“You are the kind of student who was successful in high school, but I don’t think you’ll be successful in college.”

Those were the words that hit me like a brick wall during my freshman year, delivered by a professor who, if I’m being honest, seemed more interested in tearing me down than offering any real guidance. I can still see the way he leaned back in his chair, eyebrows slightly raised, arms crossed as if he were bracing himself for my inevitable downfall. I was stunned. As a straight-A high-school valedictorian who had even been voted “most likely to succeed,” this was a deviation from every affirmation I’d ever received. It wasn’t just a hit to my confidence—it was a full-on assault. Had I peaked too soon? Had I somehow tricked everyone into thinking I was smart?

For a few weeks, that one sentence replayed in my head. I had been placed in a box—one labeled “not cut out for this,” a box defined by someone else’s perception of my capabilities. But here’s what I eventually realized: The only thing that was about to hold me back in college wasn’t a lack of skill or knowledge. It was someone else’s low expectations.

What happened to me has a name: the Pygmalion Effect. Named after the Greek mythological figure Pygmalion, who sculpted a statue that came to life because he believed in its beauty, the Pygmalion Effect in psychology refers to the phenomenon where higher expectations lead to improved performance. It’s not just wishful thinking—research backs it up.

In a classic study from 1968, psychologists Robert Rosenthal and Lenore Jacobson demonstrated the power of expectations in a school setting. They randomly selected students and told their teachers that these particular kids were “intellectual bloomers,” suggesting that they would show rapid academic progress over the next year. In reality, these students were no different than their peers. But something astonishing happened: By the........

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