The Effect of Teacher Warmth and Gender on Student Learning and Teacher Evaluations

Abstract

This study sought to examine the effect of teacher warmth and gender on learning in college students and their evaluations of teachers. A female teacher delivered a lecture to a group of students in a warm manner, and repeated the same lecture to another group of students in a cold manner. A male teacher also gave the lecture in a warm way to one group and in a cold way to another group. Participants took a quiz over the content of the lecture, completed a teacher evaluation, and filled out a demographic questionnaire. Results showed that teacher warmth and teacher gender had statistically significant effects on student learning, but there was not a significant interaction effect between them. Teacher warmth also had a statistically significant effect on teacher evaluations. Gender was not shown to have an effect on teacher evaluations, and there was not an interaction effect of teacher warmth and gender on teacher evaluations. These results have interesting implications for teachers who want to be more effective or receive higher evaluations.