Fake Enthusiasm, Does It Exist? Discovering Differing Levels of Expressed Enthusiastic Behaviors and Enjoyment Among Teachers

• In Event: 60.025 - Just Feeling Good? Relevance, Antecedents, and Consequences of Teachers' Positive Emotions

Abstract

Teacher enthusiasm is considered an essential element of being an effective teacher (Brophy & Good, 1986; Long & Hoy, 2006). Numerous studies have examined the effect teacher enthusiasm has on students (Jepsen, 2005; Keller et al., in press; Patrick et al., 2000). However, few studies have examined how being enthusiastic influences teachers. The present study investigated whether teachers express enthusiasm and experience enjoyment at differing levels, and if these differing levels influence teachers. In particular, we speculated that expressing high enthusiasm in the absence of experienced enjoyment (i.e. faked enthusiasm) has a detrimental effect on teachers.
Method.
A total of 266 secondary and 193 elementary school teachers filled out self-report scales assessing their expressed enthusiasm (4 items) and subjective experience of enjoyment (4 items) while in the classroom. Teaching self-efficacy beliefs, teacher anger and anxiety, emotional exhaustion, job satisfaction, and teachers’ perceptions of their students were also assessed.
Results and Discussion.
A latent profile analysis using the expressed enthusiasm and enjoyment items was conducted for each sample of teachers. Both resulted in a four-class solution. Both samples included a group of Happy Enthusiasts, who scored above average on expressed enthusiasm and enjoyment, a group of Well-Balanced Teachers, who scored directly at the overall means, and a group of Fakers, who scored just below the overall mean on expressed enthusiasm and almost two standard deviations below the overall mean on enjoyment. The fourth group for the high school sample was labeled Indifferent Teachers because they scored below the overall mean on both expressed enthusiasm and enjoyment, while the fourth group for the elementary school sample was labeled Slight Fakers because they scored right at the overall mean on expressed enthusiasm and almost one standard deviation away from the overall mean on enjoyment.
To see if faking enthusiasm has detrimental consequences, the classes’ teaching self-efficacy beliefs, experiences of anger and anxiety, job satisfaction, level of emotional exhaustion, and perceptions of their students were compared to one. Overall the results showed that within both samples of teachers the Happy Enthusiasts had the most positive profiles, whereas the Fakers had the most negative profiles. In both samples of teachers the Fakers had the lowest level of job satisfaction, highest level of anger, and the most negative perceptions of their students.
Our findings show that expressed enthusiasm and experienced enjoyment can vary in their levels and highlight the importance of having both an internal experience of enjoyment and a behavioral expression of enthusiasm. Furthermore, although teacher enthusiasm may be beneficial for students, there is a cost to behaving enthusiastically in the absence of experiencing enjoyment.

Authors

• Jamie Taxer, Stanford University

• Anne C. Frenzel, University of Munich (LMU)