Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

The Predictive Value Of School Climate And Teacher Techniques On Students’ Just World Beliefs: A Comprehensive Brazilian Sample, Kendra J. Thomas, Jonathan Santo, Josafa M. Da Cunha

Psychology Faculty Publications

Substantial research has established the connection between students’ beliefs in a just world (BJW) and their perceptions of and behaviors in the school. While much of that research has acknowledged that the relationship between BJW and school variables must be bi-directional, little empirical evidence exists on how the school climate shapes students’ perceptions of justice. This study draws from a comprehensive sample of Brazilian students from third through twelfth grade (n = 18,514) across 122 public schools in Southern Brazil. Results reveal that school climate variables account for 12.1–19.6% of the variance of students’ BJW, with middle school being …

Fairness, Trust, And School Climate As Foundational To Growth Mindset: A Study Among Brazilian Children And Adolescents, Kendra J. Thomas, Josafa M. Da Cunha, Denise Americo De Souza, Jonathan Santo

Psychology Faculty Publications

Recent research has established the importance of children and adolescents developing a growth mindset for future success and motivation. This research tests believes about fairness, adult trust, and school climate that are theoretically foundational for establishing a cognitive connection between effort and outcome. Regressions and MANOVAS were conducted to understand the direct and indirect relationships between perceptions of justice, adult trust, school climate and growth mindsets.

The first study included 363 children from Brazilian public schools and the findings supported our hypothesis that adult trust partially mediates the relationship between justice perceptions and growth mindset. The second study included an …