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Effects of classroom context on university students’ judgments about cheating: mediating and moderating processes

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Abstract

Hypothetical vignettes were used to examine the effects of classroom context variables (pedagogical quality and classroom goal structure) on undergraduate (study 1) and graduate (study 2) students’ judgments about cheating. Consistent with attribution theory and previous findings, poor (versus good) pedagogy and performance (versus mastery) goals structures resulted in more teacher blame and less student blame for cheating, and cheating was rated as more acceptable and more likely in these situations. Participants’ own prior cheating history but not their experience as a classroom teacher also affected these judgments. Relations between classroom context variables and assigned blame for cheating were mediated by students’ assessments of the fairness of the classroom situation.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, University of Missouri-Kansas City, Kansas City, MO, 64110, USA

    Tamera Burton Murdock & Amy Goetzinger

  2. Department of Educational and Counseling Psychology, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY, USA

    Angela D. Miller

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  1. Tamera Burton Murdock
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  2. Angela D. Miller
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  3. Amy Goetzinger
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Correspondence to Tamera Burton Murdock.

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Murdock, T.B., Miller, A.D. & Goetzinger, A. Effects of classroom context on university students’ judgments about cheating: mediating and moderating processes. Soc Psychol Educ 10, 141–169 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11218-007-9015-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11218-007-9015-1

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