Self-Fulfilling Prophecy

Coined by sociologist Robert K. Merton in his 1948 article "The Self-Fulfilling Prophecy" in The Antioch Review, defining it as "a false definition of the situation evoking a new behavior which makes the originally false conception come true." Merton built on the Thomas theorem—"if men define situations as real, they are real in their consequences"—illustrating the concept with a bank run parable and applying it to racial discrimination. His work laid foundations for understanding how initial perceptions create reality through behavioral feedback loops.