Pluralistic Ignorance and Pupil Control Ideology. Final Report

Pluralistic ignorance is a misconception by members of a group. Pupil control ideology is the attitudes of school personnel concerning their relations with pupils and the problems of pupil conduct conceptualized on a custodial-humanistic continuum. The subjects for this study were 87 teachers and 119 counselors; the instrument used contained four forms, one asking respondents for their own reactions to 20 items dealing with pupil conduct and the others asking them to estimate the responses of the typical teacher, counselor, and principal to the same items. All mean estimates of typical teacher ideology were significantly greater than the mean of teacher self scores. Pluralistic ignorance existed among teachers, counselors, and principals for the ideology associated with the role of teacher. Teachers and counselors were inaccurate in the same custodial direction regarding the principal's role. The estimates of counselor ideology by teachers were not inaccurate, and those given by principals were close but generally inaccurate in a humanistic direction. It is believed that popular images of the roles contributed to the findings, with teachers and principals typically seen as conservative and concerned with managerial problems, while counselors are thought of as relatively pupil centered. (Author/MBM)