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The Pygmalion effect, named after the Greek myth of Pygmalion and his statue, is expressed by saying:

People tend to behave as you expect they will. (self-fulfilling prophecy)

George Bernard Shaw wrote a play, Pygmalion, which was later popularized by the musical My Fair Lady. The character Henry Higgins believes the cockney flower girl Eliza Doolittle can be made into a lady. Higgins' belief in her drives her to make it.

In Eliza Doolittle's own words:

You see, really and truly, apart from the things anyone can pick up (the dressing and the proper way of speaking and so on), the difference between a lady and a flower girl is not how she behaves, but how she's treated. I shall always be a flower girl to Professor Higgins, because he always treats me as a flower girl, and always will, but I know I can be a lady to you because you always treat me as a lady, and always will.

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Topics: Pygmalion Effect, Pygmalion Of Tyre...

PygmalionPygmalion is a Greek name, probably going back to Phoenician roots. Pygmalion or Pygmaion according to Hesychios of Alexandra is probably a Cypriote form of Adonis, a Levantine vegetation-god. Bearers of the name include: # Pygmalion, king of Tyre, brothe

Pygmalion of TyrePygmalion (also known as Pumayyaton was king of Tyre from 820 to 774 BC, and a son of King Mattan I (829-821 BC). During Pygmalion's reign, Tyre seems to have shifted the heart of its trading empire from the Middle East to the Mediterranean, as can be jud

Pygmalion effectThe Pygmalion effect named after the Greek myth of Pygmalion and his statue, is expressed by saying: People tend to behave as you expect they will. self-fulfilling prophecy George Bernard Shaw wrote a play, Pygmalion which was later popularized by the mus

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