Effects of teacher immediacy and strategy type on college student resistance to on‐task demands

Abstract

This study investigated the effects of teacher nonverbal immediacy and strategy type on college students' likelihood of resisting teacher compliance‐gaining attempts. Employing a 2 × 2 design, students were asked to indicate their likelihood of complying to teacher demands in one of the following scenarios: An immediate teacher who used prosocial (or antisocial) behavior alteration techniques; a nonimmediate teacher who used either strategy type. Predicting an interaction, results confirmed that students were less likely to resist an immediate teacher who employed prosocial techniques, but more likely to resist an immediate teacher who used antisocial techniques. In contrast, students reported greater resistance to a nonimmediate teacher employing prosocial techniques, but less resistance to a nonimmediate teacher who used antisocial techniques. Students' locus of control, gender, and class ranking were nonsignificant covariates. Findings were interpreted in terms of the interaction and the overwhelming influence of teacher nonverbal immediacy on students’ decisions to resist or comply.