Social Psychology of Education最新文献

Peers, in terms of both friends and cooperation partners, are a very important aspect of the social context of adolescents. They may affect adolescents' intelligence mindsets and therefore their school motivation and success. Being friends or cooperating with a peer with a similar mindset might either enhance (in case of a growth mindset) or hinder (in case of a fixed mindset) adolescents' motivation to learn. In this cross-sectional social network study, we first examined whether friendship networks and cooperation partners networks within school classes differ from each other. Second, we investigated whether adolescents' friends and cooperation partners have similarities in mindsets. We analysed peer nominations and intelligence mindsets within 26 Dutch classes of early and mid-adolescents (N = 558) using the quadratic assignment procedure (QAP). Our data showed that three unique networks could be distinguished: a friendship only network, a combined friends and cooperation partners network and a cooperation only network. Multiple regression quadratic assignment procedures (MRQAP) indicated no evidence for similarity in mindset in all the three networks. However, we did find that adolescents with a growth mindset select more peers to cooperate with than adolescents with a fixed mindset. This latter finding shows that mindset influences social interactions in the context of cooperation between adolescents. It might be valuable to take the social context into consideration in the development of new mindset interventions.

Although lessons about sexism can increase gender egalitarianism in children, teachers often shy away from discussing sensitive topics, such as sexism, in classrooms. We conducted two studies to examine why teachers may not discuss sexism. In a qualitative study with 20 primary school teachers, teachers reported not discussing sexism because of the belief that sexism was not an issue, low comfort, and low knowledge levels in teaching sexism, that sexism was less important than other topics, and not enough support from parents and schools. Teachers taught about sexism to balance out other perspectives, when they had support from authorities, and when sexism was related to a lesson. Using the themes found in Study 1, Study 2 developed quantitative measures to examine the predictors of intentions to teach about sexism among 233 primary and secondary school teachers. The full model found that teachers had higher intentions to teach about sexism when they felt more comfortable and knowledgeable about teaching sexism and when teachers were younger. We discuss findings from both studies in terms of theoretical and practical implications.

This study examined how children's moral reasoning in response to intergroup exclusion scenarios relates to inclusive attitudes and behaviors. A sample of 528 students (M _age = 9.19, SD = 0.90; 264 girls) in third through fifth grade participated in the Developing Inclusive Youth (DIY) program, which provided structured opportunities for moral reasoning through varied intergroup scenarios and peer discussions. Results showed that more frequent use of moral reasoning predicted greater inclusivity across multiple measures. Children who engaged in higher levels of moral reasoning demonstrated more negative evaluations of exclusion, greater empathy toward peers from multiple racial groups, and a stronger desire to play with those peers. However, moral reasoning was not significantly associated with expectations for inclusion or with attitudes toward boys or girls. No significant interactions emerged between moral reasoning and participant demographics (race, gender, grade), suggesting broadly applicable effects. These findings highlight moral reasoning as a key mechanism for promoting inclusive orientations in childhood, particularly in contexts involving racial diversity. Future research should explore how moral reasoning interacts with other factors, such as empathy, perspective-taking, and group norms, to support inclusivity across social contexts.

Research on teacher stress has identified classroom disruptions as a major risk factor. However, teachers perceive classroom disruptions "through the lens" of their own personalities. This observational study involving 42 teachers (28 female, Mage = 39.66, SD = 11.99) aimed to compare teacher-perceived and observed classroom disruptions and examine how neuroticism, fear of negative evaluation, and social overload influence teachers' perception of classroom disruptions. Moreover, longitudinal associations between perceived and observed classroom disruptions and occupational problems were investigated over two years. Results show that neuroticism, fear of negative evaluation, and social overload are positively associated with more perceived classroom disruptions. In this context, neuroticism does not directly lead to more perceived classroom disruptions, but the relationship is mediated by fear of negative evaluation and social overload. Moreover, perceived classroom disruptions were associated with an increase of occupational problems over two years. Examining self-reports in combination with behavioral observation is crucial for better understanding teachers' perception of classroom disruptions and identifying the personality traits and social stressors influencing perception for preventing teachers' health problems. Teacher education must support teachers in dealing with fear of negative evaluation and social overload and recognize the longitudinal cumulative effects of biased perception on teacher stress. This can prevent teachers from leaving the profession early and keep burnout rates and costs low.

This study utilized a retrospective, population-based cohort of administrative records of 167,319 children who attended school in British Columbia, Canada. The outcomes of standardized English, math, and science exam scores, as well as high school graduation were examined. The associations between poverty and educational outcomes at high school were found to be complex. Children experiencing both household and neighbourhood poverty (i.e., "combined" poverty) at age 13 had significantly lower English, math, and science exam scores at grade 10, as well as having higher odds to not graduate before age 20. The effect of combined poverty was larger than household poverty only or neighbourhood poverty only for English exam scores and for graduating. However, the association between poverty with math or science outcome scores was mixed. Experiencing neighbourhood poverty only was generally associated with lower performance in educational outcomes across children of different immigrant generation status (non-immigrant, first-generation, second-generation), immigration admission category (economic, family, refugee), or region of origin (East Asia and Pacific, Europe and Central Asia, South Asia). However, children of specific immigration backgrounds who experienced household-only poverty appeared to score better on math exams in comparison to children who did not experience poverty from those same groups. Intervention and prevention efforts to reduce childhood poverty that also include immigrant-specific considerations could potentially improve children's educational outcomes.

Supplementary information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s11218-025-10093-x.

With the global increase in refugees, understanding and improving the educational experiences of refugees has received more attention in academic research. This study aims to investigate the perspective of preservice teachers (PSTs) towards Syrian refugees, who are one of the largest groups of refugees in Turkey. The study explores the relationship between PSTs’ empathy, their social dominance orientation (SDO), and prejudice against Syrian refugees. The aim is to understand how PSTs’ perspectives on refugees can help prevent discrimination in education and develop targeted interventions and educational strategies. The study analyzed data from 726 PSTs using structural equation modelling. The findings show that there is a positive correlation between SDO and prejudice, and empathy partially mediates this relationship. Moreover, socioeconomic status and ethnicity significantly predict prejudice against refugees. The results are discussed in relation to the understanding of the bases and relations of prejudice, SDO, and empathy. The study suggests some practical implications for those working with PSTs and policymakers.

Team teaching as a close form of teacher collaboration entails frequent interactions between the team-teaching partners in the classroom. During these interactions, the team teachers experience a variety of positive and negative emotions, triggered by their team partner. The teachers may express or suppress these emotions, depending on their habitual use of these emotion regulation strategies. In turn, the teachers’ daily emotions may be related to an important facet of teacher well-being, namely their daily work engagement. This study aims to investigate the related factors (habitual emotion regulation, daily work engagement) of team teachers’ daily positive and negative emotions triggered by the team partner in the classroom. Forty-seven Austrian team teachers working in secondary education completed a daily diary study, consisting of 15 diary entries, measuring their habitual emotion expression and suppression strategies, their daily positive and negative affect and daily work engagement. Multilevel regression analyses were conducted. Results show that positive and negative affect and work engagement vary substantially within and between team teachers. Random-intercept fixed-slope multilevel models indicate that the habitual use of authentic display of positive emotions is associated with daily positive affect, and teachers’ daily positive and negative affect significantly relate to their daily work engagement both on the within- and between-person level. This study underscores the important role that team teachers’ emotional experiences play regarding their work engagement. We draw theoretical and practical implications for the role of emotions during team-teaching practices.

Advances in growth mindset scholarship now recognize the role of instructors’ mindsets in shaping classroom mindset culture. In the present paper, we synthesize the newly developing instructor mindset literature and report on a dataset that includes student (N = 765) and instructor (N = 44) reports of instructor mindset beliefs and behaviors. We organize our paper around four key questions: (1) What teaching behaviors signal instructors’ mindset beliefs to students? (2) What teaching behaviors are associated with instructors’ mindset beliefs? (3) Do students and instructors in the same classroom agree about instructors’ beliefs and behaviors? (4) Where should researchers target interventions aimed at promoting growth mindset cultures? We then discuss three problems that instructors might encounter when trying to create growth mindset cultures—when instructors inconsistently engage in growth mindset behaviors, when instructors unwittingly communicate a fixed mindset to students, and when students fail to notice instructors’ growth mindset behaviors—and potential solutions to these problems. We end with implications for instructor-focused interventions, which include both encouraging instructors to engage in growth-focused behaviors and to state clearly why their behaviors communicate a belief in student growth.

Mindsets are crucial factors for individuals’ adaptive behavior in educational contexts. In meaning systems, these associations between mindsets and behavior are mediated through motivational aspects. It is generally assumed that students should also benefit if teachers adopt a growth mindset. Even though many studies have investigated mindset processes of students, analyses of teachers’ meaning systems are lacking. This study, therefore, examines relationships between teachers’ mindsets, self-efficacy, achievement goals (mastery, performance-avoidance), and instructional practices (goal structure dimensions of task, autonomy, recognition, grouping, evaluation, time). The sample of the questionnaire study comprises 650 Austrian in-service teachers (69.6% female; mean age 45.1 years; SD = 11.3) with an average of 19 years of teaching experience. Data was analyzed using latent mediation modeling with fixed mindset as a predictor, self-efficacy, mastery goals, performance-avoidance goals as mediators, and six mastery classroom goal structure dimensions as outcomes. The results indicated positive relations between a fixed mindset with performance-avoidance goals and negative relations with self-efficacy and mastery goals. Mastery goals and self-efficacy negatively fully mediated the effects of fixed mindsets on five of six mastery goal structure dimensions. No mediation was found for performance-avoidance goals except for the fixed mindset-autonomy and fixed mindset-grouping links. To conclude, the study’s findings support that a meaning system approach is also valid for teachers and provide insights into the associations between mindset, self-efficacy beliefs, achievement goals, and classroom practices.

Snark is a form of verbal aggression that uses humor to diminish a victim. The present study explored predictors of U.S. teachers’ use of snark in the classroom. Kindergarten-12th grade teachers (N = 516) self-reported on their social and emotional competencies (i.e., perspective taking, forgiveness, mindfulness, expressive suppression, and decision-making skills), experiences of occupational health and personal well-being (i.e., burnout, job satisfaction, depression, and life satisfaction) and snark use. Stepwise multilevel models indicated that teachers’ social and emotional competencies, and subsequently, their occupational health and well-being, explained significant portions of the variance in snark use. Specifically, teachers with greater perspective taking skills reported less frequent snark use, and those who used expressive suppression reported more frequent snark use. Burnout, job satisfaction, depression, and life satisfaction were all positively associated with greater snark use. Results are described in relation to research on adult social and emotional competencies, teachers’ occupational health and well-being, and teachers’ conflict management strategies. This study sets the stage for future research to investigate the effects of teachers’ snark use on student outcomes.