Students Aggress Against Professors in Reaction to Receiving Poor Grades: An Effect Moderated by Student Narcissism and Self‐Esteem

Abstract

Laboratory evidence about whether students' evaluations of teaching (SETs) are valid is lacking. Results from three (3) independent studies strongly confirm that "professors" who were generous with their grades were rewarded for their favor with higher SETs, while professors who were frugal were punished with lower SETs (Study 1, d = 1.51; Study 2, d = 1.59; Study 3, partial η(2) = .26). This result was found even when the feedback was manipulated to be more or less insulting (Study 3). Consistent with laboratory findings on direct aggression, results also indicated that, when participants were given a poorer feedback, higher self-esteem (Study 1 and Study 2) and higher narcissism (Study 1) were associated with them giving lower (more aggressive) evaluations of the "professor." Moreover, consistent with findings on self-serving biases, participants higher in self-esteem who were in the positive grade/feedback condition exhibited a self-enhancing bias by giving their "professor" higher evaluations (Study 1 and Study 2). The aforementioned relationships were not moderated by the professor's sex or rank (teaching assistant vs.professor). Results provide evidence that (1) students do aggress against professors through poor teaching evaluations, (2) threatened egotism among individuals with high self-esteem is associated with more aggression, especially when coupled with high narcissism, and (3) self-enhancing biases are robust among those with high self-esteem.

The Bright Side of Threatened Narcissism: Improved Performance Following Ego Threat

“…Their intrapersonal strategies (e.g., externalizing blame, distorting past events; Campbell et al, ; Foster & Campbell, ) are not necessarily unfavorable and might in fact be beneficial for their psychological health and well‐being because they can help buffer the negative effects of such threats (Sedikides et al, ). However, their primary behavioral strategy seems to be aggression or derogation against the source of threat (Barry et al, ; Bushman & Baumeister, ; Thomaes, Bushman, Orobio de Castro, Cohen, & Denissen, ; Vaillancourt, ), which has negative implications for their personal as well as professional relationships (Back et al, ). Contrary to prior research, which studied aggression as narcissists’ predominant behavioral response to ego threats, we proposed that, when given the opportunity, narcissists could utilize a more constructive behavioral strategy and attempt to counter ego threat via improved performance.…”

“…However, their dominant interpersonal defense strategies include reestablishing dominance and eliminating the source of the threat (Baumeister, Smart, & Boden, ). Indeed, prior research has consistently shown that narcissists respond aggressively to ego threats such as negative feedback or rejection (Leary, Terry, Allen, & Tate, )—both physically and more covertly via derogating the evaluator (Barry, Chaplin, & Grafeman, ; Bushman & Baumeister, ; Twenge & Campbell, ; Vaillancourt, ).…”

A Multivariate Generalizability Theory Approach to College Students' Evaluation of Teaching

“…This context should be taken into account in future study. In a most recent study in a sample of Canadian college students, Vaillancourt (2013) found that students rated their professors low in reaction to receiving poor grades in students' evaluation of teaching. Although our study showed that evaluations conducted at the beginning of the spring semester produced better evaluation results, we did not know if this was somewhat also the case in our Chinese student sample (e.g., whether students rated their teachers low in reaction to receiving poor grades in the final exams last semester).…”

Pengaruh Perilaku Agresif Pada Anak Usia Dini Terhadap Kecemasan Dan Empati

“…Perilaku agresif memiliki hubungan positif terhadap masalah-masalah psikologis lainnya yakni gangguan kepribadian narsistik (Ojanen, et al, 2012;Vaillancourt, 2013;Ghim, et al, 2015, Fitriyah & Purwoko, 2018, kenakalan remaja dan depresi (Tucker, et al, 2014), depresi (Blain-Arcaro, 2016), kecemburuan (Wright, 2014), rendahnya empati (van Hazebroek, 2016), selfcontrol yang rendah (Morsunmbul, 2015;Guo, et al, 2016), self-injury (Tang, et al, 2013), self-perception (Wallance et al , 2012), depresi dan stress (Esteves, 2018). Banyaknya masalah psikologis yang erat dengan perilaku agresif merupakan sinyal bahwa perilaku agresif merupakan masalah utama yang berdampak sistemik pada kondisi psikologis manusia.…”