Robert K. Merton Quote

The self-fulfilling prophecy is, in the beginning, a false definition of the situation evoking a new behavior which makes the originally false conception come true. The specious validity of the self-fulfilling prophecy perpetuates a reign of error. For the prophet will cite the actual course of events as proof that he was right from the very beginning.


The Self-Fulfilling Prophecy (1948)


The self-fulfilling prophecy is, in the beginning, a false definition of the situation evoking a new behavior which makes the originally false...

The self-fulfilling prophecy is, in the beginning, a false definition of the situation evoking a new behavior which makes the originally false...

The self-fulfilling prophecy is, in the beginning, a false definition of the situation evoking a new behavior which makes the originally false...

The self-fulfilling prophecy is, in the beginning, a false definition of the situation evoking a new behavior which makes the originally false...