Higher Education Commons^™

Professor Gender, Age, And “Hotness” In Influencing College Students’ Generation And Interpretation Of Professor Ratings, Sara L. Sohr-Preston, Stefanie S. Boswell, Kayla Mccaleb, Deanna Robertson

Higher Learning Research Communications

Undergraduate psychology students rated expectations of a bogus professor (randomly designated a man or woman and hot versus not hot) based on an online rating and sample comments as found on RateMyProfessors.com (RMP). Five professor qualities were derived using principal components analysis (PCA): dedication, attractiveness, enhancement, fairness, and clarity. Participants rated current psychology professors on the same qualities. Current professors were divided based on gender (man or woman), age (under 35 or 35 and older), and attractiveness (at or below the median or above the median). Using multivariate analysis of covariance (MANCOVA), students expected hot professors to be more attractive …