Classroom Justice 1
Classroom Justice: Student Aggression and Resistance as Reactions to Perceived Unfairness
Abstract
The present study examined the relationship between students’ perceptions of distributive and
procedural justice in a college course and student aggression and hostility toward their
instructors and resistance of their instructors’ requests. Although perceptions of both distributive
and procedural justice were negatively correlated with student aggression and hostility,
hierarchical multiple regression analyses indicated that only perceptions of procedural justice
predicted these two criterion variables at a statistically significant level. The relationships
between perceptions of justice and students’ use of resistance strategies were less consistent.
Hierarchical multiple regression analyses indicated that perceptions of procedural justice
negatively predicted student revenge and deception, while perceptions of distributive justice
positively predicted revenge. Perceptions of procedural and distributive justice also interacted to
affect student aggression and deception.