Attributional Bias and Course Evaluations

Self-serving bias, a type of attributional bias, refers to people's tendency to take credit for success and avoid blame for failure. How this affects course evaluations is tested by comparing the self-esteem model, predicting that course evaluations reflect actual grades, with the expectancy-co...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of educational psychology 1990-06, Vol.82 (2), p.341-351
Main Authors: Gigliotti, Richard J, Buchtel, Foster S
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Academic Achievement
Attribution
Attribution Theory
Bias
Biological and medical sciences
Class Means
Course Evaluation
Demography
Education
Educational psychology
Expectations
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Grades (Scholastic)
Higher Education
Human
Predictive Measurement
Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry
Psychology. Psychophysiology
Questionnaires
Self Esteem
Self image
Self Serving Effect
Student Evaluation of Teacher Performance
Teacher Effectiveness Evaluation
Undergraduate Students
Validity
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Description
Summary:Self-serving bias, a type of attributional bias, refers to people's tendency to take credit for success and avoid blame for failure. How this affects course evaluations is tested by comparing the self-esteem model, predicting that course evaluations reflect actual grades, with the expectancy-confirmation model, predicting that evaluations reflect confirmation or disconfirmation of grade expectations. Questionnaire data were obtained from all students ( N = 691) in 38 classes representing 16 disciplines. Analyses at both the individual and class-mean level show that "self-serving" bias has a minimal or nonexistent effect on evaluations; that the self-esteem model explains best; and that the amount of bias caused by grades, self-serving bias, and 18 demographic/situational variables is low for all evaluation dimensions. The results support the validity of properly obtained course evaluations.
ISSN:0022-0663
1939-2176
DOI:10.1037/0022-0663.82.2.341