The psychologist Robert Rosenthal told student researchers that some rats in a study would learn a task quickly and others would learn the task slowly. In reality, there was no difference in the rats' ability to learn the task. When the students tested the rats, the animals' learning matched what the students were told. These results reflect:

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This situation reflects the experimenter expectancy effect, also known as the Rosenthal effect, where the expectations of the experimenter influence the behavior of the participants or subjects. In this case, the students' belief that some rats were better at learning the task influenced the way they interacted with and tested the rats, leading to confirmation of their initial expectations.

The Psychologist Robert Rosenthal Told Student Researchers That Some Rats