Question

Joe has always believed that he is lousy at athletics. when he tried to play soccer, he was sure he would not be good at it, and indeed, he was not very adept. this may be a result of the __________.

Answer 1

self-fulfilling prophecy
A self-fulfilling prophecy is a prediction that directly or indirectly causes itself to become true, by the very terms of the prophecy itself, due to positive feedback between belief and behavior.