Pupils' misbehaviors and the reactions and causal attributions of physicaleducation student teachers: A sequential analysis

The sequential analysis of self-observations was used to study the reaction s of Physical Education student teachers (N = 154) toward elementary school pupils' misbehaviors. Reactions were categorized as direct or indirect ind icating whether or not they represent a direct appeal to the student teache r's authority status. Causal attributions of misbehaviors made by student t eachers as well as their level of intensity were noted. In general, student teachers resorted to direct reactions and attributed the cause of the misb ehavior to personal characteristics of the pupil. Their reactions and attri butions differed, however, as a function of the level of the misbehavior's intensity. In response to misbehaviors of high intensity, student teachers were more likely to resort to a combination of direct and indirect reaction s and even more to systematically attribute the cause of these misbehaviors to the pupil. This pattern of results suggests that direct and indirect re actions have complementary functions in the management of high intensity mi sbehaviors.