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BRIEF RESEARCH REPORT article

Front. Educ.
Sec. Higher Education
Volume 9 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/feduc.2024.1473967

Do Professors Favor Liberal Students? Examining Political Orientation Appearance Cues and Professor Bias

Provisionally accepted
Julie A. Woodzicka Julie A. Woodzicka *Grace H. Boudreau Grace H. Boudreau Sarah L. Hayne Sarah L. Hayne
  • Washington and Lee University, Lexington city, United States

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    The perception of political bias in higher education persists even in the face of scarce evidence that liberal professors penalize conservative students or favor liberal ones. We investigated the degree to which college professors used student appearance to ascertain political orientation, and whether liberallooking students were rated more favorably. Ninety-eight (98) professors rated a student on logic, likeability, and political leaning. The hypothetical student's dress (bohemian vs. business casual) and hairstyle (brown hair vs. pink hair) were manipulated to cue political orientation. Results indicated that professors used student appearance to ascertain liberal political leaning, but did not rate the students significantly different on logic and likeability. These results suggest that while professors use appearance cues, they do not favor students who appear liberal leaning or punish those who look less liberal.

    Keywords: Liberal bias, Political bias, grading bias, professors, higher education

    Received: 31 Jul 2024; Accepted: 30 Oct 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Woodzicka, Boudreau and Hayne. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Julie A. Woodzicka, Washington and Lee University, Lexington city, United States

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.