Dr. Fox Only Appeals to the Heart, Not the Mind

Does charisma matter? What is the one thing that makes people listen to someone? We have all seen a TED talk at some point in our lives, these talks are loved by thousands all over the globe; the reason is not always the subject matter but it is often because of the speaker too. More often than not, the way the speaker delivers information is so captivating that the audience is left spellbound. The phenomenon that best explains this mind-boggling behavior is Dr. Fox Effect, it is sometimes termed as education seduction.

Research conducted in Pakistan showed that when it comes to higher education and teachers’ proficiency, teachers lacked in several avenues like approachability, emotional intelligence, conveying knowledge at the same level as that of students, and communication. Teachers in Pakistan are not taught the art of teaching; if they were taught that based on Dr. Fox effect’s principle, they would be better able to convey the essence of their academic material. Generally, teachers in Pakistan only focus on delivering their lectures stoically while they should also focus on communication, agreeableness, and approach.

Who Is Dr. Fox?

The name of the phenomenon came about when a series of experiments were conducted to delve deeper into the abovementioned dilemma and it was later mentioned in a paper called “The Doctor Fox Lecture: A Paradigm of Educational Seduction”. The experiments were done in parts where a lecture on “Mathematical game theory and its application to physician education” was given to professionals including social workers, psychiatrists, educational administrators, and psychologists. All the professionals were continuing their education training conferences and were told that an expert named “Dr. Myron L. Fox” of game theory was giving the lecture and was a student of John von. They were told that Dr. Fox had written several books and articles on game theory and mathematics. Overall, it can be said the speaker was portrayed in a very impressive light. 

The reality was that they experimenters hired an actor to play the part of Dr. Fox and his knowledge of game theory was only limited to the article that he read on game theory to prepare for the part. The actor was instructed that he had to deliver the lecture “with excessive use of double-talk, neologisms, non sequiturs, and contradicting statements.” The actor delivered the lecture in such a way that he had his audience laughing and enjoying the lecture in no time. Afterward, the audience/participants were given a form to fill to check whether they felt that the lecture was effective or not; it was a teacher’s evaluation form and inquired about the performance of the teacher. Despite the irrelevant content and the fact that the audience knew more about the subject matter, the majority of the participants rated the “speaker” in a favorable light. 

The experimenters concluded that the actor portraying as Dr. Fox was able to “seduce” the participants into believing that the lecture was professional and they learned something about the subject matter. 

Pedagogy Can Make the Audience Love You

It has been found that the evaluation of the teacher which is done by the students is affected by a number of aspects of the personality of the teacher. The main idea is that expressiveness is of the lecturer is key to making an impression on the students. The features that one should possess to woo an audience are:

• Personality: It might not be obvious but the personality of the teacher plays an important role when students perceive and evaluate teachers. According to research is done, teachers that do well in the big five personality dimensions to the maximum are the most effective in teaching. The big five dimensions are openness, conscientiousness, agreeableness, extroversion, and neuroticism.
• Charisma: As we mentioned previously, charisma is the key factor that got Dr. Fox so much appreciation by the participants. It was studied that teachers that were perceived to have that charismatic spark by the students received impressive evaluation
• Fluency of Lecture: Fluency affects the learning of the students. It was found that a teacher is considered to be fluent in what they are teaching if they are standing upright, spoke without the help of notes, and maintained proper eye contact throughout the lecture. The research also suggested that if a teacher was not organized and spoke haltingly then they were less likely to receive a favorable evaluation.
• Body Language: A teacher that has an open, approachable, confident, and relaxed body language is liked by the students. Appropriate nonverbal cues tell the students that the teacher is approachable and creates a channel of communication between the two parties.
• Exterior Look: If a teacher is properly dressed for the lectures, students are prone to feel comfortable around them and view them as professional which eventually leads to them trusting the teacher and better learning.

In the report called What Makes Great Teaching, Rob Coe and colleagues point out that, “The most effective teachers have deep knowledge of the subjects they teach, and when teachers’ knowledge falls below a certain level it is a significant impediment to students’ learning. As well as a strong understanding of the material being taught, teachers must also understand the ways students think about the content, be able to evaluate the thinking behind students’ methods, and identify students’ common misconceptions. ”

Does Learning Occur?

Numerous experiments followed the original one to see the credibility of the concept. It was found out that whilst it is true that the participants in almost all the experiments and researches did find the “fake professor” to be charming, they reported that they did not learn anything of value as it was recently pointed out in research called The Doctor Fox Research (1973) Re-Revisited: ‘Educational Seduction’ Ruled Out.

 In conclusion, it has been established that Dr. Fox effect does not result in real learning. Whilst receivers of such charismatic lectures might feel entertained, they do not gather any knowledge from such people and lectures. Read about college loans.