Teachers
There are few well-designed studies that have examined teachers' behavior toward attractive and unattractive children. This is surprising and unfortunate given the evidence that, under certain circumstances, teacher expectations can profoundly affect children's school performance and behavior (e.g., Brophy & Good, 1974). Only one study has attempted to evaluate the relationship between a child's level of attractiveness and his/her teacher's daily behavior toward him/her.
Adams and Cohen (1974) asked observers to record verbatim the content of all teacher-student interactions occurring during three 30-minute sessions conducted over a 6-month period. Students and teachers in three classrooms (kindergarten, fourth, and seventh grades) were observed. For the older (seventh grade) but not the younger children, a child's level of attractiveness was positively related to the amount of interaction with the teachers.
The usefulness of these data is compromised, however, by several problems. First, the grade by attractiveness interaction cannot be easily interpreted because grade and teachers were confounded. Since only one teacher was observed at each grade level, any conclusions about teachers in general or about age effects are limited. Further, the attractiveness ratings used in the assessment of the relation between teacher behavior and child attractiveness were made by the teachers themselves. Thus, for each child in the study, there is only a single attractiveness rating; that is likely to be confounded with other teacher evaluations of the children as well as being quite idiosyncratic. Although little information can be extracted from this study concerning the effects of attractiveness on teachers' interactions with their students, it could be of heuristic value to future studies in this difficult area of research.
Several studies have examined the relationship between a child's level of attractiveness and grades assigned to them by teachers. Although neither Styczynski (1976) nor Maruyama and Miller (1981) found differences in grades to be a function of attractiveness, two studies have reported such an association. Lerner and Lerner (1977) found low but significant correlations between attractiveness and grades given by teachers to fourth- and sixth-graders. Two methods were used to determine the attractiveness ratings of each child: a "live" rating given by the experimenter and the average rating of a group of 97 college students. Both methods yielded the significant, positive association. Felson (1980) similarly reported that teachers assigned higher grades to attractive children in a national sample of over 2000 tenth-grade boys.
In one last study, Barocas and Black (1974) reported on the effects of children's attractiveness on teacher referrals. They found that attractive children were more frequently referred by their teachers for psychological, speech, reading, and learning disability assessments than were unattractive children. Because these referrals were for remedial services and help rather than for the control of behavior problems, Barocas and Black concluded that these teachers were more willing to help attractive than unattractive children.
There are few well-designed studies that have examined teachers' behavior toward attractive and unattractive children. This is surprising and unfortunate given the evidence that, under certain circumstances, teacher expectations can profoundly affect children's school performance and behavior (e.g., Brophy & Good, 1974). Only one study has attempted to evaluate the relationship between a child's level of attractiveness and his/her teacher's daily behavior toward him/her.
Adams and Cohen (1974) asked observers to record verbatim the content of all teacher-student interactions occurring during three 30-minute sessions conducted over a 6-month period. Students and teachers in three classrooms (kindergarten, fourth, and seventh grades) were observed. For the older (seventh grade) but not the younger children, a child's level of attractiveness was positively related to the amount of interaction with the teachers.
The usefulness of these data is compromised, however, by several problems. First, the grade by attractiveness interaction cannot be easily interpreted because grade and teachers were confounded. Since only one teacher was observed at each grade level, any conclusions about teachers in general or about age effects are limited. Further, the attractiveness ratings used in the assessment of the relation between teacher behavior and child attractiveness were made by the teachers themselves. Thus, for each child in the study, there is only a single attractiveness rating; that is likely to be confounded with other teacher evaluations of the children as well as being quite idiosyncratic. Although little information can be extracted from this study concerning the effects of attractiveness on teachers' interactions with their students, it could be of heuristic value to future studies in this difficult area of research.
Several studies have examined the relationship between a child's level of attractiveness and grades assigned to them by teachers. Although neither Styczynski (1976) nor Maruyama and Miller (1981) found differences in grades to be a function of attractiveness, two studies have reported such an association. Lerner and Lerner (1977) found low but significant correlations between attractiveness and grades given by teachers to fourth- and sixth-graders. Two methods were used to determine the attractiveness ratings of each child: a "live" rating given by the experimenter and the average rating of a group of 97 college students. Both methods yielded the significant, positive association. Felson (1980) similarly reported that teachers assigned higher grades to attractive children in a national sample of over 2000 tenth-grade boys.
In one last study, Barocas and Black (1974) reported on the effects of children's attractiveness on teacher referrals. They found that attractive children were more frequently referred by their teachers for psychological, speech, reading, and learning disability assessments than were unattractive children. Because these referrals were for remedial services and help rather than for the control of behavior problems, Barocas and Black concluded that these teachers were more willing to help attractive than unattractive children.
