William F. White

Teachers' Perception of a Psychology of Pedagogy

A survey of 455 graduate students at a university in Southeast Texas was conducted using a 40-item Survey of Teacher Attitudes—R by White and Stanley and a four-case instrument with 20-item responses. Four rotated factors emerged from the analysis of data: (1) Classroom Evaluation Systems, (2) Beyond Essential Elements, (3) Motivation and Rewards For Teaching, and (4) Pride, Self-esteem, and Love of Students. Responses to 20 questions relating to four case studies were rank-ordered to frequency of principles used in resolving the four case studies. Reinforcement or operant conditioning principles were the most frequently used.