Originally Posted by IrishNY
There are lots of studies that show that people work to the expectations. If you convince them they can do great things, they will. And it has little to do with intelligence, innate ability or any other individual trait.
Very true, but not completely. It makes me think of the auditions for American Idol, where they show people who are just terrible, and these people have been told they can be and do anything they put their minds to. The thing is, they do have to put their minds (or voices or performances) to it to succeed. And they just won't look at themselves objectively so they can improve.
Or people with cancer who try visualization techniques to fight the cancer. They want to be positive, and they get the expectation that the techniques will work for them. These techniques
have been successful to an extent, but not with everyone. And when it doesn't work, not only is the person left in despair, she or he also feels guilt at not succeeding at it.
So I guess I'm saying suggestion and setting expectations can be powerful - but not all-powerful.