Expectation can be defined as the perception of the likelihood of achieving a goal or the anticipated assumption of the resulting consequences. Low or high expectation tends to lead to decreased or increased performance and learning.
Belief itself has a powerful effect on how things turn out. We assume a belief about ourselves and our own skiing attributes, which lead us to achieve a level of performance close to self-imposed expectations, but we should be careful not to confuse expectation with desire.
In order to achieve our goals, three factors must be interrelated:
- The motive (the willingness to strive to achieve a goal).
- The probability of success, or expectations.
- The incentive value of what we want to achieve (the value we attach to what we have accomplished or are about to accomplish).
The complexity of the task influences the incentive: the more difficult it is, the less incentive we will have to perform it. If the result of an activity is satisfactory, the greater the incentive to repeat it.
Motivation and behavior are regulated, in addition to thoughts, by the following expectations:
- Situational expectations regarding the outcomes of environmental circumstances that are independent of our personal actions.
- Expectations of self-efficacy represented by our belief of possessing the ability to achieve the intended performance.
- Outcome expectations refer to our own beliefs that our behavior will bring about certain outcomes.
Estanislao Bachrach, PhD in molecular biology, talks about the great power that expectations have for what we wish to change. He adds that every experience we have is shaped by the interaction between expectations (future), previous experiences (past) and sensory information received from the environment (present). Professor of psychobiology Donatella Spinelli argues that our personal expectations depend on the perception of competence, control of situations, and interpretations of past experiences.
Expectancy-value theory
Expectancy-value theory postulates that motivation depends on the expectation that certain actions will bring about certain outcomes and how appealing they are, interpreted as value. This theory proposes that the higher our expectations that a certain behavior will secure certain outcomes, the greater our motivation to perform the activity.
We are guided and motivated primarily by our expectations about the possible outcomes of our actions. The following cases can be illustrated: an athlete wishes to win a race and assigns a highly positive value to it. His expectations are also high given that he has trained consciously, in addition to having achieved good results in that discipline, which leads to high achievement motivation. It should be noted that the higher the expectations of success, the lower the anxiety experienced. For a different athlete, the incentive value is positive but his expectations of winning the competition are low because he considers it to be a difficult achievement, then his motivation will be lower.
The observer-expectation effect
Several studies indicate a positive correlation between the expectation of the teacher and the performance of the disciple. The expectation of instructors and coaches influences the performance of skiers and athletes. If these pros have a positive or negative expectation about them then, most likely, so will be their performance since their own reality can be influenced by others. This effect, called the observer-expectation, or Pygmalion effect, is about the potential influence of one person’s beliefs on another’s performance, which can be either beneficial or detrimental depending on how the skier has been labeled. When honest expectations of improvement are demonstrated, performance is stimulated since a person will tend not to disappoint, to a greater or lesser extent, the sincere expectations that another has of him or her, thus influencing his or her behavior.
The power of our expectations of another person is so great that it can, by itself, condition his or her behavior. In this self-fulfilling prophecy, what we expect of a person is sometimes also decisive for his or her development. The Pygmalion effect involves the attitudes of instructors and coaches who have a certain idea of learners and athletes and are then inclined to train them on the basis of this idea or, in other words, tend to teach or train better those from whom they expect better results.
To summarize, the effect that positive expectations generate are:
- Instructors and coaches who have positive expectations of learners/athletes produce a warmer socio-emotional learning climate.
- These professionals provide better information and feedback while providing more opportunities.
The visual expectation of the environment
Expectation has a great influence on our sensory experience since perception of the environment tends to be shaped by our own expectations. Visual environmental expectancy is a brain state that reflects what is possible or likely to happen according to our prior knowledge, causing expected stimuli to be processed faster than those that are unexpected.
When on a familiar slope we have prior knowledge of its configuration in terms of trees, slope changes, depressions, or different slopes. This type of prior knowledge helps us to reduce the visual perceptual load of the constant and already known environmental elements, so that it does not require repeated processing, facilitating the acquisition of new visual information.
The negative aspect of expectations
The negative aspect of our own or other people’s expectations is a burden that can become limiting as to what is about to happen and can lead to disappointment due to the contrast between the intended and our actual skiing, that is, between our own expectations and the present situation. If we descend a slope of greater difficulty for our own level and do so unhappily, the disappointment will not be so strong because our expectation foresaw that this could happen; but if we descend one commensurate with our technical level and do not do well, we will very likely to be upset.
