses alternative explanations for 1 type of self-fulfilling prophecy phenomenon: where a person's expectations for his own behavior alter his actual behavior. These explanations include claims that events fitting prophecies are sought out in order to reduce cognitive dissonance (dissonance reduction) or anxiety (anxiety reduction); or that events are inadvertently altered because the goal or effort changes (defensive effort), because the prophet is distracted from the task (anxiety distraction), or because prophecy-induced arousal adversely affects performance (energizing arousal). Although the defensive effort explanation is most clearly supported by available research, there is not enough information to adequately evaluate the alternative explanations. Suggested strategies for future research include (a) using measures of alternative processes within the same experiment; and (b) manipulating dissonance, anxiety, effort, distraction, and/or arousal independently of prophecies. These strategies allow inferences about the frequency with which various processes occur and the sufficiency and necessity of these processes as explanations for self-fulfilling prophecy. (56 ref)