Social influence by requesting self-prophecy
Spangenberg and Greenwald review the self-prophecy literature and report experiments of their own with undergraduates in a name-generation task. A preliminary study had 83 participants. The first experiment, with 331 students, found no significant main effect. The second, with 406 students and a Solomon four-group design, found a significant effect with and without a pretest, and prior experience did not significantly weaken it. The authors propose that a prediction makes the gap between behaviour and ideals salient and that later action closes it, and link the effect to dissonance, induced hypocrisy and self-awareness theory.
Spangenberg and Greenwald review the self-prophecy literature and report experiments of their own with undergraduates in a name-generation task. A preliminary study had 83 participants. The first experiment, with 331 students, found no significant main effect. The second, with 406 students and a Solomon four-group design, found a significant effect with and without a pretest, and prior experience did not significantly weaken it. The authors propose that a prediction makes the gap between behaviour and ideals salient and that later action closes it, and link the effect to dissonance, induced hypocrisy and self-awareness theory.
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Spangenberg, E. R., & Greenwald, A. G. (1999). Social influence by requesting self-prophecy. Journal of Consumer Psychology, 8(1), 61-89. doi:10.1207/s15327663jcp0801_03 https://doi.org/10.1207/s15327663jcp0801_03