Abstract
Student attitudes toward psychology were assessed periodically during several psychology courses. Independent variables studied were whether subject matter was Science-oriented or Life-oriented, whether the course itself or topics were rated, sex of students, and two personality measures derived from the California Psychological Inventory-Achievement-Orientation (AO) and Social-Orientation (SO).
Life-oriented content consistently produced higher ratings of courses and subject matter than did Science-oriented content. Females rated Life-oriented topics higher than males, and males rated Science-oriented topics higher than females. Nevertheless, males rated the course as more valuable than females during the Life-oriented portions of the course, and females rated the course higher than males during the Science-oriented parts of the course. Inconsistent relationships were found between the personality measures and other variables.
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Formerly at Drake University and Indiana University. Data were collected at the University of Michigan and at Drake University. The Michigan data were collected as part of a larger project sponsored by the U. S. Office of Education, Contract No. SAE-8451 to W. J. McKeachie, J. E. Mifholland, and R. L. Isaacson.
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Carney, R.E., McKeachie, W.J. Personality, Sex, Subject Matter and Student Ratings. Psychol Rec 16, 137–144 (1966). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03393652
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03393652