Article March 7, 1970 Issue

Signs of the Times

John Kord Lagemann

The Reader's Digest

John Kord Lagemann in The Reader's Digest Pleasantville, New York

Almost any assertion you make about a person—including yourself—can become a self-fulfilling prophecy. "All of us carry on a constant dialogue with ourselves," says sociologist Robert M. MacIver. "We are constantly making predictions about what we can and cannot do. And there are few of us who could not do a lot more if we simply expected more of ourselves.

"Suppose you were asked to walk across a neighbor's freshly seeded lawn on a foot-wide plank. You'd do it without thinking. But if the same plank were laid across a chasm, you'd have second thoughts. Yet if you told yourself, 'Of course I can do it,' you'd get across without much trouble."

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