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With the worldwide implementation of students' evaluation of teaching (SET), faculty attitudes and trust in students' feedback as well as possible defensive (i.e., self-protective) motivations seem most relevant to the facilitation of the primary organizational goal of SET, namely, teaching improvement. A questionnaire--administered to 2241 faculty members of all ranks in two dozen varied institutions--measured positive attitudes and trust, on the one hand, and beliefs in salient negative faculty SET myths, on the other hand. The most widely-held negative attitudes concerned student fallibilities: vindictiveness; lack of maturity; and negative evaluations of low-achieving students. Despite believing in myths, more than half of the respondents reported trusting SET, thought that it accurately reflected their teaching performance, and considered SET-based feedback useful. A derived index comparing self-evaluations to reported students' evaluations demonstrated that more than a third of the participants rated their own quality of teaching higher than the ratings they reported typically receiving from their students. This 'underestimated' group believed more intensely in SET myths and mistrusted it, which suggests a possible self-protective motivation underlying faculty attitudes. A subgroup of 9% felt strongly underestimated by their students, and a series of comparisons gave clear indications that, for this group of hard-core disgruntled faculty members, the administration of SET questionnaires and the provision of SET feedback are counter-productive. Insights from this research might encourage academic administrations to improve the implementation of SET measurement to increase faculty receptiveness and trust.

Sensitivity to verbal and nonverbal communication was rated in brief samples of behavior by the following groups in Israel: (1) 39 fourth graders; (2) 37 seventh graders; (3) 33 tenth graders; (4) 23 teachers-in-training; and (5) 19 experienced elementary school teachers. Both students and teachers could detect differential expectancy information. (SLD)

Perceptions of 520 Israeli seventh graders of teachers' differential behavior toward high and low achievers were compared with those of 17 teachers themselves. In a second experiment, teachers received feedback, which decreased the gap between students' and teachers' perceptions, although contrasting perceptions of emotional support given to low achievers persisted. (SLD)

The teacher's pet (TP) phenomenon was investigated in 80 Israeli fifth grade classrooms (23 religious and 57 secular). Questionnaires were administered to 2,079 students (49 percent female) and 80 female teachers. TPs were identified in 80 percent of the classrooms, female more often than male, and good students. (SLD)

Israeli elementary school teachers graded a handwritten worksheet allegedly written by an "excellent" or a "weak" student. This ability labeling caused a significant expectancy bias effect. The effects of teachers' ethnic origins, preferred teaching methods, teaching experience, and views on Israeli school integration on expectancy bias were also examined. (Author/BS)

Investigates views of 100 teachers and 73 sixth-, eighth-, and eleventh-grade students concerning the teacher's pet phenomenon. Analysis of questionnaires suggests that the teacher's pet phenomenon exists in most classrooms at all grade levels and is negatively perceived. (RJC)

This study examined differential expectancy effects as a function of teachers' susceptibility to biasing information and distinctions between positive ("Galatea effects") and negative ("Golem effects") outcomes of teacher expectancies. Patterns of differential, negative expectancy effects were evident not only in teachers' behavior but also in students' actual performance. (Author/BW)

Studies Israeli voters' projection on the outcomes of the 1992 general election and their political preferences. Methodology; Findings.

This work deals with children's tendency to return the smile of a friendly stranger in two separate cultures, Israel and the United States. In the first study, developmental trends in that behavior are examined. In a second study, mothers' socialization philosophies and child-rearing practices are explored in an interview and in a conjoint mother-child task. This research extends previous work (Alexander & Babad 1981) which showed a stable and consistent cross-cultural difference in second- and third-grade children. American children were more likely than Israeli children to return the smile of the friendly stranger. Systematic differences between "smilers" and "non-smilers" were-observed in each culture. The developmental study was designed to assess whether the differences previously found in second and third graders were consistent from preschool through junior high school years. Smiling tendencies were determined for 997 children in the United States and Israel, following the procedure of the previous studies. The results, highly consistent with the earlier findings, showed a systematic difference between the United States and Israel which appeared before the first grade and was stable throughout the investigated age range. In both cultures, the developmental curves for the smiling response were rather flat. Only in the preschool ages were lower smiling rates observed in both cultures. Despite the cross-cultural differences, the developmental data by sex and birth order showed remarkable similarity in both cultures. A second question addressed in the developmental study was whether teachers were aware of the smiling propensities of students and what they "made" of this behavior. Teachers in both countries successfully identified smilers and nonsmilers beyond chance. American teachers consistently judged smilers to be more socially competent than nonsmilers, Israeli teachers also judged smilers more socially competent in preschool and in junior high school. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Wishful thinking (WT)—defined as predicting a more favorable outcome for a preferred team—was investigated in soccer stadia and betting stations in Israel. High levels of WT were found in all contexts investigated. As hypothesized, the intensity of WT varied between contexts as a function of the "legitimacy" of emotionalism and subjectivity, and within each context as a function of self-defined levels of fanhood and preference. An explicit instruction to be objective did not reduce WT in predicting game outcomes. Paid betting forms represented an ecologically valid voluntary behavior most contradictory of wishful thinking, since bettors are strongly motivated to be objective and impartial. The results showed that fans could not overcome their wishful thinking, betting emotionally and against their financial interest. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Prior to every term, students must select courses (i.e., academic units of instruction within a degree programme) to determine their study programme. Course selection (CS) is a sequential decision-making (DM) process--students weigh various types of information available about each course. Every decision influences the weighting of considerations for the next. This study is focused on three central dimensions of CS: Learning Value (low or high in being intellectually challenging, interesting and thought-provoking), Lecturer's Style (low or high--exciting, charismatic and humorous versus dry, inflexible, unclear, etc.), and Course Difficulty (easy, moderate or hard)., Aims: (1) To examine students' preferences for each dimension in five choices and in their sequential location (1st to 5th). (2) To trace compromises in dilemma situations after the desirable combinations had already been selected. (3) To investigate differential selection as a function of students' age, gender, and academic standing (average grades)., Sample: Advanced undergraduates in various departments in an Israeli university (N = 1,007)., Method: In an experimental design, respondents were presented with 12 course descriptions representing 2x2x3 combinations, and asked to select five courses in a sequential order., Results: The 12 courses were found to be empirically divided into: ideal courses (2), first-degree (4) and second-degree (4) compromises, and rejected courses (2). Students avoided selecting hard courses unless they had no choice. Learning Value was the most preferred dimension, followed closely by Lecturer Style. Correlations showed that older and higher achieving students chose more difficult and high Learning Value courses., Comments: The discussion centred on the methodological issue of the effectiveness of an experimental design for the investigation of CS, conceptual issues concerning Course Difficulty in students' selection and evaluation, and applied issues concerning the availability of information about the three investigated dimensions to students in real-life CS.