Teacher judgments at zero-acquaintance: A social accuracy analysis

How accurate are teachers' first impressions and what moderates the degree of first impression accuracy? In previous teacher judgment accuracy research, teachers judged students who were well-acquainted to them, focusing on single traits. Here, we follow the zero-acquaintance paradigm and apply the Social Accuracy Model (SAM; Biesanz, 2010) to examine teachers' first impressions regarding students' personality profiles. Three groups of perceivers (student teachers, experienced teachers and psychology students; N = 285) rated students' (N = 10) academic self-concept, intrinsic motivation and intelligence based on brief videos. SAM analyses revealed that teachers were accurate regarding the average students' profile of characteristics (normative accuracy), but were not successful at detecting students' unique personality profiles (distinctive accuracy). Moreover, likeable students and those evaluated as more physically attractive were perceived with higher normative accuracy. Personality similarity and teaching experience were unrelated to accuracy. Implications for teacher judgment accuracy research and educational practice are discussed.