THE EFFECTS OF SELF-ESTEEM AND SOURCE CREDIBILITY ON SELF-DENYING PROPHECIES

Self-fulfilling prophecies are a well-studied phenomenon. The study of self-denying prophecies, however, is rare. Self-denying prophecies sh ift people's behavior in the direction opposite to the prophecy. The e xistence of self-denying prophecies was investigated in 222 students. The effects of self-esteem and the source of the prophecy were also in vestigated. The results suggest that self-denying prophecies exist and that self-esteem is an important moderator of self-denying prophecies . If managers and industrial/organizational psychologists had an under standing of self-denying prophecies, they might be better able to stru cture negative performance reviews in a way that could lead to improve d employee performance.