Cognitive Consistency Theory and Student Evaluation of Teacher Effectiveness.
To determine the applicability of cognitive consistency theory to student evaluations of instructors, the grade expectations and instructor evaluations of 108 students were obtained during the first and last weeks of the term in five separate business management courses. Respondents were divided into three categories depending upon whether their grade expectations remained the same, fell, or rose from the beginning to the end of the course. Results supported cognitive consistency theory in that student evaluations of instructors varied directly, after disconfirmed grade expectations, with the directional change (up or down) in student grade expectations. The positive impact on instructor evaluations of an increase in student grade expectations was approximately the same as the negative impact of a decline in grade expectations.