過去西方教育心理學的研究指出，中、小學教師對於學生道德與學業表現的獎懲具有不對稱性。教師對違反道德規範的學生大多會給予懲罰；對於學業成就事件，則是使用獎勵多於懲罰。本研究旨在從台灣國中學生的觀點，探討在道德與學業事件方面，學生認知教師使用獎勵與懲罰的正當性。本研究採用情境故事法，以119 名台北市國中學生為研究對象。研究結果發現，在道德事件方面，學生心目中教師使用獎懲的情況與西方相近，即做了積極義務，不需要獎勵，但違犯消極義務，則需要受到懲罰。然而在學業成就方面，卻與西方教師有相當明顯的不同。研究參與者認為，當學生成績不佳時，教師對於不努力者，應該比努力者給予較多的懲罰，且責備應當多於記過；而當學生成績優異時，唯有努力者才應當受到獎勵，教師對於努力者的獎勵應多於不努力者。從儒家文化中教師與學生的義務觀可以解釋。因為，努力學習是學生的義務，而引導學生獲得良好的學業成就則是教師的義務。本研究的觀點可以廣泛解釋儒家社會中教師在教育情境中使用獎勵與懲罰的現象。

The educational psychologists in the west have done researches to indicate an asymmetry of using rewards and punishments by teachers in moral and academic domain in the elementary and junior high schools. Teachers administer more punishments to students violating moral rules, while administering more rewards than punishments for performance in the academic domain. This research was aimed at studying the legitimacy of teachers’ use of rewards and punishments, as perceived by students, in moral and academic domains in Taiwan. In this study, scenario questions were used to survey 119 junior high school students in Taipei, and found that the pattern of using rewards and punishments in the moral domain is similar to that of the West. That is, students who practice positive duties do not need to be rewarded, while those who violate negative duties should be punished. The patterns of using rewards and punishments in academic domains of the West are quite different from those of Confucian society. Participants in this research thought that teachers should give more punishments to those effortless students, than those putting forth great effort, but with low academic achievement. They also thought teachers should apply more blame than recording a demerit. When students performed well in academic domains, only those students who made efforts should be rewarded, and teachers should give more rewards to such effortful students than effortless students. The above results can be inferred from students’ and teachers’ role-obligations in Confucian society. Learning hard is a student’s obligation, and guiding students to obtain higher academic achievements is a teacher’s duty. The arguments in this research can be generalized to the patterns of the use of punishments in educational situations in Confucian society.