The Pygmalion Effect: The King's Speech Epitomized

As we were learning about social psychology, we learned a lot of technical names and explanations for things that we see throughout our lives. One such example of this is the Pygmalion effect, one form of self-fulfilling prophecy. The quizlet definition of this effect is the effect of teacher's expectations on students. For example, if a student is in an advanced class, and the teacher treats and approaches the students as if they're gifted, then the students will tend to do better than they would in a remedial class where the teacher treats them as if there's something wrong. As always, this got me thinking about movies that I've seen this effect in. Most notably, it made me think about "The King's Speech."

For those that haven't seen this Oscar-winning movie of awesomeness, it's about a man, Bertie, who happens to be a prince and happens to have a horrible stutter. As the Duke of York, he has to make a few short speeches and seeks speech therapy from decorated doctors who, sadly, give him the worst advice. One doctor tries to make him speak with seven marbles stuck in his mouth because the stammer must be because of a problem in his mouth. Another doctor tells him to smoke, and for no clear purpose at that. Then comes Lionel Logue: a thespian, an Australian, and an unaccredited speech therapist. As you probably could have guessed, Lionel manages to help Bertie with his stutter. When Bertie is forced into taking the throne on the eve of World War II, Lionel is there with him to help him through his most difficult speech, which he succeeds at delivering. Here's the video so you can judge for yourself:

What's most interesting about this movie is the stark contrast between the former doctors and Lionel. All of the nighted doctors treated Bertie as if there were something fundamentally wrong with him that needed to be mended. Lionel, on the other hand, treated Bertie like an equal and helped him overcome one of the greatest challenges of his life by treating him like a man with a voice. Throughout the movie, Lionel makes Bertie say "I have a right to be heard! I have a voice!" With this statement, Lionel gives Bertie the confidence to overcome his stammer and fulfill the self-fulfilling prophecy. This whole scenario adds something to the pygmalion effect: the teacher who treats their students as equals with a right to be heard will get the best results.

On that note, we should all thank Mrs. Perl for treating us all as if we have a right to be heard and not doubting us, even when we turn in assignments a month late. :P