DO TEACHER IDEALS DISTORT THE SELF-REPORTS OF THEIR INTERPERSONAL-BEHAVIOR

This paper examines teacher cognitions about interpersonal behavior in the classroom in relation to the teacher behavior perceived by students. The cognitions studied are the teachers' ideals about interpersonal behavior and how they think they behave in the classroom (the self-reports of this behavior). The results show that it is plausible that teacher self-reports about their behavior are partly shaped by their ideals irrespective of their actual behavior. This can cause a mismatch between teacher self-reports and students' perceptions of teacher interpersonal behavior. This mismatch is on average larger for teachers who show little behavior that turned out to be effective for student outcomes than for teachers who show a lot of those behaviors.