034Effect
Pygmalion Effect
A psychological phenomenon whereby broadcasting expectations for someone else, alters their performance.
Why it matters
For example, being told that you're good at something, can actually create a better performance.
But in the same vein, signalling to the user that they're bad at something, may have the reverse effect.
This is often called the Rosenthal effect.
Effort & motivation:
• If you're told that you're the best football player on the team, and people are relying on you, you may be more motivated, and put in more effort. • Likewise, if you're told that you have the ability to quickly learn to use a tool, you may be more motivated to then commit to learning how to use it.
Input quality:
• If the user is told that they're bad at something, then it can knock their confidence, and influence future results. • e.g., "you scored in the lowest 20% on Duolingo last month" could actually create a negative cycle, where your input quality was then worse as a result.
What to inspect
- Check whether the experience reflects this: If you're told that you're the best football player on the team, and people are relying on you, you may be more motivated, and put in more effort.
- Check whether the experience reflects this: Likewise, if you're told that you have the ability to quickly learn to use a tool, you may be more motivated to then commit to learning how to use it.
- Check whether the experience reflects this: If the user is told that they're bad at something, then it can knock their confidence, and influence future results.
Common anti-patterns
- Assuming users consciously notice every place where "A psychological phenomenon whereby broadcasting expectations for someone else, alters their performance" could apply.
- Dense copy and parallel actions that increase mental effort unrelated to the user’s goal.
- Ignoring downstream effects on effort & motivation when shipping this pattern.
Critique prompts
- If you're told that you're the best football player on the team, and people are relying on you, you may be more motivated, and put in more effort.
- Likewise, if you're told that you have the ability to quickly learn to use a tool, you may be more motivated to then commit to learning how to use it.
- If the user is told that they're bad at something, then it can knock their confidence, and influence future results.
- Where on this screen would "Pygmalion Effect" show up as friction or misunderstanding?
- What would a first-time user misunderstand here in under five seconds?