Research on impression management has shown that students can manage their social images by providing attributional self-presentation strategies (ASPSs). Based on the distinction between social desirability judgments and social utility judgments, two studies were conducted to examine the students' understanding of the impact of ASPSs both on…

Academic environments can feel unwelcoming for women in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) fields. Two studies examined academic environments of female undergraduates majoring in STEM fields at a university in the United States. In Study 1, we compared women in STEM who are in a welcoming environment to those in a traditional STEM…

The present research examined whether gender-science stereotypes were associated with science identification and, in turn, science career aspirations among women and men undergraduate science majors. More than 1,700 students enrolled in introductory science courses completed measures of gender-science stereotypes (implicit associations and…

The purpose of this study was to investigate whether self-regulated learning (SRL) skills trained using a social network system (SNS) may be generalized outside the training session. A total of 29 undergraduate students participated in the study. During the training session, students in the experimental group were trained to practice…

This study examined the relationship of academic self-efficacy to engagement in class discussion and performance on major course exams among students (N = 165) in an undergraduate human development course. Cluster analysis was used to identify three levels of academic self-efficacy: high (n = 34), medium (n = 91), and low (n = 40). Results…

This paper identifies those behaviours that students perceive to be academically dishonest and sheds light on several demographic, academic and situational factors that predict students' perceptions of academic dishonesty. Data for this investigation were obtained through self-administered questionnaires from a sample of 321 undergraduate students…

Drawing from learning and attitude theories, the current investigation explores the effect of media on students' attitudes. Study 1 was a content analysis of 34 films classified as university-themed comedies and showed that such films highlighted risk-taking (e.g., alcohol consumption) and minimized the importance of academics (e.g., studying).…

This study investigated differences in university students' academic entitlement (AE) by demographic group (sex, college class, college generational status) as well as AE's relationship with self-efficacy for college coursework and social networking. It also investigated predictors of AE in first-generation (FG) students and continuing-generation…

There are websites where individuals anonymously provide informal reviews of professors. What impact do such sites have on student and professor motivational factors? Research suggests that undergraduate students are affected (e.g. Edwards et al. in "J Comput Mediat Commun" 14:368-392, 2009; Kowai-Bell et al. in "Comput Hum Behav" 27(5):1862-1867,…

As educators and mentors, we often focus on helping undergraduate students make career decisions. However, there is also value in helping alleviate career anxiety and indecision, both of which impede decision-making and are not automatically resolved once a decision is made. This research examined the role of individual differences (age, gender,…

We explored the meanings that undergraduate students make of their education and how these meanings relate to students' perceived stress, styles of coping with stress, and optimism. Participants completed a meaning of education questionnaire, the Perceived Stress Scale, the COPE (a measure of coping styles), and the Life Orientation Test-Revised.…

In an investigation of students' prejudicial biases against instructors who smoke, 61 female and 16 male undergraduates watched and listened to a 20-min lecture about parasomnias, completed a survey asking for instructor evaluation ratings and ratings of perceived learning, and completed a lecture-retention test with multiple-choice questions to…

This study examined students' stereotypes of professors based on professor ethnicity, gender, teaching style, and course taught. An ethnically diverse sample of undergraduates (N = 594) rated hypothetical professors on several dimensions including perceived warmth, professional competence, and difficulty. Evidence consistent with response…

The primary aim was to explore and compare the dimensionality of personal epistemology with respect to climate change across the contexts of Norwegian and Spanish students. A second aim was to examine relationships between topic-specific epistemic beliefs and the variables of gender, topic knowledge, and topic interest in the two contexts.…

Research on academic learning indicates that many students experience major difficulties with introductory statistics and methodology courses. We hypothesized that students' difficulties may depend in part on the fact that statistics tasks are commonly viewed as related to the threatening domain of math. In two field experiments which we carried…