Oct 09, 2013 01:19 PM EDT By Russell Westerholm, UniversityHerald Reporter

For college professors, being "credible," or at least appearing that way, is likely to help command a classroom's attention and deter certain student behaviors, new research suggests.

Inside Higher Ed reported that a survey from Southeastern University found that when students perceive a professor to be credible, they are more likely to pay attention. When a professor shares too many personal anecdotes, or is self-deprecating, students tend to tune that teacher out.

For the survey, published Wednesday in National Communication Association's journal Communication Education, 438 Southeastern undergraduates were asked questions upon leaving their classroom. The questions pertained to the professor's teaching style and certain "uncivil behaviors," like texting and packing a book bag before the end of class.

The survey noted it could only predict as much as certain teaching styles commanding attention and any uncivil behaviors beyond that were out of the professors' control.

"Although it is clear that a range of factors outside of instructors' control contribute to uncivil behavior in the classroom - such as societal shifts toward student entitlement and students' being raised in homes where manners are not adequately taught - results of this study indicate that there are at least some things instructors can do to minimize uncivil behavior," the study read. "This model, taking into account only instructor-related factors, explained 20 percent of the variance in self-reported uncivil behaviors among our participants - not a huge proportion, but enough to make a noticeable difference to a frustrated teacher."

The survey authors - University of Central Florida's Ann Neville Miller, James A. Katt, Tim Brown and Stephen A. Sivo - said credibility in professors is displayed in a clear direction for each class session and a command of the material presented. This was found to give students confidence in their instructor and led to more attentiveness.

On the other hand, "self-disclosure," or sharing of personal details and anecdotes, was proven to be dis-engaging to many students. While it is important for a professor to engage the whole classroom, too many stories of past failures and too much motivational advice can be harmful to students' attention spans.

"Instructors who start out revealing negative things about themselves may raise the quotient of incivility in the class," the authors wrote. "Tempting as it may be for instructors to attempt to warm up students by being transparent about their foibles and excesses, extensive negative self-disclosure should be engaged in with caution."

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