Teacher Expectancy : Its Effects on Evaluation of Student Performance

A review of the literature relevant to observer expectancy bias revealed that good deal of research has been conducted in the area of experimenter expectancy and its influence on subject behavior, but little applied work in the area of observer bias and its influence on the observer’s behavior. The purpose of this study was to demonstrate the effects of observer expectancy bias in non-experienced and experienced school teachers. All teachers read and evaluated the same essay. Different sets of alleged background information, describing a student who the teachers were told wrote the essay, were given with the essay in order to create an expectancy bias in the subjects (teachers). The instructional sets were different combinations of the demographic variables: Sex (male and female), Race (Black and white), and Socioeconomic status (lower and upper class). Results of the study indicated that the only demographic variable which produced a significantly difference in the Ss’ evaluation of the student essay was Race. The Ss rated the essay written by a black student higher than the same essay written by a white student