THE TEACHERS PET PHENOMENON, STUDENTS PERCEPTIONS OF TEACHERS DIFFERENTIAL BEHAVIOR, AND STUDENTS MORALE

The relationships among the teacher's pet phenomenon, students' percep tions of teachers' differential behavior, and students' morale were in vestigated in 80 upper elementary Israeli classrooms. The intensity of the teacher's pet phenomenon (rate of students' consensus in identify ing teachers' pets in each classroom) was related to perceived teacher s' differential behavior, particularly to teachers' differential (also preferential) affect. In turn, teachers' perceived differential affec t was negatively related to students' morale and satisfaction. In clas srooms of teachers who had pets who were not popular, students demonst rated lower morale, whereas students in ''popular-pet'' classrooms did not demonstrate lower morale. Previous findings on the teacher's pet phenomenon and on students' and teachers' perceptions of teachers' dif ferential behavior were replicated.