Background: In academic contexts, teachers' judgements are central to instruction and have many consequences for students' self-perceptions. Understanding the cognitive biases that may exist in teachers' judgements is thus of central importance. Aims: This paper presents two studies in which we aimed to investigate the presence of a halo effect in…

This study examines the public stigma of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) by their school-aged peers, focusing on both explicit and implicit attitudes. The twofold aims were to provide a broader picture of public stigma and to explore age-related changes in attitudes. Students completed an explicit measure of the public stigma and an…

The estimation of high-dimensional latent regression item response theory (IRT) models is difficult because of the need to approximate integrals in the likelihood function. Proposed solutions in the literature include using stochastic approximations, adaptive quadrature, and Laplace approximations. We propose using a second-order Laplace…

Judgments of learning (JOLs) play a fundamental role in helping learners regulate their study strategies but are susceptible to various kinds of illusions and biases. These can potentially impair learning efficiency, and hence understanding the mechanisms underlying the formation of JOLs is important. Many studies have suggested that both…

The use of the "traditional"/"nontraditional" binary when referring to students in the context of higher education (especially in the United States) is so firmly established and compulsory that even when we try to challenge the dualism we often fall short. I believe that this has even happened in the current call for…

In reaction to the murder of George Floyd this past summer, Marilee Bresciani Ludvik attended a university-wide teach-in designed to better equip us as a community to embody anti-racist behavior in and out of the classroom. It included first-person direct self-report narratives from two very successful African American female professors who shared…

This paper gives instructors of Introduction to American Politics a template for teaching about media bias, using the case of President Trump and his administration. I present material for a combination lecture/discussion, including (1) a framework for evaluating partisan bias in news content, (2) discussion questions that move sequentially from…

In this essay, Myron Jackson offers a critique of trigger warnings, safe spaces, and code-switching that is based on two grounds. First, these practices derive from ideals of assimilation and appropriation, and are therefore wedded to a logic of domination. Second, these practices promote fragility. Increased reliance on trigger warnings, safe…

As we take advantage of new technologies that allow us to streamline the coding process of large qualitative datasets, we must consider whether human cognitive bias may introduce statistical bias in the process. Our research group analyzes large sets of student responses by developing computer models that are trained using human-coded responses…

Bias and prejudice are well known aspects of all societies and political arenas. They motivate a wide variety of fear-mongering policies and seem to be deeply ingrained in the hearts and minds of people, interfering with their reasoning and better judgement. In this paper, I explore how bias and prejudice come about and how they can be put to more…

In an article published in an open-access journal, (Pennebaker et al. "PLoS One," 8(11), e79774, 2013) reported that an innovative computer-based system that included daily online testing resulted in better student performance in other concurrent courses and a reduction in achievement gaps between lower and upper middle-class students.…

This study investigated the small sample biasness of the ordered logit model parameters under multicollinearity using Monte Carlo simulation. The results showed that the level of biasness associated with the ordered logit model parameters consistently decreases for an increasing sample size while the distribution of the parameters becomes less…

Last year, shortly after the murder of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, and so many others, it seemed as if the world had finally opened their eyes to the everyday reality and fears of Black America. And yet, just after the anniversary of these murders, state legislation is seen in the headlines of various news sites attacking Critical Race Theory…

Expecting discrimination in one's future occupation is known to have negative implications for adolescents' career pathways. However, little is known about how such discriminatory expectations emerge. The current contentious sociopolitical climate toward immigrants, especially those of Latinx heritage, has contributed to heightened discrimination…

Implicit bias classes have become a common practice with the aim of creating more inclusive work and learning environments. Such classes are aimed at helping individuals identify unconscious habits of mind and behaviors around race, which can be a disorienting experience. By seeing such classes through the lens of transformative learning theory,…