Students who receive higher grades implicitly reward their instructors with higher ratings

Evidence

In as-yet-unpublished studies conducted at the University of Washington, a strong displaced self-esteem effect has been identified in a natural setting that routinely calls for two parties to take turns evaluating each other—the end-of-course student ratings of instructors (Greenwald, 1992b). In analyses both within and across course sections, higher grades of student by instructor have been strongly associated with higher ratings of instructor by student. The positive evaluation of an instructor by a student who expects to receive a high grade appears to provide support, implicitly, for the student’s self-esteem. — Anthony G. Greenwald and Mahzarin R. Banaji, Implicit Social Cognition, 169

Categorization

• SHARE: A specifically relevant nugget for someone studying grading leniency or student evaluation bias.
• XREF: Connects to the self-serving/displaced self-esteem mechanisms mapped throughout the MOC. — connects to: Grades reward social conformity more than cognitive achievement — Samuel Bowles and Herbert Gintis, Schooling in Capitalist America:…, 495; Academic institutions structurally reward conventional teaching and punish engaged pedagogy — bell hooks, Teaching to Transgress: Education as…, 403; Higher status people receive more help, compliments, and favorable treatment — W. David Marx, Status and Culture: How Our Desire for…, 67 (+1 more)

Broader Connections

• Bystanders extend deference and rewards based on perceived rank rather than actual merit #expands (0.80) — W. David Marx, Status and Culture, 48
• Grades reward social conformity more than cognitive achievement #complicates (0.78) — Samuel Bowles and Herbert Gintis, Schooling in Capitalist America, 495
• Higher status people receive more help, compliments, and favorable treatment #exemplifies (0.75) — W. David Marx, Status and Culture, 67
• Academic institutions structurally reward conventional teaching and punish engaged pedagogy #expands (0.72) — bell hooks, Teaching to Transgress, 403