Definition of Pygmalion – What is, Meaning and Concept

Pygmalion is the name of a mythological character, whose origins date back to the Ancient Greece. According to myth, it was about a monarch who, after not finding the ideal woman to marry, chose to develop sculptures that would allow him to supply the feminine presence as a life partner.

The story goes that Pygmalion ended up falling in love with one of his creations, baptized as Galatea. The goddess Aphrodite was moved by the desire to Pygmalion (reflected through a dream that the king had) and gave life to the sculpture, transforming Galatea in a human being.

This myth had various representations in theater and cinema. One of the most popular plays based on the story, simply titled ‘Pygmalion«, It was written by the Irish George Bernard Shaw in 1913, an author who would win the Nobel Prize in Literature years later.

In Shaw’s story, set in London, a phonics teacher (Henry Higgins) meets a florist by chance
(Eliza Doolitle) who has a very low level of education. Higgins bets a friend that he can turn Eliza into a lady in just six months, and thus begins a very interesting plot in which the interests of each party are revealed, who will not be able to escape the consequences of their obsessions and secrets. It is a very particular vision, which has been the inspiration for successive works in various media, such as the film «My fair lady“Starring Audrey Hepburn.

Greek myth, on the other hand, is taken to explain a phenomenon known as pygmalion effect, which argues that what one subject thinks about another may have influence on the performance of this second individual.

The pygmalion effect it can manifest itself in different ways. A teacher may have certain expectations of his students, ultimately determining student performance through his predictions. The pygmalion effect can also appear when a person He manages to fulfill his expectations based on his conviction of being able to do so.

It is important to note that the pygmalion effect can be negative (when expectations work against the self esteem of the person) or positive (Forecasts raise self-esteem).

The effect Pygmalion in education occurs too often and is negative for students chosen and for the rest. As stated in a previous paragraph, one of its manifestations occurs in the classroom, when teachers place a series of expectations on certain students about their academic performance. The first problem to highlight about this phenomenon is that these students do not ask to be treated with favoritism, although, after a while, they begin to enjoy it and need it.

When teachers decide that certain students will be the best in the class, even if they are unconscious processes, they begin to treat them in a special way, with more patience, they subtly push them towards the success, feeding their ego disproportionately because of not demanding as much effort and dedication as the rest. Consequently, these students constantly improve their performance, surprising their environment with each answer, with each grade, and feeding the fantasy of their teachers.

One of the main negative consequences of the Pygmalion effect in schools is the envy it sows in ignored students towards those who are favored: on the one hand, the former feel diminished by their teachers, they believe that they are not capable enough to make them proud of their performance and this may result in them giving up trying; The latter, for their part, suffer envy but cannot allow themselves to reject the praise of their teachers and their elders, for which they develop attitudes that will hinder their insertion Social in the future.