Questioning Pygmalion in the twenty-first century: the formation,transmission, and attributional influence of teacher expectancies

Teacher expectancy effects, the class of phenomena in which teacher beliefs about students influence student outcomes, are widely believed to operate through recursive processes of teacher-student interaction. Recent work in “wise” interventions has shown profound and robust effects in educational domains, and has attributed these effects to similar recursive processes (Yeager and Walton 2011). In this paper, we lay a foundation for forging connections between what we know about expectancy effects and how we might envision applying that knowledge as a lever in intervention research. We review the evidence for the existence and significance of teacher expectancy effects, as well as their possible mediators, including perceptual biases, confirmation biases, stereotyping, and attributional biases. We also hypothesize that empathy could play a role in mediating a relationship between expectancies and attributions. Finally, we propose a research agenda focused on the transmission, mediation, and attributional effects of teacher expectancies.     

Primary teachers’ perceptions that impact upon track recommendations regarding pupils’ enrolment in secondary education: a path analysis

In less meritocratic educational systems, teachers’ decision-making processes and their perceptions of pupils are essential for the practice of pupils’ allocation at transitory moments. The present study investigated how perceptions held by teachers impact upon teacher track recommendations regarding pupils’ enrolment in secondary education in Flanders. By means of structural equation modelling, we studied the hypothesised impact of pupils’ cognitive (i.e. maths skills, language skills and technical skills) and non-cognitive (i.e. school-appropriate behaviours and personal-social behaviours) attributes and of teacher–pupil relationships, as perceived by the teachers. Additionally, we addressed the hypothesised (mediated) impact of perceived parental involvement in education and parents’ socio-economic status (SES) and ethnicity, as social and cultural parental background characteristics. Results show that teacher track recommendations are best directly predicted by pupils’ perceived maths skills. Also pupils’ perceived school-appropriate behaviours and parents’ SES substantially and directly predict teacher track recommendations. Teacher track recommendations are further indirectly affected by perceived parental involvement in education, parents’ SES and parents’ ethnicity.     

Latino parents’ science beliefs and support of high school students’ motivational beliefs: Do the relations vary across gender and familism values?

Based on the Eccles’ expectancy-value theory, the objectives of this study were (1) to examine the longitudinal relations between Latino parents’ science beliefs, parents’ science support, and high school students’ science motivational beliefs, and (2) to test whether these relations varied by familism values and adolescent gender. Multi-informant longitudinal survey data were collected from 104 Latino parents and adolescents during 9th and 10th grade. Parents’ perceptions of their adolescents’ science ability and value of science in 9th grade predicted higher parent science support at home in 10th grade if they were parents of boys. In contrast, these relations were not statistically significant for parents of daughters. Parent support in 9th grade predicted higher adolescent motivational beliefs one year later. This work provides evidence that parent support is important for high school student success in this understudied population.     

A critical review of the literature on academic self-handicapping: theory,manifestations, prevention and measurement

Academic self-handicapping is a very popular subject of research in educational psychology, in which a growing number of related findings are reported. However, apart from a recent meta-analysis (Schwinger et al. in J Educ Psychol 106(3):744–761, 2014), the last comprehensive review of the subject was published 17 years ago (Urdan and Midgley in Educ Psychol Rev 13(2):115–138, 2001). This paper integrates relevant findings accumulated since then, which are discussed in a coherent interpretive framework. The first part of the paper discusses the definition and theoretical grounds of academic self-handicapping, then its manifestations in an academic context are enumerated. The second part of the study focuses on the self-protective function of stereotypes based on self-handicapping as well as on the impressions self-handicapping students may make on others at school. A summary of the contributions of goal orientation theory is provided in relation to self-handicapping, and the effects of various goal orientations and goal structures on academic performance are analysed. Based on an analysis of interactions between self-handicapping and academic performance, the authors argue for the importance of prevention and suggest possible ways to prevent self-handicapping. In conclusion, measurement issues of academic self-handicapping and the methodological paradox inherent in questionnaire measures are discussed.     

Gratitude and Life Satisfaction in the United States and Japan

Being grateful has been associated with many positive outcomes, including greater happiness, positive affect, optimism, and self-esteem. There is limited research, however, on the associations between gratitude and different domains of life satisfaction across cultures. The current study examined the associations between gratitude and three domains of life satisfaction, including satisfaction in relationships, work, and health, and overall life satisfaction, in the United States and Japan. A total of 945 participants were drawn from two samples of middle aged and older adults, the Midlife Development in the United States and the Midlife Development in Japan. There were significant positive bivariate associations between gratitude and all four measures of life satisfaction. In addition, after adjusting for demographics, neuroticism, extraversion, and the other measures of satisfaction, gratitude was uniquely and positively associated with satisfaction with relationships and life overall but not with satisfaction with work or health. Furthermore, results indicated that women and individuals who were more extraverted and lived in the United States were more grateful and individuals with less than a high school degree were less grateful. The findings from this study suggest that gratitude is uniquely associated with specific domains of life satisfaction. Results are discussed with respect to future research and the design and implementation of gratitude interventions, particularly when including individuals from different cultures.     

The Impact of Greenhouse Gas Emissions on Personal Well-Being: Evidence from a Panel of 58 Countries and Aggregate and Regional Country Samples

This study investigates the link between personal well-being and per capita greenhouse gas emissions by considering a panel data methodological approach. The empirical findings illustrate that there is a significant effect of those emissions on personal well-being through the aggregate country sample. A robust finding is that similar results hold across regional samples, with the strongest effect being displayed in the case of the European regional component. The empirical findings are expected to carry important implications for consumers, corporations, and economic policy makers who all must take explicitly into consideration the impact of their economic decisions on the sustainability of economic growth plans.     

To be a Fan is to be Happier: Using the Eudaimonic Spectator Questionnaire to Measure Eudaimonic Motivations in Spanish Fans

Many studies have linked audiovisual entertainment to hedonia. Recently, also to eudaimonic happiness. The Eudaimonic Spectator Questionnaire is proposed as a new tool to explore eudaimonic motivations that are linked to the consumption of audiovisual entertainment. The new questionnaire groups these eudaimonic motivations into two factors: the cultivation of cognitive–intellectual growth and social–emotional growth. Once the consistency and reliability of the questionnaire was tested, we observed statistically significant differences between fans and non-fan spectators; these differences were observed in both factors. The results indicated that being a fan is associated with the cultivation of human virtues and character strengths.     

Should cultured meat be refused in the name of animal dignity?

Cultured meat, like any new technology, raises inevitable ethical issues. For example, on animal ethics grounds, it may be argued that reformed livestock farming in which animals’ lives are worth living constitutes a better alternative than cultured meat, which, along with veganism, implies the extinction of farm animals. Another ethical argument is that, just as we would undermine human dignity by producing and consuming meat that is grown from human cells, eating meat that is grown from nonhuman animal cells would violate animal dignity because it is a way to create an us and them, which would make veganism the only ethical option. The present study challenges this argument. First, I examine the fundamental issue of whether cultured meat provides such an attack on animal dignity. The second issue is whether, assuming that it is true that cultured meat undermines animal dignity, it would be acceptable to reject cultured meat even though this implies sacrificing nonhuman animals.     

Consequentialism and the Standard Story of Action

I challenge the common picture of the “Standard Story” of Action as a neutral account of action within which debates in normative ethics can take place. I unpack three commitments that are implicit in the Standard Story, and demonstrate that these commitments together entail a teleological conception of reasons, upon which all reasons to act are reasons to bring about states of affairs. Such a conception of reasons, in turn, supports a consequentialist framework for the evaluation of action, upon which the normative status of actions is properly determined through appeal to rankings of states of affairs as better and worse. This covert support for consequentialism from the theory of action, I argue, has had a distorting effect on debates in normative ethics. I then present challenges to each of these three commitments, a challenge to the first commitment by T.M. Scanlon, a challenge to the second by recent interpreters of Anscombe, and a new challenge to the third commitment that requires only minimal and prima facie plausible modifications to the Standard Story. The success of any one of the challenges, I demonstrate, is sufficient to block support from the theory of action for the teleological conception of reasons and the consequentialist evaluative framework. I close by demonstrating the pivotal role that such arguments grounded in the theory of action play in the current debate between evaluator-relative consequentialists and their critics.     

Keith Lehrer on Compatibilism

Keith Lehrer has been publishing on free will and compatiblism since 1960. Our concern here is to present an account of the development on his work on the subject.