The Effect of Student Background on Teacher Performance Attributions: Evidence for Counterdefensive Patterns and Low Expectancy Cycles

Professional teachers' attributions for the performance of six students who varied in social class (middle vs. lower), race (white vs. Asian-American), and gender were compared. Teachers provided open-ended responses to questions soliciting the causes of student success and failure after reading experimentally manipulated record cards. The results revealed that teachers thought studentrelated factors influenced success more than failure and teacher-related factors influenced failure more than success. Also, teachers were more likely to “count” the successes and “discount” the failures of middle-class white females relative to students of other backgrounds. © 1986, Taylor & Francis Group, LLC. All rights reserved.

Duke Scholars

Author Harris M. Cooper Psychology & Neuroscience