Teacher Use of Prosocial and Antisocial Power Bases and Students’ Perceived Instructor Understanding and Misunderstanding in the College Classroom

Abstract

This study explored the associations among teacher use of prosocial (i.e., reward, expert, and referent) and antisocial (i.e., legitimate and coercive) bases of power and students’ perceptions of instructor understanding and misunderstanding in the college classroom. Participants included 555 students from a private university in the Southwest. Results revealed that teacher use of prosocial bases of power is positively associated with perceived instructor understanding and negatively related to perceived instructor misunderstanding, whereas teacher use of antisocial bases of power is negatively related to perceived instructor understanding and positively associated with perceived instructor misunderstanding. Additional analysis indicated that coercive, referent, and expert power are significant predictors of perceived instructor understanding (R²=.53) and misunderstanding (R²=.37).

Keywords:

• Perceived Understanding
• Misunderstanding
• Teacher Power
• Prosocial
• Antisocial

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Amber N. Finn

Amber N. Finn (Ph.D., University of North Texas, 2007) is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Communication Studies at Texas Christian University