Differential Perceptions of College Environment: Student Personnel Staff and Students

The College Characteristics Index was administered to 160 randomly selected students, 15 head residents, and 20 members of the student personnel staff. Considerable disparity in perception of the environment was found among the 3 groups. Generally, students perceived the environment as possessing a greater degree of all the characteristics measured and valued by the academic community (i.e., aspiration level, intellectual climate, and academic achievement) than did the other reference groups. The differences in perceptions suggest that head residents and other student personnel staff may be involved with selected aspects of the campus life and with atypical groups of students.     

Teachers' Responses to Bias in the Classroom: How Response Type and Situational Factors Affect Student Perceptions

College students frequently encounter prejudice, discrimination, and stereotypes, but there is no research on effective teacher responses to classroom bias. Three studies examined students' perceptions of teacher responses to bias in the classroom. Study 1 experimentally manipulated the level of bias expressed and the teacher's response. Students perceived responding to bias as more effective than ignoring bias. Study 2 demonstrated that students perceive differences in the intensity of common responses to bias. Study 3 manipulated if bias occurred publicly or privately and if the target of bias was present or not, and students evaluated teacher responses of differing intensity for their effectiveness in achieving specific goals. The results provide evidence for the efficacy of matching responses to specific goals.     

Academic Misconduct among Business Students: A Comparison of the US and UAE

A survey of 345 undergraduate business students from a medium-sized southeastern regional university and 164 undergraduates from a medium-sized university in the United Arab Emirates found that 71 % of all respondents admitted to academic misconduct in a recent 1-year period, a percentage similar to McCabe’s (2005) finding that an average of 70 % of undergraduate students admitted to recent academic misconduct. Business students from the Middle East were significantly less likely to perceive various academic misconduct behaviors as forms of serious cheating compared to business students from the US. Hofstede’s (2001) cultural dimension of individualism/collectivism and Ajzen’s (Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes 50, 179–211, 1991) theory of planned behavior are discussed as likely explanations of reported academic misconduct differences between the two countries.     

Profiling Marital Satisfaction among Graduate Students: an Analysis of the Perceptions of Masters and Doctoral-Students

This study investigated marital satisfaction among graduate students. Using the Marital Satisfaction Inventory-R (MSI-R), 65 graduate students were surveyed. The results revealed multiple common areas of marital concern based on degree program of the student. These findings offer implications for psycho-educational and responsive interventions for clinicians working with this population.     

Thinking Outside the Square: Business Students' Conceptions of Creativity

Creativity is an important attribute of a successful graduate of higher education, recognised by universities and employers alike. In this paper, we investigate ideas about creativity that were discussed during interviews by a group of business students at a university in Sydney, Australia. Using a phenomenographic approach, we identified three levels of conceptions of creativity, labeled Definition, Attribute, and Comprehensive, from the narrowest and most limited to the broadest and most inclusive. We discuss the characteristics of these different ways of viewing creativity and the pedagogical implications of our findings for business education (and higher education generally).     

Teaching the Devout Student: Faith and Scholarship in the Classroom

Increasing numbers of college students enrolling in religion courses in recent years are looking to develop their religious faith or spirituality, while professors of religion want students to use and appreciate scholarly tools to study religion from an academic perspective. Some scholars argue that it is not possible to satisfy both goals in the classroom, while authors in this journal have given suggestions on how to bridge the gap between faith and scholarship. I argue that such authors are correct and that, in my experience, historical‐critical methods can help devout students understand the original texts in their own religion better, comprehend why changes in interpretation have occurred over time, and appreciate the values in religions other than their own. Not all devout students are comfortable with an academic study of religion, but many can attain a more mature faith by such an approach.     

Bias at school: Perceptions of racial/ethnic discrimination among Latino and European American children

Latino and White/European American children (N = 99; 5–11 years of age) participated in a study designed to examine their perceptions of racial/ethnic discrimination in educational settings. Children heard scenarios involving two children of different races/ethnicities, one who received a more positive outcome from a teacher than the other. Children were then asked about the reasons for the differential outcomes. The role of (a) situational information (i.e., the race/ethnicity of the children and teacher in the story, and information about the teacher's past choices); (b) social-cognitive abilities (i.e., theory of mind); and (c) child characteristics (i.e., child's race/ethnicity and racial/ethnic attitudes) in facilitating children's attributions to discrimination was assessed. Results indicated that children most frequently attributed differential outcomes to the quality of work or the ability of students. Children were most likely to make an attribution to discrimination when the teacher rewarded a same-race/ethnicity child and had a history of similar behavior. Children's attention to situational information was moderated, however, by their social-cognitive abilities. Children's own race/ethnicity and ethnic attitudes also affected their perceptions of discrimination.     

Perceptions of Adequate Personal Time and Wellbeing among African American Families with Adolescents

The current study examines the perception of adequate personal or leisure time, and its association with family and caregiver functioning, among a sample of low-income African American families. The investigation is grounded in Conservation of Resources (COR) theory which predicts that caregivers who perceive more adequate personal time will also report higher levels of optimism and lower levels of depressive symptoms, and will have adolescents who report more household routines and less psychologically controlling parenting. A total of 115 caregiver-adolescent (age 14–18) dyads were recruited from a low-income, predominantly African American neighborhood in a major metropolitan center in the United States as part of a larger survey on African American family life. Results indicate that caregivers report perceiving inadequate amounts of time to sleep, get enough exercise, and relax. Caregivers also report comparatively less adequate personal time than time with children. Analyses reveal that caregivers who perceive having more adequate leisure or personal time, report fewer depressive symptoms and higher levels of optimism, after controlling for perceptions of adequate financial resources. Alternatively, there was no association between perceptions of free or leisure time and parenting behaviors, including maintenance of household routines and the use of psychological control. The results underscore the need to examine non-material resources, and their association with wellbeing.     

Classroom Interactions: Gender of Teacher,Gender of Student,and Classroom Subject

An observational study investigated the effects of gender of teacher, gender of student, and classroom subject (mathematics vs. English literature/language) on teacher–student interactions. A total of 597 high school students (294 males and 303 females) and 36 teachers (28 males and 8 females) were observed in either 18 mathematics classes or 18 literature/language classes. Students and teachers were predominately Caucasian, with the majority of students from a lower- or middle-class background. Observations were coded using the interactions for sex equity in classroom teaching (INTERSECT) observational instrument. It was found that female mathematics teachers, male literature/language teachers, and female literature/language teachers tended to interact somewhat more with male students than with female students. This tendency was not the result of male students having initiated more direct verbal interactions with teachers.     

Media Career Perceptions: Where the Students and Professionals Differ

In this study the author compares the perceptions of undergraduates and working professionals about media jobs. Students overestimated the amount of reward they would gain from their work and underestimated the amount of clerical work they would have to do each day.     

初中生学生投入的发展特点及其与同伴欺负的关系:一项三年追踪研究

采用问卷法和追踪研究设计,对北京市294名初一学生进行了连续三年的追踪测查,来考察初中生学生投入的发展特点,以及同伴欺负与学生投入发展变化的关系。运用多层线性模型进行数据分析,结果表明：（1）从初一（T1）到初三（T3）,学生的行为投入呈下降趋势（主要集中在参与学校活动的投入度上）,情感投入和认知投入呈上升趋势;（2）在控制性别和父母学历后,初中生受言语欺负会负向预测T1时的行为和情感投入;受关系欺负会负向预测T1时的行为、情感及认知投入;受身体欺负会负向预测行为投入的下降速度。     

Teachers' Epistemic Authority: Perceptions of Students and Teachers

The present study examines students' perception of the teacher's role as epistemic authorities, that is, a source of determinative influence on the formation of individuals' knowledge, from three perspectives. First, it examines 7th and 10th graders' perception of their teachers as epistemic authorities. The results showed that a teacher's subject matter, as well as students' age and gender, influence perception of him/her as an epistemic authority. In addition, interest in the subject matter was found to be an important predictor of students' perception. The second part focuses on teachers' self-perceptions as epistemic authorities. The results indicated that teachers' personal efficacy is the most powerful predictor of their self-perception. Finally, the study compares students' perceptions of teachers as epistemic authorities, teachers' self-perceptions in these terms and teachers' perceptions of how their students perceive them. Two main findings showed the following: (a) teachers perceive themselves as being more of an epistemic authority than their students consider them; (b) teachers believe that students perceive them as being more of an epistemic authority than the students actually think.     

Contrapower Harassment in Academia: A Survey of Faculty Experience with Student Incivility, Bullying, and Sexual Attention

This study defines contrapower harassment in academia as student incivility, bullying, and sexual attention aimed at faculty. A U.S., Alaskan sample of 399 professors (50% women, 88% white) at the state’s largest public university was surveyed about their experience with contrapower harassment. Although men reported more sexual attention from students and comparable levels of student incivility–bullying, women reported that such behaviors were more upsetting and had a greater negative impact on their health and work-lives; they were also more likely to take action following such experiences than men. Tenure-track faculty appear to be at increased risk of student hostility. Discussion focuses on how gender and other markers of socio-cultural or institutional power relate to the experience of contrapower harassment.     

Spirituality in the Counselor Education Curriculum: A National Survey of Student Perceptions

Interns (N= 335) from 36 programs accredited by the Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs completed a survey about their preparation to integrate the 9 Association for Spiritual, Ethical, and Religious Issues in Counseling (ASERVIC) Spiritual Competencies into their counseling practice. Most respondents felt prepared to integrate all but 1 of ASERVIC's competencies. Spiritual topics of wellness, meaning, hope, and faith were addressed most frequently in course work and were associated with feeling prepared to integrate 8 of the competencies. Classroom discussion, experiential activities, and reading were the modalities most useful for learning about spirituality.     

Perceptions of the Concept of Mutation among Family Members of Patients Receiving Outpatient Genetic Services and University Students

Our objectives were to investigate: (1) relationships between perceptions of various terms regarding mutation and the depth of knowledge regarding mutation among family members of patients receiving genetic outpatient services, and (2) differences in perceptions of the term “gene mutation” for family members versus university students. Fifty-eight family members and 178 university students responded to two questionnaires: Impressions regarding the term, and Knowledge about the concept of mutation. Factor analyses were conducted to determine the factor structure of ratings of the terms, and two-way analyses of variance [(1)Term, (2)Group × Knowledge] were conducted to examine differences in perceptions of the terms as measured by scores for each extracted factor. Family members had a significantly more negative perception of the term “gene mutation” than “gene change” and a less negative perception of the term “gene mutation” than “gene lesion”; they had significantly more negative perceptions of the term “gene mutation” than did university students.     

Joint Effects of Corporate Positions and Prospects on Perceptions of Business Ethics Among Japanese Students: A Reflection of Collectivistic Cultures1

This study was designed to account for inconsistencies between past research indicating that executives in general are more ethically oriented than employees. The reality in Japan's society is that it has been mostly top executives who violate business ethics. Japanese students (N = 201) assumed that they were “executives” or “employees” in a manufacturing company, and their company had “high” or “low” financial prospects. The high‐prospect executives were most ethically oriented, while the low‐prospect executives were least ethically oriented. Ethical orientation did not change across the two prospect conditions for the employees. The findings are interpreted in terms of ethical dissonance created by dual pressures from acceptance of Western global ethical standards and strength of indigenous collectivistic ethical standards.