Nonverbal Communication and Leakage in the Behavior of Biased and Unbiased Teachers

Elisha Babad*, Frank Bernieri, Robert Rosenthal

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

68 Scopus citations

Abstract

In this article we present a brief exposure method of assessing teachers' verbal and nonverbal behavior. Highly biased and unbiased teachers were videotaped addressing their classes, and judges rated randomized 10-s clips. Leakage, the transmission of more positive affect in controllable channels while negative affect is given away involuntarily in less controllable channels, was assessed by linear contrast analyses of three channels in a leakage hierarchy: transcript of speech content, face, and body. As hypothesized, biased teachers demonstrated systematic and substantial leakage effects in affective variables (factor-based, composite scores reflecting dogmatic behavior and negative affect), whereas unbiased teachers showed no leakage. As predicted, no leakage was found for any group in active teaching behavior, a nonaffective composite variable. Biased and unbiased teachers did not differ in comparisons for each separate channel. These findings are consistent with previous findings on differences between biased and unbiased teachers.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)89-94
Number of pages6
JournalJournal of Personality and Social Psychology
Volume56
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - Jan 1989

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