The Teacher's Pet Phenomenon: Rate of Occurrence, Correlates, and Psychological Costs

The teacher's pet phenomenon was investigated in 80 fifth-grade Israeli classrooms. Pets were identified through students' sociometric nominations in 80% of the classrooms: exclusive pets in 26% and nonexclusive pets in 54% of the classrooms. Pets tended to be girls rather than boys, of Ashkenazi rather than Sephardi origin, very good (but not necessarily the best) students academically, and perceived as charming, socially skilled, and compliant. Teachers who had pets were found to hold somewhat more authoritarian attitudes than teachers who did not have pets, and the rate of occurrence of the pet phenomenon was higher in religious than in secular schools. Students' affective reactions to their teachers were more positive in classrooms without pets, and most negative in exclusive-pet classrooms. Potential favoritism in assigning teacher grades to exclusive pets was also investigated: No overall favoritism was found, but a trace of favoritism by more authoritarian teachers was discovered.