Examining the Need for Social Approval as a Predictor of Attitudes Towards the Teaching Profession

The study aims to reveal the effect of the need for social approval on the prediction of attitudes towards the teaching profession, which has an important role in teachers’ behaviors in educational settings. In this way, the effect and importance of the need for social approval such as sensitivity to the judgments of others, social retreat, and making a positive impression on others were examined. The research model was carried out according to the correlational survey model from quantitative research methods. The population of the study has consisted of university students studying at the Faculty of Education in a university located in the Southeastern Anatolia Region of Turkey, and the sample has consisted of 478 pre-service teachers. The sample of the study was determined according to the convenience sampling method. The data in the study were obtained by “Attitude scale towards the teaching profession” and “Social approval needs scale”. Independent sample t-test, one-way ANOVA, and multiple regression analysis were used to analyze the data. As a result of the research, it was determined that the attitudes of pre-service teachers towards the teaching profession were “high” and social approval needs were “moderate”. In the study, it was determined that the social approval need of the pre-service teachers is a significant predictor of the attitude towards the teaching profession. On the other hand, it was determined that the variables of sensitivity to the judgments of others and leaving a positive Mehtap Saraçoğlu & Mustafa Kahyaoğlu 310 Dinamika Ilmu, Volume 21(2), 2021 impression on others are significant predictors of attitudes towards the teaching profession, while the social retreat variable does not predict significantly.

important than the approval of others. Individuals who need the approval of others tend to behave by the expectations of the group members they want to belong to, regardless of their wishes and needs (Özden, 2019). It is also stated that individuals seeking approval have harmonious, sympathetic, and cautious personality traits (Paulhus & John, 1998). West (2013) stated that people's feelings of value are based on social approval. Antony & Swinson (2009) stated that perfectionists are individuals with extreme anxiety and they need high approval. Individuals with a high need for social approval are those who show excessive anxiety about the thoughts of others, whose feelings of value are based on social approval, who expect praise, are perfectionists, helpful, cannot say no, and have difficulty in rejecting. It can be said that individuals with a low need for social approval are individuals who are not easily affected by the thoughts of other individuals, who can reject the ideas they do not approve and have higher self-confidence. In addition, seeking approval/attention-seeking behaviors are explained as one of the characteristics of submissive individuals (West, 2013). Waiting for the approval of others leads them to have power over the individual seeking approval. The need for everyone's love and approval leaves the individual's value entirely to the approval of others, bringing them to live as if they are dependent on others. However, the individual needs to develop her/his values and criteria.
When the theories about the need for social approval are examined, it is seen that they are directly or indirectly related to the Murray needs list (Murray, 1938), Maslow's hierarchy of needs (Maslow, 1954), and the need for success (McClelland, 1961). According to Murray (1938) needs list social approval is closely related to intimacy and vanity. However, social approval is related to the need for belonging, love, and respect according to Maslow's (1954) hierarchy of needs theory. According to the need for achievement theory, the need for social approval plays a fundamental role in the establishment of social ties between people and the need for rapprochement (McClelland, 1961).
However, there are many studies in the literature regarding the need for social approval. Çiftçi et al. (2018) found that as the communication skills of pre-service teachers increased, their social approval needs to be decreased. Uslu et al. (2019), on the other hand, discussed the social approval needs of social studies pre-service teachers in terms of various variables. A significant difference was found in favor of females in the social withdrawal factor and favor of males in the sensitivity factor. Yalçınkaya et al. (2019) examined the need for social approval and well-being in adolescents in terms of some variables. A positive and significant relationship was found between adolescents' need for social approval and their level of well-being. Karaşar (2014) developed a measurement tool to measure the need for social approval and examined the relationships between the need for social approval and self-constructions, perfectionism, social anxiety, and happiness variables in university students. In the study, it was found that social anxiety, collectivistic self-construal, and perfectionism towards the self predicted the need for social approval. However, Huta & Hawley (2010) stated in their study that the need for social approval was negatively related to feelings of hope, enthusiasm, humor, gratitude, and forgiveness. Crowl (2001) found that female teachers with a high need for social approval grades higher than teachers with low social approval needs.
Arslan (2019), in her study on pre-service teachers, determined that pre-service teachers have a positive attitude towards the teaching profession. Çetinkaya (2007) found that the attitudes of Turkish pre-service teachers towards the teaching profession were higher in female students than in males. Aydın & Sağlam (2012) stated that the attitudes of senior female students studying in different departments towards the teaching profession are more positive than male students, but the attitude point averages of pre-service teachers do not differ significantly according to their departments. Kaçar (2018) concluded that students with high academic achievement have high attitude levels. In the study of Özder et al. (2010), it was determined that the attitude scores of the pre-service teachers towards the teaching profession were high, and there was no difference in terms of gender.
Andronache et al. (2014) determined that educational sciences graduate students' attitude levels towards the teaching profession are medium. Aniruddha & Mondal (2014) determined that 25% of education faculty students have a low attitude, 67% average and only 8% have a high attitude towards the teaching profession. Urton et al. (2014) and Colomeischi & Colomeischi (2014) found a positive relationship between experience and attitude, concluding that the attitude increases as the experience process increases. Parvez & Shakir (2013) found that there is no significant difference in the attitudes of female and male science and social science pre-service teachers towards the teaching profession.
It is stated that if future teachers have a positive attitude towards their profession, they will be able to develop their future students' intrinsic motivation for learning more easily, they will be able to communicate with them more efficiently, and they will be more involved in diversifying and personalizing learning situations (Andronache et al., 2014). A teacher's attitude towards his profession affects his behavior. It is very difficult for a teacher who does not enjoy his profession to be successful in his job. A good teacher with an appropriate attitude, behavior, and personality traits can motivate and inspire students. A teacher who has a positive attitude towards teaching is considered better and becomes a popular figure among students. Therefore, it is very important to examine the factors that can influence attitudes towards the teaching profession.
Therefore, teachers have important responsibilities in raising socially and psychologically healthy individuals in society. Teachers' attitudes towards their profession and their social approval needs will also affect the students they will raise. Teachers need to be aware of their role in the community and to cope with the demands of society. On the other hand, when the literature is examined, there are not enough studies examining the relationship between attitudes towards the teaching profession and the need for social approval. For this reason, it is thought that researching the attitudes of pre-service teachers, who will be the teachers of the future, towards the teaching profession and its relations will help determine the factors affecting the behavior of pre-service teachers. It will also be useful in developing the criteria to be used in the selection of teacher training programs. Measuring the pre-service teachers' need for social approval and examining the effects of the need for social approval on the attitude towards the teaching profession seem necessary to explain the motivations under pre-service teachers' behavior.

Research Objectives
The study aims to reveal the effect of social approval needs on the prediction of attitudes towards the teaching profession, which has an important role in teachers' behaviors in educational settings. In this context, the following research questions were sought. 1) What are the pre-service teachers' attitudes towards the teaching profession and the need for social approval? 2) Do pre-service teachers' attitudes towards the teaching profession and the need for social approval differ according to the variables of gender and type of department? 3) Are pre-service teachers' need for social approval significant predictors of attitudes towards the teaching profession?

B. Research Methodology 1. Research Model
The research was designed according to the correlational survey model. In the study, the pre-service teachers' need for social approval predicting their attitudes towards the teaching profession was examined. The dependent variable of the study is the attitudes towards the teaching profession, and the independent variable is the social approval needs of pre-service teachers.

Research Population and Sample
The population of the research consists of pre-service teachers studying at the Faculty of Education at a university in Turkey's Southeastern Anatolia Region. There are a total of 2450 pre-service teachers in the research population. Therefore, since it is not possible to reach the entire population due to time and economic reasons, the sample of the research was determined according to the convenience sampling method. The sample of the research consists of 478 pre-service teachers determined according to the convenience sampling method. As Yazıcıoğlu & Erdoğan (2004) stated, 5% error rate was taken into consideration while determining the sample number. Accordingly, it is stated that the sample that can represent a population between 2,000-2,500 should be between 278 and 333. Accordingly, it was accepted that a total of 478 pre-service teachers in the sample represented the population. The demographic information of the pre-service teachers is given in Table-1.

Data Collection Tools
To obtain the data of the study, the "Need for Social Approval Scale", "Attitude Scale Towards the Teaching Profession" and the demographic information form, in which personal characteristics of the sample were collected, were used.
Demographic Information Form: In the demographic information form prepared by the researchers, there are question items related to the variables of gender, class, and the type of department in which the pre-service teachers study.
Need for Social Approval Scale: To determine the social approval needs of pre-service teachers "The Need for Social Approval Scale" developed by Karaşar (2014) was used. The scale consists of three sub-dimensions and 25 items.
• Sensitivity to Others' Judgments (9 items): It refers to the individuals' expectations of approval and appreciation by other individuals and their importance. • Social Withdrawal (8 items): It expresses the fear of not being approved and getting rejected by others, the effort to make decisions according to the expectations of others, and the concealment of negative aspects. • Leaving a Positive Impression (8 items): It refers to the feeling of worthlessness when one is not approved by others and when criticized.
The scale, which is evaluated with five-point Likert grading, is evaluated between 1 (totally disagree) and 5 (completely agree). The scores of the scale range from 25 to 125. The Cronbach's alpha internal reliability coefficient of the original scale developed by Karaşar (2014) was determined as 0.83 for sensitivity to the judgments of others, 0.80 for social withdrawal, 0.80 for making a positive impression on others, and 0.90 for the whole scale. In the study, the Cronbach's alpha internal reliability coefficient values of the scale were determined as 0.80 for sensitivity to the judgments of others, 0.67 for social withdrawal, 0.78 for making a positive impression on others, and 0.85 for the whole scale.
Attitude Scale Towards the Teaching Profession: To determine the attitudes of preservice teachers towards the teaching profession, the "Attitude Scale Towards the Teaching Profession" developed by Üstüner (2006) was used. The scale consists of one dimension and 34 items (for example, "Even the thought of being a teacher is attractive to me"). The scale, which is evaluated with five-point Likert grading, is evaluated between 1 (totally disagree) and 5 (completely agree). The scores of the scale range from 34 to 170. The Cronbach alpha internal reliability coefficient value of the original scale developed by Üstüner (2006) was reported as 0.93. In the study, the Cronbach alpha internal reliability coefficient value of the whole scale was determined as 0.94.

Data Analysis
The analysis of the data in the research was carried out with the SPSS 22.0 statistical package program. Skewness and Kurtosis values and the values of the Q-Q graph were examined to determine whether the data provided the assumption of normality. Values between "-.70 and -.18" for the need for social approval and between ".08 and .50" for the attitude towards the teaching profession and the values of Kurtosis and Skewness between -2 and +2 (Kalaycı, 2010) are accepted to show normal distribution. The Q-Q graph shows the assumption of normality of the data with a 45-degree angle. As is presented in Graphic-1.
Graphic-1. a) Attitudes towards the teaching profession, b) need for social approval In the study, arithmetic mean scores were used to determine the social approval need of pre-service teachers and their level of attitude towards the teaching profession. However, the arithmetic means score values of the scales were interpreted as 1.00-1.80 "very low", 1.81-2.60 "low", 2.61-3.40 "medium", 3.41-4.20 "high" and 4.21-5.00 "very high". In the study, independent t-test and one-way ANOVA tests were used to determine whether the social approval needs of pre-service teachers and their attitudes towards the teaching profession differ significantly according to the variable of gender, class, and the type of department studied. As a result of the analysis, the effect size value was used to determine the degree of difference. The effect size value eta-square (η2) reveals how much the independent variable explains the total variance in the dependent variable. The effect value varies between 0.00-1.00 and .01-.05 level is interpreted as "small", .06-.13 level as "medium" and .14 level as "large" effect size (Büyüköztürk, 2018). In the study, multiple regression analysis was used to determine the relationships between pre-service teachers' attitudes towards the teaching profession and their social approval needs.

C. Findings
Within the scope of the research, the findings of the relationship between the attitudes of the pre-service teachers towards the teaching profession and the need for social approval were examined based on the variables of gender and the department they studied. According to this;

Findings Regarding the Attitudes of Pre-service Teachers towards the Teaching Profession and the Need for Social Approval
In the research, the attitudes of the pre-service teachers towards the teaching profession and the arithmetic mean and standard deviation values regarding the need for social approval were examined and the findings obtained are given in Table-2.  Table 2, it was determined that the attitudes of the pre-service teachers towards the teaching profession (X ̅ =4.01) were "high", and their social approval needs (X ̅ =2.77) were "medium". However, in terms of the need for social approval subdimensions, it was determined that the highest arithmetic mean scores were in the "sensitivity to the judgments of others" (X ̅ =3.47) and the lowest in the "social withdrawal" (X ̅ =2.24) dimension.

Findings of Pre-service Teachers' Attitude Towards the Teaching Profession and the Need for Social Approval According to the Gender Variable
Independent sample t-test findings made to determine whether teacher pre-service teachers' attitude towards the teaching profession and their need for social approval differ according to gender variable are presented in Table-3. When table 3 is examined, it was determined that there is no significant difference between the attitude of the pre-service teachers towards the teaching profession according to the gender variable (t477=-1.642; p>.05) as a result of the independent sample t-test conducted in the study. Again, it was determined that there is no significant difference (t477= 1.406; p>.05) between the pre-service teachers' need for social approval according to the gender variable. However, in the study, it was determined that there is a significant difference (t477 = 3.643; p< .05) between the social withdrawal sub-dimensions of the pre-service teachers according to the gender variable and this difference is in favor of males. On the other hand, it was determined that there is no significant difference between the dimensions of the pre-service teachers' sensitivity to the judgments of others (t477=.898; p>.05) and leaving a positive impression on others (t=-1.035; p>.05) according to the gender variable.
In the study, when the effect size values regarding the attitude towards the teaching profession and the need for social approval were examined according to the gender variable, it was determined that the attitude towards the teaching profession (η2 = .006) and the need for social approval (η2 = .004) were low between females and males.

Findings Regarding the Attitude Towards the Teaching Profession and the Need for Social Approval According to the Variable of the Department of Pre-service Teachers' Education
Findings related to the arithmetic mean and standard deviation value of the preservice teachers according to the variable of the department in which they study and their need for social approval are given in Table- When Table-4 is examined, it was determined that the highest arithmetic mean score regarding the attitudes of pre-service teachers towards the teaching profession was Turkish teaching (X ̅ =4.37), and the lowest mathematics teaching (X ̅ =3.88) department preservice teachers. When the need for social approval was examined, it was determined that the highest arithmetic average score was in science teaching (X ̅ =2.92) and the lowest was in pre-service teachers in computer education and instructional technology (X ̅ =2.68). When the arithmetic mean scores of the sub-dimensions of the need for social approval are examined, the highest rate (X ̅ =3.69 and X ̅ =2.39), in the dimensions of sensitivity to others' judgments and social withdrawal is seen in pre-service science teachers and leaving a positive impression on others is seen in the teacher pre-service teachers of mathematics education (X ̅ =2.62) department. The lowest arithmetic mean scores were determined in the pre-service primary school teachers' (X ̅ =3.37), sensitivity to the judgments of others, social withdrawal, and leaving a positive impression on others in computer education and instructional technology pre-service teachers (X ̅ =2.05 and X ̅ =2.43). In the study, a one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) was conducted regarding the attitude towards the teaching profession and the need for social approval, according to the department variable. The findings obtained are given in Table-5. 737; p>.05) between the overall and subdimensions of the social approval need the scale of pre-service teachers and the department variable in which they are studying. When the effect size values related to the general and sub-dimensions of the social approval needs of pre-service teachers in the study are examined, it was seen that the biggest effect value is "sensitivity to the judgments of others" (η2=.015) and the smallest effect size value is in the dimension of "leaving a positive impression on others" (η2=.008).

Findings Regarding the Degree of Pre-service Teachers' Need for Social Approval Predicting Attitudes Towards the Teaching Profession
The findings of the multiple regression analysis conducted to determine the degree of predicting the attitude of pre-service teachers towards the teaching profession in the study are given in Table-6. R=.32, R 2 = .10, F= 18.563, p<.01 According to Table 6, it has been determined that the social approval need of the preservice teachers is a significant predictor of the attitude towards the teaching profession. It was determined that the need for social approval has a significant relationship with the attitude towards the teaching profession (R=.32, p<.01). According to these findings, subdimensions of the need for social approval explain 10% of the attitude towards the teaching profession. When the standardized regression coefficients were examined, it was determined that the "sensitivity to the judgments of others" (β=.33) dimension was the most important in predicting the attitudes towards the teaching profession, followed by the dimensions of "leaving a positive impression on others" (β=-.14) and "social withdrawal" (β=-.08). When the p values regarding the significance of the regression coefficients were examined, it was found that the "sensitivity to the judgments of others" dimension (p<.05) and the dimension "leaving a positive impression on others" (p<.05) were significant predictors, whereas "social withdrawal" (p>.05) dimension was not found to be a significant predictor.

D. Discussion
In this study, it was aimed to examine the attitude of pre-service teachers towards the teaching profession and the need for social approval according to the variables of gender and the department they studied, and also to determine the degree to which the social approval need of the pre-service teachers predicted the attitude towards the teaching profession. In this study, it was determined that the attitude of pre-service teachers towards the teaching profession was at a "high (I agree)" level. According to Johnson & Howell (2005), pre-service teachers' positive thoughts about the teaching profession also positively affect their professional life. In similar studies, it was stated that pre-service teachers' attitudes towards the teaching profession are generally at a "high (I agree)" level (Dikmen & Tuncer, 2018;Dönmez & Uslu, 2013;Serin et al., 2015;Yaylak, 2019). On the other hand, studies are indicating that pre-service teachers' attitudes towards the teaching profession are at a "low" level (Şahin & Şahin, 2017). It is stated that attitudes are a complex tendency state that prepares the individual for behavior (Baykara-Pehlivan, 2008). However, attitudes affect the continuity and order of individuals' feelings, thoughts, and behaviors. Accordingly, it can be said that the high level of attitudes of preservice teachers towards the teaching profession is important in terms of the education system exhibiting the behaviors expected from pre-service teachers.
In the research, it was determined that the social approval needs of the pre-service teachers were at the "medium" level. In a similar study, it was stated that pre-service teachers' need for social approval was at a "high" level (Uslu et al., 2019). However, when the sub-dimensions of pre-service teachers' need for social approval were examined, it was determined that the highest arithmetic mean score was "sensitivity to the judgments of others" and the lowest arithmetic means the score was "social withdrawal". The need for social approval is the state of anxiety faced by an individual's attention to the expectations or judgments of others or the desire to conform to other people's thoughts. Accordingly, it can be said that pre-service teachers attach a high level of importance to the judgments of others, whereas their tendency to social withdrawal, i.e., avoiding contact with others or isolating themselves from the environment, is low.
When the social approval needs of pre-service teachers according to gender variable were examined, it was found that there was no significant difference. In similar studies, Erözkan (2004Erözkan ( , 2005, Karaşar (2014), Özden (2019), and Şavur (2020) found that the need for social approval does not differ significantly according to the gender variable. On the other hand, it was determined that there is a significant difference between the "social withdrawal" and gender variable, which is one of the sub-dimensions of the social approval need of pre-service teachers, and this difference is in favor of males. This situation can be interpreted as that men find rejection more embarrassing than women and feel the need to hide their negative aspects. Contrary to these studies, Çalış (2020) found that there is a significant difference in favor of females in the "positive impression" dimension, one of the sub-dimensions of need for social approval. In other words, the positive impression level of women is significantly higher than that of men. Ayan & Ünsar (2015) also found that female students had higher levels of fear of being under the influence of others, being examined by others, and fear of making mistakes compared to male students.
When looking at the studies abroad examining the need for social approval by gender, it was seen that the need for social approval differs according to the gender variable, and the need for social approval was higher in females (Gary, 1967;MacDonald, 1971;Masterson, 1971;Moran, 1967). Similarly, Tulkin et al. (1969) stated in their study that the need for social approval differs according to gender and this situation increases popularity in females and decreases in males.
It has been determined that there is no significant difference between pre-service teachers' attitudes towards the teaching profession and the gender variable. Contrary to this study, in Aydın & Sağlam's (2012) study, the attitudes of senior students studying in different departments towards the teaching profession show a significant difference according to gender. The attitudes of senior year female students towards the teaching profession are more positive than male students. In other words, gender variable affects students' attitude scores. This result is supported by other studies on pre-service teachers (Aşkar & Erden, 1987;Çapa & Çil, 2000;Çapri & Çelikkaleli, 2008;Durmuşoğlu et al., 2009). Similarly, in Erkuş's (2020) study, it is seen that the difference between the attitude scores of female teachers and the attitude scores of male teachers is significant in all dimensions.
In the study, it was determined that there is a significant difference between the variable of the department studied and the attitude towards the teaching profession. When the arithmetic means scores of the pre-service teachers regarding their attitudes towards the teaching profession according to the department variable were examined, it was determined that the highest attitude was found in Turkish teaching and the lowest in the Mathematics teaching department. This situation may be caused by many factors such as the program content of the department where the sampled students are studying, the attitude of the instructors, the physical environment, the status of their appointment rates to government schools, etc. Contrary to this situation, in the study of Aydın & Sağlam (2012), Çapri & Çelikkaleli (2008), Bozdoğan et al. (2007), the attitude score averages of pre-service teachers do not differ significantly according to their departments. In Erkuş's (2020) study, middle school teachers' attitudes towards their profession do not differ according to their branches.
In the study, it was determined that pre-service teachers' sensitivity to the judgments of others, social withdrawal, and leaving a positive impression on others had a significant relationship with pre-service teachers' attitudes towards the teaching profession. These variables explain 10% of the total variance in pre-service teachers' attitudes towards the teaching profession. Sensitivity to others' judgments and positive impression on others dimensions were found to be significant predictors of attitudes towards the teaching profession, whereas the social withdrawal variable did not predict significantly. Ellis & Harper (2009) stated that when individuals strive for social approval, they live in line with the wishes and expectations of others. They pointed out that as individuals' desire for social approval increases, it becomes harder for other people to care about the person. This situation can cause people to be seen in a weak and undesirable situation. These explanations show that people who act in the direction of leaving a positive impression may decrease their interpersonal competence as a result of suppressing themselves in their interpersonal relationships. For example, the individual can overcome a conflict in which she is justified by putting her/his strength to work. However, when one always tends to be accepted or loved by others, in other words when one always tends to be a good boy, she/he can withdraw instead of showing her/his strength. In other words, she/he can refrain from a dispute she/he can resolve for the sake of not being misunderstood by others and leaving a positive impression (Baytemir et al., 2017).

E. Conclusion
As a result of the research, that the attitudes of the pre-service teachers towards the teaching profession were "high", and their social approval needs were "medium". It was determined that there is no significant difference between the pre-service teachers' attitudes towards the teaching profession according to the gender variable in the study. It was determined that there is no significant difference between the pre-service teachers' need for social approval according to the gender variable. It was determined that the highest arithmetic mean score regarding the attitudes of pre-service teachers towards the teaching profession was Turkish teaching, and the lowest mathematics teaching department pre-service teachers. When the need for social approval was examined, it was determined that the highest arithmetic average score was in science teaching and the lowest was in pre-service teachers in computer education and instructional technology teaching. It was determined that there is a significant difference between the attitude towards the teaching profession according to the variable of the department in which the pre-service teachers are studying. On the other hand, it was determined that there was no significant difference between the overall and sub-dimensions of the social approval need the scale of pre-service teachers and the department variable in which they are studying. It has been determined that the social approval need of the pre-service teachers is a significant predictor of the attitude towards the teaching profession. It was determined that the need for social approval has a significant relationship with the attitude towards the teaching profession.