Students' perceived closeness to professors: The effects of school,professor gender,and student gender

The present study is a replication and expansion of F. J. Crosby and L. M. Reinardy's 1993 study, which found that female college students felt closer to female professors than to male professors. While the original study was conducted at a women's college, the present study includes students at a women's college, a coed college that was previously a women's college, a coed college that was previously a men's college, and a large university. Seventy-four percent of students were Caucasian, 7% Asian, 5.5% African American, 3% Latino/Latina, 0.5% Native American, 5.5% Mixed Race, and 4% Other. Feelings of closeness were examined as a function of institution, professor gender, and student gender. It was again found that students at the women's college felt closer to female professors than to male professors. This affinity for female professors held true for both male and female students at the other three institutions. Additionally, students at the previously women's college felt closer to their professors than did students at either the university or the previously men's college. The importance of female professors in higher education are considered.     

The linkage of work achievement to self-esteem,career maturity,and college achievement

This study tested whether self-esteem and mature career attitudes related to one another and complemented one another in predicting academic and work achievement for 174 college students. Analysis showed both constructs related to achievement and supported the thesis that self-esteem facilitates development of mature career attitudes, which in turn promote academic and work achievement. The findings are discussed in terms of their implications for theory and practice.     

The effects of indirect induction hypnosis and practice imagery on tertiary student goal achievement

The effects of hypnosis and Practice Imagery (PI) on 51 tertiary students' achievement of goals were examined. PI involved directing participants through two imageries (succeeding with the goal and continuing without success) and further directing participants to practice moving back and forth between the two imageries to instill a sense of power over the goal and to provide practice in goal success. Seventeen hypnotized and 17 non-hypnotized subjects received identical imagery training by listening to an audio tape recording while 17 control subjects received no training. Hypnosis subjects received indirect induction hypnosis prior to hearing the tape. Goal Attainment Scaling was used to determine level of goal achievement. Hypnotized participants who received the PI treatment showed significantly greater goal achievement than control subjects. Implications for use of hypnosis combined with PI in tertiary school counselling centres are discussed.     

The effects of gender, race, religion, and political orientation on the sex role attitudes of college freshmen.

Freshmen (N = 556) at a large eastern private university were administered a questionnaire during the first week of classes. A social learning perspective was used to examine the effects of gender, race (Asian, black, and white), religion (Catholic, Jewish, and Protestant), and political orientation (liberal and conservative) on four areas of sex role ideology--traditional attitudes toward female sexuality, justification of male dominance, negative attitudes toward homosexuality, and attitudes toward feminism. Although all four independent variables produced a significant effect on at least one measure of sex role ideology, religion and political orientation produced significant differences on all four sex role measures. Liberals as compared to conservatives and Jews as compared to Protestants were less traditional in their attitudes toward female sexuality, less accepting of male dominance and negative attitudes toward homosexuality, and more accepting of feminist attitudes. The results support the view that entering freshmen have established sex role belief systems that tend to be organized around constellations of traditional/conservative versus egalitarian/liberal attitudes.     

Own- and other-race categorization of faces by race,gender, and age

We investigated how visual experience with faces of a particular race affects subordinate group-level categorizations in Chinese and Israeli participants living in the respective countries. Categorization of faces by race, gender, and age was examined within subjects with participants who had only minimal experience with the other-race faces. As would be predicted by the previously documented other-race advantage effect, both Chinese and Israeli participants classified the race of the face more quickly and more accurately for other-race than for own-race faces. In contrast, the observers’ race did not interact with the race of the rated face either for gender or for age categorization. The absence of these interactions suggests that the physiognomic characteristics that determine the gender and age of a face are universal, rather than race specific. Furthermore, these data suggest that determining the race of a face is not imposed as a first step in face processing, preempting the perception of other category-defining physiognomic characteristics.     

Contexts as switchmen: The variable effects of formal and informal instructional strategies on student achievement

This study presents an exploratory theoretical framework that analyzes the extent by which the contexts of classroom instruction mediate the effects of instructional strategies on achievement. The study first presents the two main tasks that teachers face in classrooms-teaching, and controlling the social order. The study then elaborates on formal and informal instructional strategies that teachers use to manage these tasks. The main foci of the study is to show that the effects of these different instructional strategies on student achievements vary by grade level. The results suggest that the contexts of instruction determine the magnitude and direction of the effects of instructional strategies on achievement. Positive effects on student achievement appear when a functional congruence occurs between teachers' instructional strategies and the contexts wherein they are used. The analyses suggest that changes in the cognitive, social, and institutional contexts of classrooms may change the relative efficacy of specific instructional strategies. Consequently, researchers should pay more attention to the changes in the sociology of classrooms during students' school careers. This study was supported by a post-doctoral fellowship from the Fulbright Foundation and by a small research grant from The Spencer Foundation. My wholehearted appreciation is given to the support I received from the Foundations. I am especially grateful to Charles Bidwell from the University of Chicago, who encouraged me to pursue this study during my post-doctoral visit in 1994–95. Discussions with Benjamin Wright and his warm support have been more than essential. The hospitality and the academic environment at the NORC and the University of Chicago have done wonders to the fruition of ideas advanced in this study. Yechezkel Dar and Ruth Butler made suggestions to the improvement of this article. Daniel Shalem and Rivka Berman assisted with editorial as well as substantive comments. The reviewers ofSocial Psychology of Education insightfully suggested ways to improve the final version.     

Contexts as switchmen: The variable effects of formal and informal instructional strategies on student achievement

This study presents an exploratory theoretical framework that analyzes the extent by which the contexts of classroom instruction mediate the effects of instructional strategies on achievement. The study first presents the two main tasks that teachers face in classrooms-teaching, and controlling the social order. The study then elaborates on formal and informal instructional strategies that teachers use to manage these tasks. The main foci of the study is to show that the effects of these different instructional strategies on student achievements vary by grade level. The results suggest that the contexts of instruction determine the magnitude and direction of the effects of instructional strategies on achievement. Positive effects on student achievement appear when a functional congruence occurs between teachers' instructional strategies and the contexts wherein they are used. The analyses suggest that changes in the cognitive, social, and institutional contexts of classrooms may change the relative efficacy of specific instructional strategies. Consequently, researchers should pay more attention to the changes in the sociology of classrooms during students' school careers.     

The relation of student behavior, peer status, race, and gender to decisions about school discipline using CHAID decision trees and regression modeling

Peer nominations and demographic information were collected from a diverse sample of 1493 elementary school participants to examine behavior (overt and relational aggression, impulsivity, and prosociality), context (peer status), and demographic characteristics (race and gender) as predictors of teacher and administrator decisions about discipline. Exploratory results using classification tree analyses indicated students nominated as average or highly overtly aggressive were more likely to be disciplined than others. Among these students, race was the most significant predictor, with African American students more likely to be disciplined than Caucasians, Hispanics, or Others. Among the students nominated as low in overt aggression, a lack of prosocial behavior was the most significant predictor. Confirmatory analysis using hierarchical logistic regression supported the exploratory results. Similarities with other biased referral patterns, proactive classroom management strategies, and culturally sensitive recommendations are discussed.     

Attitude, anxiety, and social readjustment toward learning disabilities by student teachers

84 student teachers from undergraduate classes at a western university in Kansas completed a 9-question checklist of learning disabilities before interacting with a behavioral disordered/learning disabilities teacher, a paraprofessional, and a high school learning-disabled student. After the dialog, the student teachers completed a Social Readjustment Rating Scale, Breskin Rigidity Test, the Self-evaluation Questionnaire: State and Trait Anxiety, and the same 9-question checklist with one additional question ("Now that you have seen a learning-disabled student has it affected your opinion of learning disabilities?"). The dialog affected 63% of the students' opinions while 31% stated the presentation did not affect their opinion (6% were missing or not completed). Persons who experienced more life-changes and problems tended to rate or view learning disabilities more negatively. The more trait anxiety experienced by the students, the lower they rated learning disabilities after the presentation.     

Influences of job type, job status, and gender on achievement motivation

This study explored two issues. First, the stereotype was explored that teachers are lower in intrinsic achievement motivation than those in other occupations; second, that job type, job status, and/or gender influence intrinsic achievement motivation. Job type was explored based on the stereotype of a high achievement motivation condition (banking) versus a low condition (teaching). Job status was examined as currently working versus retirement from the occupation. Gender referred to sex, male and female. Each of the eight cells of a 2x2x2 factorial design contained 15 subjects randomly drawn from population pools (N=264) screened for membership on specific age, years of employment, and years of retirement. Intrinsic achievement motivation was assessed by the four factors of the Helmreich and Spence (1974) Work and Family Orientation Questionnaire (WOFO). Data were analyzed for main and interaction effects using multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA). No support was found for the proposition that banking personnel are higher in motivation than teachers. On the second issue, gender and job status yielded statistically significant effects, suggesting that a person’s gender and whether he is working or retired both exert an influence upon his intrinsic achievement motivation.     

A question of belonging: race, social fit, and achievement

Stigmatization can give rise to belonging uncertainty. In this state, people are sensitive to information diagnostic of the quality of their social connections. Two experiments tested how belonging uncertainty undermines the motivation and achievement of people whose group is negatively characterized in academic settings. In Experiment 1, students were led to believe that they might have few friends in an intellectual domain. Whereas White students were unaffected, Black students (stigmatized in academics) displayed a drop in their sense of belonging and potential. In Experiment 2, an intervention that mitigated doubts about social belonging in college raised the academic achievement (e.g., college grades) of Black students but not of White students. Implications for theories of achievement motivation and intervention are discussed.     

The detrimental effects of power on confidence, advice taking, and accuracy

Incorporating input from others can enhance decision quality, yet often people do not effectively utilize advice. We propose that greater power increases the propensity to discount advice, and that a key mechanism explaining this effect is elevated confidence in one’s judgment. We investigate the relationships across four studies: a field survey where working professionals rated their own power and confidence and were rated by coworkers on their level of advice taking; an advice taking task where power and confidence were self-reported; and two advice taking experiments where power was manipulated. Results consistently showed a negative relationship between power and advice taking, and evidence of mediation through confidence. The fourth study also revealed that higher power participants were less accurate in their final judgments. Power can thus exacerbate the tendency for people to overweight their own initial judgment, such that the most powerful decision makers can also be the least accurate.     

The different effects of family on objective career success across gender: A test of alternative explanations

Gender gaps in achieved rank and salary, common indicators of objective success, often are attributed to the different family roles and responsibilities of men and women. This study tested three explanations for the different effects of family on careers: that is, choice, performance, and signaling explanations. In a sample of American doctoral graduates, the impact of family on career outcomes was felt at entry, early, and middle career stages and support was provided for arguments of all explanations. At the time of graduation, two family variables, the presence of a young child, and not having a non-employed spouse, were associated with women favoring work-family balance in jobs that in turn predicted geographic restrictions on employment. For men, family structure was not associated with job preferences. At later career stages, women did not experience the performance benefits from having a non-employed spouse that men did. In addition, women were at a career disadvantage because they were far less likely to have non-employed spouses who were associated with achieving high ranks by middle career for both genders.     

The influence of in-group and out-group favouritism on the disciplinary practice of ethnic majority and minority preservice teachers

Social Psychology of Education - Teacher judgments and the disciplinary sanctioning of pupils can be understood as a function of the ethnic match, which means whether or not teachers and pupils...     

The impact of career boundarylessness on subjective career success: The role of career competencies, career autonomy, and career insecurity

Based on the theoretical frameworks of the career enactment and the stress perspectives, this study develops and tests a model in which career boundarylessness affects subjective career success through its effect on three career competencies—knowing-why, knowing-how, and knowing-whom—and career autonomy and career insecurity. The results provided empirical support for the importance of career autonomy, career insecurity, and the development of knowing-why and knowing-how competencies in the successful pursuit of a boundaryless career. The implications of these findings are discussed.     

The Self-Report Psychopathy Scale and passive avoidance learning: a validation study of race and gender effects

The reliability and validity of the Self-Report Psychopathy Scale (SRPS) was examined in a noninstitutionalized offender sample of mixed gender and race. Adequate alpha coefficients were obtained for the total sample and across gender and race. The SRPS was compared to measures of trait anxiety and passive avoidance errors. SRPS total, primary, and secondary scores were positively and significantly correlated with trait anxiety and passive avoidance (commission) errors, but not omission errors. Employing hierarchical regression models, no anxiety, gender, or ethnic effects were found. Intelligence confounded the relationship between psychopathic traits and passive avoidance errors. Findings provide tentative support of the SRPS as a valid measure of psychopathy.     

The effect of client attachment style and counselor functioning on career exploration

This longitudinal research investigated the interactive effect of social attachment style and perceived-counselor behavior on exploratory behavior exhibited by clients during and after career counseling. Results from 96 clients in career counseling indicated that social confidence and comfort, and the perception that the counselor had created social comfort and personal security, enhanced the range and effectiveness of career exploration by the client. The counselor’s functioning as a “secure base” moderated the association between clients’ avoidance and anxiety attachment style and their career exploration. Specifically, when the clients who were high in social avoidance or in social anxiety perceived-counselors as providing an atmosphere in which they feel secure, they engaged in career exploration far more than similar clients who did not perceive their counselor as a secure base.     

The effects of objective career success on subsequent subjective career success

We use a sample of working adults (N = 638) to explore the effects of past objective career success (mobility, promotions, and salary change) on current subjective success (human capital assessments by one's managers, core self evaluations, satisfaction with one's career) by gender, across an economic cycle (2004–2011), controlling for career stage. Results support a strong influence of past promotions, and less so for salary changes, on subjective career success. These effects were stronger for men and during the economic contraction, with managers being affected in their assessments based on the employees' past promotions. In contrast, past job mobility did not relate to subjective career success for either gender in periods of economic expansion or contraction. Evidence for an interactive perspective of career success whereby past objective success affects current subjective success is presented, as well as potential implications of the findings.     

The effect of race,sex, and career goal differences on sex role attitudes at home and at work

Male and female blacks and whites whose career goals differed as to sex role stereotypy were administered two sex role inventories. One measured attitudes toward women's expanding sex roles in the home/personal environment, while the other measured sex role attitudes in the working environment. The major finding of the present study is that black women had more traditional sex role attitudes in the home environment than white women but the same sex role attitudes about working, whereas both black and white women were more liberal in their sex role attitudes in both environments than black and white men.     

Prototypes of race and gender: The invisibility of Black women

Research on racial and gender stereotyping typically focuses on the role of one of these social categories at a time rather than race/gender combinations. We suggest that the relative non-prototypicality of Black women’s race and gender results in their “invisibility” relative to White women and to Black and White men ( [Fryberg and Townsend, 2008] and [Purdie-Vaughns and Eibach, 2008]). Two studies address whether Black women go “unnoticed” and their voices “unheard,” by examining memory for Black women’s faces and speech contributions. We found that photos of Black women were least likely to be recognized (Study 1), and statements said by a Black woman in a group discussion were least likely to be correctly attributed (Study 2) compared to Black men and White women and White men. The importance and implications of invisibility as a unique form of discrimination are discussed.