The dangers of the Golem effect
How lowered expectations--for employees, managers, and elected representatives--become a self-fulfilling prophecy. Zsolt Farkas explains on Medium.
The Golem Effect is the lesser-known sibling of the Pygmalion Effect — the idea that high expectations improve performance (Rosenthal & Jacobson, 1968).
The name “Golem” comes from Jewish folklore: a creature formed from clay, given life to serve, but inherently flawed and destined to spiral out of control. It’s a fitting metaphor for what happens when we expect mediocrity from someone. Eventually, they live down to it.
In one of the most famous experiments in educational psychology, Rosenthal and Jacobson gave elementary school students an IQ test and randomly labeled some as “academic bloomers.” Teachers were told these students were poised for growth.
A few months later, those randomly selected students showed significantly greater gains — not because of some magic dust, but because teachers unknowingly changed their behavior toward them.
Higher warmth. More attention. Better feedback. More time. Rosenthal identified those four ingredients — the “climate, input, output, and feedback” that subtly shape performance.
Now flip that script. Apply it in reverse. That’s Golem.
Low expectations create colder climates, thinner input, fewer chances to speak or stretch, and vaguer, less actionable feedback.
The result? A slow slide toward underperformance.
Most leaders don’t tell someone they’re average.
They show it.
Through less eye contact. More micromanagement. Easier assignments. Or the absence of high-stakes opportunities.
In a study coded by Babad, Inbar, and Rosenthal (1982), teachers treated students they believed had low potential with more negative nonverbal behavior and less instructional support—even though the students had been randomly labeled.
The students responded by performing worse.
This is what makes the Golem Effect so dangerous. It doesn’t require bad intentions—just unconscious assumptions.
In corporate settings, Dov Eden’s research on “Pygmalion leadership” showed that when managers were trained to communicate high expectations, employee performance reliably improved — even when the employees hadn’t changed (Eden, 1992; Eden, 2000).
Now imagine what happens when managers do the opposite — even unintentionally.
Meta-analyses of workplace expectation effects (Kierein & Gold, 2000; McNatt, 2000) show that high expectations consistently produce medium-to-large improvements in performance.
If positive belief moves the needle that much, imagine the damage low expectations cause — especially when compounded by subtle workplace biases.
Even more troubling: stereotype threat amplifies this effect for marginalized groups.
When individuals fear confirming a negative group stereotype, performance drops — not because they lack skill, but because anxiety hijacks their cognitive bandwidth (Steele & Aronson, 1995; Flore & Wicherts, 2015).
Your culture may not say “Ops isn’t strategic” or “new grads aren’t ready,” but if the patterns of belief and opportunity suggest it, Golem still lives — just with better branding.
Leaders often think their judgments are quietly held — internal calibrations, not public pronouncements.
But expectations are never invisible.
They show up in how much time you give someone, the kinds of questions you ask, the risks you let them take, and the tone of your emails.
Eden’s field experiments showed that when managers believed someone had high potential — even falsely — their behavior changed, and performance followed.
Expectations don’t just predict reality. They create it.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golem_effect
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