Effects of Assumed Competence Based on Undervaluing Others on Students’ Seeking Academic Help From Their Teachers:

Abstract

The present study focused on students seeking academic help from their teachers, examining characteristics of students who assumed competence based on their undervaluing of others, and investigated how students ' assumed competence affected their seeking academic help from their teachers. Although previous studies reported that the greater was students ' tendency to undervalue others, the more likely they were to criticize their teachers ' methods, no association has been reported between assumed competence and seeking academic help from teachers. The present study hypothesized that other factors such as rejection sensitivity and loneliness might be modulating the relation between students ' assumed competence and their seeking academic help from their teachers. The partici-pants in the study, 173 high school students, completed the following scales: Assumed Competence, Academic Help-Seeking, Interpersonal Sensitivity, and Interpersonal Alienation. The results suggested that the students with high scores on assumed competence and rejection sensitivity were characterized by avoidance of academic help-seeking, whereas the students with low rejection sensitivity scores reported seeking help from their teachers. Feelings of loneliness modulated the relationship between assumed competence and academic help-seeking. It is possible that feelings of loneliness lead to seeking academic help from teachers, instead of other communication.