Do Teachers’ Mindsets About Stress Predict More Adaptive Stress Responses and Higher-Quality Teaching? (Poster 22)

• In Event: AERA Poster Session Wednesday 4:20 p.m.
  In Poster Session: Motivation, Emotion, and Engagement Across Contexts

Abstract

Students with a “stress-can-be-enhancing” mindset—the belief that the physiological stress response can enhance (vs. undermine) performance—have been found to have better mental health outcomes and perform better on high-stakes assessments. However, no study has examined whether teachers' stress mindsets can help them to cope with stress and teach more effectively in the classroom. Grounded in the biopsychosocial (BPS) model of challenge and threat, this study tests whether teachers’ stress mindsets predict their physiological responses and teaching effectiveness during a challenging teaching task in the laboratory (targeted n = 200). Results from six participants indicate that the novel paradigm is well-suited to test these associations. Data from the full targeted sample will be collected and analyzed before the 2025 AERA Annual Meeting.

Authors

• Seulki Chin, University of Texas at Austin

• Natassia Merrill, University of Texas at Austin

• Michaela Jones, University of Texas at Austin

• Cameron Hecht, University of Rochester

• Jeremy Jamieson, University of Rochester

• David Yeager, University of Texas at Austin