College students' attributions of teacher misbehaviors

Abstract

Grounded in attribution theory, this investigation examined explanations students provide when college teachers misbehave, and the influence of perceived teacher immediacy shaping those interpretations. Across two different samples, college students responded to questionnaires assessing perceptions of their teachers' immediacy, teacher misbehaviors, and attributions of misbehavior consistency and causality. Results of both qualitative and quantitative data analyses revealed that students recognize teacher misbehaviors and apply an interpretive framework in which they view the teacher, not external factors or themselves, as the primary cause of teacher misbehaviors. Even those teachers who employ immediacy behaviors are not immune to students' tendency to attribute teacher-internal causality to teacher misbehaviors.