<p>I'll preface this by saying that I've been considering this question in light of the <a href="http://blog.stackoverflow.com/2012/07/kicking-off-the-summer-of-love/">"Summer of Love"</a> initiative and subsequent blog posts, which are looking at the extent to which comments are "friendly" on Stack Exchange.</p>

<p>Much of the impetus behind the movement is a commitment to treating new members better, and it's safe to assume that a majority of these new members are here for help in the process of learning something (e.g., programming, statistics, new software).  Comments can both set the tone while also being a means through which to deliver learning.</p>

<p>The actual Stack Exchange study is measuring the response of a third party to the comments made on the site, but, as more readily available system, I'd like to find out if a teacher who projects a "friendly" attitude positively affects the learning process.  Conversely, it's not ideal if a teacher uses "unorthodox" methods to motivate students (e.g., sarcasm), but controlling for all other factors, could these methods actually motivate some students to learn better?</p>

<p>While the analogy between educators, students, and Stack Exchange participants is far from perfect, is there support in the educational psychology literature for the notion that teachers reported by students as "friendlier" (on average) help those students achieve higher levels of performance on standardized tests and other evaluations?</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2012-08-04T13:07:47.830Z
This would require very delicate controls to disentangle a 'friendly' ranking from a 'good' or 'easy-grader' ranking. Anecdotally, educational psych is bad at doing such carful controls.
Artem Kaznatcheev
CC BY-SA 3.0
2012-08-04T15:09:12.000Z
@ArtemKaznatcheev Very true.  I was going to add in a stipulation that the evaluation of the teacher be done before the grade was received to try to stave off the second confound, but I didn't want to limit the pool of studies  someone might have to choose from.
Chuck Sherrington
CC BY-SA 3.0
2012-08-04T15:32:31.437Z
I'm not sure if they do so for 'friendly' teachers, but the *student's* attractiveness does influence at least the expectation of the teacher: [here's the paper](jstor.org/stable/2112099). It's a fairly old article, but could put you on the right track. Abstract: > Rosenthal and Jacobson found that a teacher's expectations about a child's behavior strongly influence his actual behavior. Generally, teachers form their first impressions of children, and thus develop their expectations for them, from two sources of information--the children's school record and their physical appearance. In this e
Sara Lily
CC BY-SA 3.0
2012-08-04T15:34:35.650Z
Thanks for your effort, jtth, but this does not answer the question at all.  I'm looking for studies with those specific parameters.
Chuck Sherrington
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-03-27T12:39:38.077Z
I know this doesn't answer the question either, but having had the honor of learning psychological stats directly from Bob Rosenthal myself, I just gotta say he's probably the friendliest teacher I've ever known. To answer anecdotally, I suppose I did pretty well in his classes, but not unusually well. ;)
Nick Stauner
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-04-07T19:47:13.863Z
@ArtemKaznatcheev I would be more concerned about looks and personality effects then grading effects.  Being a student currently, I won't lie most students won't rate a hottish teacher distantly provided they don't completely fail you.
William
<reference-request><performance><test><educational-psychology><attitudes>
Do the students that report "friendly" teachers perform better on standardized tests?
Chuck Sherrington
# Do the students that report "friendly" teachers perform better on standardized tests?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2012-08-04)

I'll preface this by saying that I've been considering this question in light of the ["Summer of Love"](http://blog.stackoverflow.com/2012/07/kicking-off-the-summer-of-love/) initiative and subsequent blog posts, which are looking at the extent to which comments are "friendly" on Stack Exchange.

Much of the impetus behind the movement is a commitment to treating new members better, and it's safe to assume that a majority of these new members are here for help in the process of learning something (e.g., programming, statistics, new software). Comments can both set the tone while also being a means through which to deliver learning.

The actual Stack Exchange study is measuring the response of a third party to the comments made on the site, but, as more readily available system, I'd like to find out if a teacher who projects a "friendly" attitude positively affects the learning process. Conversely, it's not ideal if a teacher uses "unorthodox" methods to motivate students (e.g., sarcasm), but controlling for all other factors, could these methods actually motivate some students to learn better?

While the analogy between educators, students, and Stack Exchange participants is far from perfect, is there support in the educational psychology literature for the notion that teachers reported by students as "friendlier" (on average) help those students achieve higher levels of performance on standardized tests and other evaluations?

**Tags:** reference-request, performance, test, educational-psychology, attitudes

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: This would require very delicate controls to disentangle a 'friendly' ranking from a 'good' or 'easy-grader' ranking. Anecdotally, educational psych is bad at doing such carful controls.  
> **username_0**: @ArtemKaznatcheev Very true.  I was going to add in a stipulation that the evaluation of the teacher be done before the grade was received to try to stave off the second confound, but I didn't want to limit the pool of studies  someone might have to choose from.  
> **username_2**: I'm not sure if they do so for 'friendly' teachers, but the *student's* attractiveness does influence at least the expectation of the teacher: [here's the paper](jstor.org/stable/2112099). It's a fairly old article, but could put you on the right track. Abstract: > Rosenthal and Jacobson found that a teacher's expectations about a child's behavior strongly influence his actual behavior. Generally, teachers form their first impressions of children, and thus develop their expectations for them, from two sources of information--the children's school record and their physical appearance. In this e  
> **username_0**: Thanks for your effort, jtth, but this does not answer the question at all.  I'm looking for studies with those specific parameters.  
> **username_3**: I know this doesn't answer the question either, but having had the honor of learning psychological stats directly from Bob Rosenthal myself, I just gotta say he's probably the friendliest teacher I've ever known. To answer anecdotally, I suppose I did pretty well in his classes, but not unusually well. ;)  
> **username_4**: @ArtemKaznatcheev I would be more concerned about looks and personality effects then grading effects.  Being a student currently, I won't lie most students won't rate a hottish teacher distantly provided they don't completely fail you.  

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## 0 answers

