A self-defeating prophecy (''self-destroying'' or ''self-denying'' in some sources) is the complementary opposite of a
self-fulfilling prophecy
A self-fulfilling prophecy is a prediction that comes true at least in part as a result of a person's or group of persons' belief or expectation that said prediction would come true. This suggests that people's beliefs influence their actions. ...
; a prediction that prevents what it predicts from happening. This is also known as the prophet's dilemma.
A self-defeating prophecy can be the result of
rebellion
Rebellion, uprising, or insurrection is a refusal of obedience or order. It refers to the open resistance against the orders of an established authority.
A rebellion originates from a sentiment of indignation and disapproval of a situation and ...
to the prediction. If the audience of a prediction has an interest in seeing it falsified, and its fulfillment depends on their actions or inaction, their actions upon hearing it will make the prediction less plausible. If a prediction is made with this outcome specifically in mind, it is commonly referred to as
reverse psychology or warning. Also, when working to make a premonition come true, one can inadvertently change the circumstances so much that the prophecy cannot come true.
It is important to distinguish a self-defeating prophecy from a self-fulfilling prophecy that predicts a negative outcome. If a prophecy of a negative outcome is made, and that negative outcome is achieved as a result of
positive feedback, then it is a self-''fulfilling'' prophecy. For example, if a group of people decide they will not be able to achieve a goal and stop working towards the goal as a result, their prophecy was self-fulfilling. Likewise, if a prediction of a negative outcome is made, but the outcome is positive because of
negative feedback
Negative feedback (or balancing feedback) occurs when some function (Mathematics), function of the output of a system, process, or mechanism is feedback, fed back in a manner that tends to reduce the fluctuations in the output, whether caused by ...
resulting from the rebellion, then that is a self-''defeating'' prophecy.
Examples
* If an economic crisis is predicted, then consumers, manufacturers and authorities will respond to avoid economic loss, breaking the chain of events that would lead to crisis.
* The biblical prophet
Jonah famously ran away and refused to deliver God's prophecy of
Nineveh
Nineveh (; akk, ; Biblical Hebrew: '; ar, نَيْنَوَىٰ '; syr, ܢܝܼܢܘܹܐ, Nīnwē) was an ancient Assyrian city of Upper Mesopotamia, located in the modern-day city of Mosul in northern Iraq. It is located on the eastern ban ...
's destruction, lest the inhabitants repent and cause God to forgive them and not destroy the city. Indeed, when Jonah eventually does deliver the prophecy, the people do mend their ways and cause the prophecy not to happen.
* The
Year 2000 problem has been cited as a self-defeating prophecy, in that fear of massive technology failures caused by computers' internal clocks "rolling over" encouraged the very changes needed to avoid those failures.
* Pre-announcing products in a way that discourages current sales (the
Osborne effect) is also an example of a self-defeating prophecy.
* Predictions of environmental issues are sometimes corrected via legislation or behavior change and thus never happen.
* Epidemics with grim projections also encourage changes that can prevent those projections from coming true and in turn lead to people questioning the necessity of those changes because the projections did not come true.
See also
*
Self-refuting idea
References
External links
*
{{unintended consequences
Attitude attribution
Causality
Cognitive biases
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