Don’t Kid Yourself: Beware of the Chameleon Effect

You know what’s amazing? It’s the ability we all have to change our environment based upon our view of it. I’m not talking about any mysticism or hocus pocus, but a proven psychological ability that we as human beings have. It’s called the “Chameleon Effect”, also known as the “Pygmalion Effect” or the Rosenthal effect (after the researcher Robert Rosenthal who first studied it), it deals with our natural sense of value attribution and how it affects our lives. People tend to superimpose or imbue things with certain qualities or characteristics based on how they initially perceive them. Our initial impression of something or someone will lead us to view it in a way consistent with that impression.

On a crowded subway platform in Washington D.C., Joshua Bell (a Grammy Award-winning violinist who plays to sold-out crowds in symphonies around the world) pulled out his $3.5 million Stradivarius violin during morning rush hour, and

started playing. Nobody noticed. That’s weird, why would that be? It’s a mental shortcut that we use to determine what’s worth our attention, and based on what people saw (first impression), they assumed Mr. Bell was just an average street performer trying to make a few bucks.

Taking value attribution a step further, the Chameleon Effect superimposes our view on people and things and makes them behave as we expect. This was perfectly demonstrated in an experiment with the Israeli army. In one of its training programs, 105 soldiers were selected to participate in a 15-week commander program.

Commander Training

The program was intense, requiring intense physical training, mental concentration, and 16-hour workdays.  For the experiment, this particular course was going to be different from any of the previous ones. Tel Aviv University psychologist Dr. Dov Eden told the training officers that the army had gathered comprehensive data on each trainee. He told the officers each soldier had been categorized into three categories: high, regular, or unknown (because of insufficient information).

A total of four trainee classes were formed from each category. Eden told the officers to copy each trainee’s CP into their records. It’s important for you to learn your trainees’ names and predicted CPs by the beginning of the course.” The trainees had no idea what was going on. Officers didn’t know that the so-called command potential and supporting data were fake! Scores weren’t based on intelligence, past performance, or ability, they were randomly assigned.

Eden returned after 15 weeks and discovered something amazing. After finishing the course, the soldiers took a test to see how well they knew “standard operating procedures, combat tactics, topography, topography, navigation, and gun firing accuracy.” The test results showed how assigning soldiers to different command potential categories affected their performance.

It turns out that soldiers with high CP scores performed better on the test (scoring an average of 79.98) than their “unknown” and “regular” counterparts (scoring 72.43 and 65.18, respectively). That’s a 22.7% improvement. The soldier’s actual ability improved when he was labeled as having high leadership potential. Remember that neither the trainers nor the trainees had any idea what was going on. As a result, trainees took on the characteristics of the diagnoses officers gave them.

When Dr. Eden told the trainers that the command potential scores were fabricated, they disagreed. To prove their point, they offered up tests that showed high-potential soldiers did better on. This is known as circular logic in psychology. Exit tests confirmed the initial diagnosis; the trainees had simply molded their abilities to their diagnoses. The molding process becomes self-perpetuating. We reinforce and validate the diagnosis when we adopt the characteristics assigned to us. Have you ever seen this? The Chameleon Effect happens when we brand or label someone, making them take on the characteristics of the diagnosis.

In the book, Sway: The Irresistible Pull of Irrational Behavior by Ori Brafman and Rom Brafman, the authors talk about the Chameleon Effect this way:

We’re constantly sending and receiving cues and subtle messages to and from one another — swaying and being swayed, even if our rational brain hasn’t been let in on the secret. As this study illustrates, we can’t help but take on the characteristics others ascribe to us. There’s a hidden dance at work within even the most seemingly straightforward interactions — and in this way, we’re all psychological chameleons.

The Chameleon Effect in the Workplace

This phenomenon is of course by no means limited to the Israeli military. A meta-analysis by psychologists at SUNY Albany found that the same diagnostic effects can be found in the workplace. If you’ve ever worked for a boss who values you, you’ll know what I mean. As people, we have a tendency to rise to meet our own high expectations. However, nothing makes a person feel more inept and demoralized than a supervisor who thinks you don’t have what it takes.

In my own career and life, I have seen the Chameleon Effect both on the sending and receiving ends. If I knew then what I know now, it would have made some tough situations a lot easier.

What are your thoughts on this psychological phenomenon?

Have you ever experienced the Chameleon Effect?

What do you believe we as people need to do about this?

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