Are lecturers who show emotions perceived as understanding? How culture and teacher’s display of emotion are related to students’ judgments about a teacher’s personality

Abstract

ABSTRACTUniversity lecturers tend to show emotions in congruence with the cultural-educational practices with which they are familiar. As lecturers’ display of emotion can affect students’ learning, it is important to understand how culture influences students’ perception and interpretation of their lecturers’ display of emotion. In this study, we examined how a university lecturer’s display of emotions while giving negative feedback to students on their achievement in different cultural-educational contexts affected students’ perception of the lecturer’s personality. In an online survey university students in Germany (N = 148) and Russia (N = 136) read vignettes in which lecturers gave negative feedback to students during consultation hours. The lecturer’s display of emotion varied (no emotion vs. pity vs. anger) in the vignettes. The participants judged the lecturer’s personality by rating 10 items regarding the lecturer’s conscientiousness, cautiousness, and understanding. Students in Germany differed significantly from students in Russia in their ratings of the lecturer’s conscientiousness and understanding and the students’ judgment of the lecturer’s personality varied significantly between the angry condition and neutral condition. Both groups of students considered the lecturer to be more conscientious, cautious, and understanding when he showed pity than when he showed no emotion or anger.