Social Psychology of Education最新文献

Past laboratory work has shown that exposure to similar peers who represent success in STEM (i.e., math-talented female peer role models) can bolster female college students’ math performance and STEM experiences. What is less clear is how students at intersecting identities of gender, ethnicity, and math identification differ in their similarity perceptions of female peer role models (PRMs) as well as how the PRMs’ ethnicity and background information (i.e., academic-related and personal-related) influences students’ similarity perceptions. In the current work, Latina and White female PRMs gave two presentations in college Calculus classes over the course of one semester. After the second presentation students completed quantitative and qualitative measures to assess perceived similarity with the PRMs. Across both measures results showed that (1) students generally perceived themselves to be similar to PRMs, (2) students felt more academically than personally similar to PRMs, (3) when the PRMs’ ethnicity matched the students’ ethnicity the academic-personal similarity difference was smaller, and (4) depending on students’ gender and level of math identification their similarity perceptions differed. Given PRM similarity has been shown to be a significant factor in the effectiveness of PRMs these findings emphasize the importance of considering students’ intersecting identities and PRM background information when attempting to highlight similarity with PRMs.

Being able to defend victims of school bullying is central in any intervention; thus, it seems paramount to investigate which factors may contribute to defending behavior. The present report aims to investigate whether empathic self-efficacy is associated with helping behavior and whether interpersonal factors (i.e., social preference and student-teacher relationship) may interact with it. The sample comprised 249 middle-school students (47.80% boys) aged 11–14 years, who received peer nominations on defending behavior and social preference. Self-reports were used to assess empathic self-efficacy and the relationship with the teachers. Results highlight a positive association between empathic self-efficacy and defending behavior when social preference and a positive relationship with teachers were average or high but not when they were low. Results are discussed in light of the importance of considering individual and interpersonal factors to understand defending in bullying situations and to develop intervention programs.

Having a clear and stable sense of how one performs in a field is a key contributor to goal pursuit. Performance feedback is often considered a crucial resource for developing this clear and stable self-knowledge but may be less optimally integrated when feedback is considered inaccurate or dishonest. The current paper investigates how such feedback perceptions may limit the development of people’s ability self-concept, and how workplace contexts can restrict communication. A 2-week daily diary study among 197 junior researchers working in STEM-fields (N = 1,353 data points) showed that those in more competitive (vs. more collaborative) work environments overall perceived feedback as more inaccurate and dishonest (but not as more positively inflated). These results did not differ for men and women, showing that both face negative consequences of working in a more competitive context in terms of their ability to get high-quality feedback. On the daily level, results showed that days on which people received more inaccurate and dishonest (but not positively inflated) feedback were also days on which they reported higher imposter feelings, and lower ability self-esteem, self-concept clarity, and self-concept stability. In turn, days on which people felt more like an imposter and reported lower ability self-esteem, self-concept clarity, and self-concept stability, were also days on which motivation was lower. Ability self-esteem and self-concept clarity (but not imposter feelings and self-concept stability) were also related to lower daily risk-taking tendencies. Together, these results show that an important contextual factor– the perceived competitiveness of one’s work environment - influences feedback inaccuracy and dishonesty, with consequences for the ability to develop a clear, stable and certain ability self-concept.

The multifaceted nature of peer social status entails personal benefits and potential detrimental effects that are particularly relevant to adolescents, as they place a higher emphasis on popularity and being well-liked compared to other stages of development. The study examined adolescents' motivational constructs related to gaining or changing popularity and likeability and their associations with other social status factors on a sample of 280 secondary school students from a single urban school. It aimed to establish and examine the psychometric properties of four popularity motivation scales (self-efficacy and mindset for popularity and likability), investigate their construct validity, and explore their relationship with participants' social status goals and self-beliefs. The study's results confirmed the existence of four distinct motivational dimensions related to popularity that were found to correspond with various social status goals and self-beliefs, suggesting that adolescents hold motivations for changing their popularity and likability that might align with other social status factors. In addition, the study found that mindset for popularity and likability had limited associations with other social status self-beliefs, indicating that the belief in the capacity to change one's popularity and likability may have a smaller impact on overall perceptions of social status compared to self-efficacy.

School burnout is a growing problem among university students. This two-wave longitudinal study examined the mediating effects of academic self-efficacy, grit, and academic resilience in the relationship between academic perfectionism and helicopter parenting, and school burnout in university students based on the Theory of Self- vs. Externally-Regulated Learning (SRL vs. ERL), and Social Cognitive Theory (SCT). A total of 481 college students completed measurements at Time 1 (T1) and Time 2 (T2) (M_age = 22.2; 61.5% female, 38.5% male). For analysis, the SPSS version 26 and Mplus version 7.0 were used. The results reveal that academic self-efficacy, grit, and academic resilience at Time 2 mediate the relationship between academic perfectionism and helicopter parent attitude at Time 1 and school burnout at Time 2. These findings reveal the key role of self-efficacy, grit, and academic resilience in reducing school burnout.

Undergraduates’ use of academic libraries is associated with academic achievement, but library research resources are underutilized, and little is known about what factors contribute to students’ use of these resources. A random sample of undergraduate students from a historically women’s college in the United States (N = 207; 59.2% white; 87.7% female or transfemale, 5.9% gender queer, 5.9% gender non-conforming, and 0.5% other gender) reported on their information literacy self-efficacy, attitudes toward research in undergraduate courses, and behavioral intentions to engage with library resources and services using an anonymous online questionnaire. Controlling for past library research and class year, results indicated that self-efficacy and positive research disposition were associated with greater library research intentions (βs ≥ 0.246, ps ≤ 0.005), with positive disposition related to intentions most strongly among students of underrepresented racial and ethnic identities (b = 0.4817, p <.0001). Surprisingly, greater research anxiety was associated with greater library research intentions (β = 0.345, p =.005), and no significant relation emerged for perceived usefulness (p ≥.05). Self-efficacy is an important factor in library research intentions, and attitudes should be assessed multidimensionally as they relate to library research intentions in different ways. Future research should apply these findings to library instruction and research methods course design to enhance student self-efficacy, encourage library use, and promote success in undergraduate learning.

Abstract

A growing body of research has demonstrated that teachers’ judgements may be biased by the demographics and characteristics of the students they teach. However, less work has investigated the contexts in which teachers may be most vulnerable to bias. In two pre-registered experimental studies we explored whether the quality of students’ work, and the cognitive load placed on the grader, would influence the emergence of biases relating to socioeconomic status (SES) and ethnicity. In Study 1, teachers (N = 397) graded work of either high or low quality that had ostensibly been written by a student who varied in terms of SES and ethnicity. We found that SES and—to a lesser extent—ethnicity biases were more likely to manifest when the standard of work was below average, largely favouring a student from an affluent White background. In Study 2, an undergraduate sample (N = 334) provided judgements based on an identical piece of work written by a student who varied by SES and ethnicity. Importantly, they formulated these judgements whilst working under high or low cognitive load, which was manipulated via a simultaneous listening task. Results showed that under high cognitive load, a student from an affluent White British background was afforded a boost in grading that was not afforded to Black Caribbean and/or lower SES students. These findings highlight contexts in which teachers may be most prone to biased judgements and should be used by educational institutions to de-bias their workflows, workloads and workforces.

Cultural diversity has recently been discussed as a potential stressor for teachers. The present study contributes to this discussion by examining the role of cultural diversity in the development of emotional exhaustion among teachers. Using the teacher stress model as a framework, we investigated if working conditions, such as cultural diversity (1), value beliefs, such as cultural beliefs or stereotypes towards students with an immigration background (2), and perceived professional competence, such as teaching experience and self-efficacy (3), predict emotional exhaustion. The data comes from a longitudinal study with 291 German pre-service mathematics teachers (M = 9.5 month). Results from robust multiple regression analyses showed no relation between cultural diversity and emotional exhaustion. Emotional exhaustion was significantly predicted by prior emotional exhaustion, frequent class disruptions, and large classes. Regarding cultural beliefs, participants with more stereotypes towards students with an immigration background experienced a higher level of emotional exhaustion, whereas the actual cultural diversity in their class had no impact. Contrary to our hypotheses, no effect was found for cultural beliefs. Taken together, our results suggest that it is not cultural diversity per se that leads to emotional exhaustion but evaluative processes of seeing students with an immigration background as burden that reflect beginning teachers' stereotypes. Practical implications are that teacher training should aim to reduce candidates' stereotypes towards students with an immigration background and allow more hands-on teaching experience.

Abstract

Teacher burnout is a worldwide problem, and discontent of the educators often leads to social action in forms of demonstrations and strikes. Studies often link teacher burnout to interpersonal and workplace factors. Social and societal factors, however, are rarely considered in the development of the symptoms. Our study aimed to reveal how the strength of teacher identity and different types of relative deprivation are associated with teacher burnout. A representative sample of 1797 Hungarian teachers participated in our survey study which aimed to measure exhaustion and disengagement as symptoms of burnout beside strength of teacher identity, working hours, egoistic and fraternalistic relative deprivation. The results of the Structural Equation Analysis showed that teacher identity is negatively linked to burnout symptoms. On the other hand, both types of relative deprivation and working hours are positively linked to burnout. The analysis of mediating paths also confirmed the Janus-faced effect of teacher identity: contrarily to its direct negative link to burnout, a positive mediating effect of teacher identity was revealed through fraternalistic relative deprivation. The findings indicate that the general judgement of teachers within society may contribute to burnout. Therefore, burnout research should focus on social comparison processes beside exploring intrapersonal and workplace factors.

Creating and sustaining a positive school climate is not done in isolation but requires continuous ongoing work by several people within the school, and one of the most important actors are the teachers. In order to fulfil this very important task, the teachers need to collaborate with colleagues at school in an organized manner. In this study, we aim to explore and analyse teachers’ perspectives on how their teacher team might be linked to their school climate work, and what team characteristics facilitate their work to create and maintain a positive and supportive climate within their school. To understand teachers’ comprehension of their team, we applied a social psychology framework, using social interdependence theory and the concept of psychological safety. Data were collected by means of 14 semi-structured focus group interviews with 73 teachers from two compulsory schools in southeast Sweden. The findings revealed that teachers perceived the team as the most significant support structure when it comes to school climate work. According to them, the team was associated with shared responsibility, support and help, as well as safety and an open climate. By elucidating teachers’ insider perspectives regarding their working conditions aligned to their work with school climate, we conclude that well-functioning teacher teams are experienced as a safe place to work on creating and maintaining a positive school climate.