From a prepared script, teacher behavior indicating positive and negative attitudes toward students and toward the course material was role played before 16 introductory psychology classroom groups. The treatments were crossed in a 2x2 design. Each class session consisted of the experimental treatment embedded in a 15-minute lecture, an achievement test on the lecture material, and an attitude questionnaire to check on the manipulations. Results indicated that task attitudes exhibited by the instructor influenced student achievement, while interpersonal attitudes did not. It was also noted that while the group with the highest achievement scores had an instructor with positive attitudes toward students and toward course material, the group with the lowest scores had an instructor with positive attitudes toward students and negative attitudes toward the course material. This suggests that the attitude exhibited by the teacher toward the material he is teaching exerts more influence on student achievement as it is typically measured than his attitude toward students as individuals. (Author/RT)