Abstract
Positive teacher‐student relationships are important for student academic achievement (Cornelius‐White, 2007)
and teacher well‐being (Spilt, Koomen, & Thijs, 2011). In this study we explored how teacher‐student relationships
(macro‐level) develop by observing real‐time teacher‐student interactions (micro‐level). We observed the degree
of Agency and Communion in both teachers’ and their students real‐time interpersonal behavior during one lesson
of eight teachers with teacher‐student relationships characterized differently in terms of Agency and Communion
with Sadler’s computer joystick device. The macro‐level teacher‐student relationship was measured with the
Questionnaire on Teacher Interaction. With State Space Grid (SSG) analysis the content (i.e., attractors) and
structure (i.e., visit entropy) of the observed interactions was analyzed, by recoding the joystick coordinates into
octant scores of the IPC‐Teacher and IPC‐Student. For five teachers we found alignment between the content of
real‐time interactions and the teacher‐student relationship. For three teachers attractors were located in octants
characterized as more friendly than their teacher‐student relationship. Also for, these three teachers we concluded
that the teacher‐student interactions were least predictable (structure). In previous research it was found that the
teacher‐student relationship of teachers whose behavior is less predictable is often less desirable (i.e., low levels of
Agency and Communion). This was also the case in the current study. By placing the attractors (content) for both
the teacher and the students in the IPC we were able to study general complementarity in their interactions. This
showed complementary interactions for five teachers, a‐complementary interactions for two teachers, and noncomplementary
interactions for one teacher.
Original language | English |
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Publication status | Unpublished - 2014 |
Event | Annual Conference of the Society for Interpersonal Theory and Research (SITAR) - New Haven, United States Duration: 6 Jun 2014 → 7 Jun 2014 |
Conference
Conference | Annual Conference of the Society for Interpersonal Theory and Research (SITAR) |
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Country/Territory | United States |
City | New Haven |
Period | 6/06/14 → 7/06/14 |