Abstract
The present study was designed to exeamine how the target's interpretation of his behavior being modified by the perceiver's expectancy leads to changes in the self-concept and cognition toward the perceiver.
The study was conducted in two sessions held one week apart. Subjects were 88 middle school students, They were randomly assigned to the following two conditions: (1) Expectancy condition; expectancy manipulation was conducted, (2) Control condition; no expectancy manipulation was conducted. Subjects in each condition were divided into two groups according to the median algebraic difference between the task performance scores of session 1 and those of session 2. Between the first and second sessions, subject's ratings of self and teacher were measured.
Major results were as follows:
(1) Between the first and second sessions, changes in ratings of self and teacher were larger ulnder expectancy conditions than under control conditions.
(2) The group showing the large behavior changes between the first and second sessions changed ratings of self and teacher more than the group showing the small behavior changes did.
(3) Such traits as trustworthiness, responsibility, loyalty, and diligence were related to changes in a student's self-concept which resulted from his behavior being modified by teacher's expectancy.
