Background: Generative artificial intelligence (AI) represents a potentially powerful, time-saving tool for grading student essays. However, little is known about how AI-generated essay scores compare to human instructor scores. Objective: The purpose of this study was to compare the essay grading scores produced by AI with those of human instructors to explore similarities and differences. Method: Eight human instructors and two versions of OpenAI's ChatGPT (3.5 and 4o) independently graded 186 deidentified student essays from an introductory psychology course using a detailed rubric. Scoring consistency was analyzed using Bland-Altman and regression analyses. Results: AI scores for ChatGPT3.5 were, on average, higher than human scores, although average scores for ChatGPT 4o and human scores were more similar. Notably, AI grading for both versions was more lenient than human instructors at lower performance levels and stricter at higher levels, reflecting proportional bias. Conclusion: Although AI may offer potential for supporting grading processes, the pattern of results suggests that AI and human instructors differ in how they score using the same rubric. Teaching Implications: Results suggest that educators should be aware that AI grading of psychology writing assignments that require reflection or critical thinking may differ markedly from scores generated by human instructors.

Subsequent recall is improved if students try to recall target material during study (self-testing) versus simply re-reading it. This effect is consistent with the notion of “desirable difficulties.” If the learning experience involves difficulties that induce extra effort, then retention may be improved. Not all difficulties are desirable, however. Difficult-to-read (disfluent) typefaces yield inconsistent results. A new disfluent font, Sans Forgetica, was developed and alleged to promote deeper processing and improve learning. Although it would be invaluable if changing the font could enhance learning, the few studies on Sans Forgetica have been inconsistent, and focused on short retention intervals (0–5 minutes). We investigated a 1-week interval to increase practical relevance and because some benefits only manifest after a delay. A testing-effect manipulation was also included. Students (N = 120) learned two passages via different methods (study then re-study vs. study then self-test). Half the students saw the passages in Times New Roman and half in Sans Forgetica. Recall test scores were higher for passages learned via self-testing than restudying, but the effect of font and the interaction were nonsignificant. We suggest that disfluency increases the local (orthographic) processing effort on each word but slowed reading might impair relational processing across words. In contrast, testing and generation effect manipulations often engage relational processing (question: answer; cue: target)—yielding subsequent benefits on cued-recall tests. We elaborate this suggestion to reconcile conflicting results across studies.

Grit, or the passionate pursuit of long-term goals, is an important predictor of performance and success across various domains, including within some military contexts. Whether grit predicts such outcomes at a military service academy during a multi-year period of prolonged uncertainty, however, is unknown. Using institutional data collected prior to the COVID-19 pandemic onset, we assessed how well grit, physical fitness test scores, and entrance examination scores predicted performance in academic, military, and physical domains, as well as on-time graduation for 817 cadets from the West Point Class of 2022. This cohort spent more than 2 years of their time at West Point functioning under the uncertainty of pandemic-related conditions. Multiple regression results showed that grit, fitness test, and entrance examination scores were all significant predictors of performance outcomes in the academic, military, and physical domains. Results from binary logistic regression showed that, in addition to physical fitness, grit scores significantly predicted graduation from West Point and accounted for unique variance. Consistent with results from pre-pandemic studies, grit was an important predictor of performance and success for West Point cadets even under pandemic conditions.

Perceptions of a leader in a work environment is important from 2 perspectives: the leader themselves and more importantly the external observer. But what information does the observer use when making these judgments of leadership potential? Many studies on role congruity have demonstrated that gender stereotyping and perceived leadership ability is strongly tied to gender role incongruity. The role of facial appearance has been associated with leadership status and potential and becomes essentially relevant in military settings. Thus, the manner in which an individual’s face is perceived and evaluated may impact perceptions of his or her leadership ability and subsequent success. The present study seeks to extend research on how sex and gender characteristics of an individual’s face may possibly influence the perception of leadership abilities in a military service academy. Findings indicated that participants preferred individuals with gender congruent faces, which may reflect a preference for physical prowess and abilities.