CHAPTER 6

Interest and Afect

Historical Foundations of Interest and Afect Eyfects of Emotions on Learning
and Motivation
Personal and Situational Interest Emotions and Goals
Three Persectives on Interest Test An!iety
Measures of Interest and "esearch Findings# $e%ning Test An!iety
$evelomental and Individual $iferences in Efects on Learning and
Performance
Interest Interventions
Self&'orth Theory Summary
(vervie) Further "eading
*oncetual Model
Emotions and Educational (utcomes
Ta!onomy of Emotions
Several high school teachers are tal+ing in the lunchroorn a,out one of their
favorite toics&student motivation- The teachers have some)hat d)erent vie)s
a,out motivation# ,ut all are concerned ,ecause their students do not have much
interest in schoolrvor+-
Ms. Duncan : lm really worried. None of my students has any interest in math.
They just dont care about anything todo with school. They dont
have the right values. All they care about are their girlfriends or
boyfriends, instant messaging, cell hones, and artying.
Mr. Anderson: !ell, " dont #now " have some #ids who are interested in learning.
They do get involved and l try to ma#e the wor# meaningful to
them, They have to tal# and discuss things$ at least some ofthem
seem to li#e it. And sometimes, very rarely, but on those really
great days, the class discussion really gels going and some of the
#ids are so into it, you can see that they are so involved they are
not really thin#ing of anything else. %ou #now " live for those days$
thats what ma#es teaching worthwhile,
Mr. &oe': !ell, at least you have those A( and honors #ids. They do get
turned on to some academic things. The #ids " have in the regular
math classes are not interested and dont thin# its that imortant.
)ut " do some u''les and games with them. !hen we have game
day they get interested for at least a little while. " also try to teach
them some s#ills. They are going to need them when they get in
the real world, so l try to hold them to some standards.
Mr. Anderson: %es, or at least when they go to college, that is always a good
thing to try to motivate them, the threat of college. )ut, you #nout
sometimes my #ids get so wound u about going to college,
ma#ing good grades, and scoring high on the *AT that they get so
nervous they bomb the test. %ou can just see them getting all
an+ious before the test, and then during the test, you can see
them wriggling around, sweating, loo#ing all anic#y. *ome of
them ma#e themselves sic# with nerves. *ome of my best
students have trouble on the tests. They will do great on the
homewor# but then really blow it on the test. " dont #now what to
do with them.
Ms. Duncan: !ell, " have some li#e that, too. They dont seem too interested in
the math, but they do get an+ious for a test. " just try to ma#e
them feel good about themselves. %ou #now that is the biggest
thing for all adolescents,theyre so self,conscious and need all the
ositive stro#es and ositive feedbac# and self,esteem we can
give them. They are dealing with so many things, its no wonder
they have self,esteem roblems. " just wish they would get more
interested in school.
Mr. &oe': !ell, " dont #now if thats all there is to it. " thin# self,esteem is
imortant, but there is more to motivation than that. " used to be
really nervous before tests, too. " would thin# " was reared
because " could do the roblems correctly on homewor#
assignments, but then once " started on the test, it seemed li#e "
couldnt do the roblems. " would start to thin#, -.h no, "m going
to fail this test, "m going to /un# out, my arents will really be
mad because "m doing so badly -" would loo# around and
everyone else seemed to be just wor#ing away doing 0ne, which
would just ma#e me more nervous. "t was so hard to concentrate.
1ventually " had a teacher who heled me. 2e showed me some
tric#s to hel me control my nerves. 2e also heled me see that if
" did oorly " was not stuid. 2e heled me see that " had the
ability to do math. "n fact, hes robably the reason " became a
math teacher. Now, " try to hel my students the same way he
heled me and it is not just by giving them ositive stro#es, or
warm fu''ies, or trying to raise their self,esteem. " have high
standards and try to ma#e sure my students have the s#ills to
meet them. They will feel better about themselves they can
actually do the math roblems than if " just tell them how great
they are. They can sot a hony right away and they thin#, just
li#e 2olden 3aul0eld, that most adults are honics, so they dont
need their teachers to be that way.
This chater discusses student interests and the various afective or emotional
varia,les that have ,een lin+ed to student learning and achievement- Given the
diversity of such varia,les this chater is not organi.ed around one theoretical
ersective li+e the receding chaters# ,ut it includes the most relevant and
common varia,les-
'e ,egin )ith a short discussion of the historical foundations of interest and
afect to include the general issues in research on emotions and afect- 'e then
move to a commonly cited descrition and e!lanation of motivation/ the role of
interest in learning and achievement- The self&)orth theory of achievement
motivation is resented# )hich is highly relevant to interest and afect- 'e then
cover research on the role of afects and emotions in achievement settings- The
chater concludes )ith a discussion of one of the most researched constructs in
achievement motivation research&test an!iety&to include ho) it can constrain
learning and erformance- After studying this chapter, you should be able
to:
$istinguish ,et)een emotions and moods and understand the otential
emotional resonses that could he generated in a classroom conte!t-
$istinguish ,et)een situational and ersonal interest and e!lain ho) ,oth
are related to student motivation and learning in achievement conte!ts-
$escri,e the ma%or oints of the self&)orth theory of achievement
motivation and e!lain ho) self&)orth varia,les can afect motivation and
achievement-
$iscuss the ma%or 0ndings on the role of emotions and afects in learning
and motivation-
$e0ne te!t an!iety and e!lain ho) it oerates to in1uence student
learning# as )ell as ho) classroom conte!ts can increase or decrease
an!iety-
HIT!RICA" #!$%ATI!%& !# I%TERE&T A% A##ECT
Interest refers to the li+ing and )illful engagement in an activity 2Schra) 3
Lehman# 45567- "esearch on interest has increased in recent years# ,ut the toic
has a long history in sychology and education 2Hidi# 68857- In the 6955s the
German hilosoher Her,art )rote that interest in a su,%ect can romote
motivation and learning- Many early sychologists emhasi.ed that interest can
energi.e# among them 'illiam :ames 269857- :ohn $e)ey 2686;7 e!lained his
osition forcefully ,y noting that the individual and the environment interact to
raise interest- Thorndi+e 268;<7 also stressed the erson and the situation ,y
contending that learning is afected ,y eole=s interests and ,y the interest
value of tas+s- >artlett 268;47# noted for )or+ in human memory# ,elieved that
interest facilitated it-
"esearch on interest )aned )hen ,ehaviorism ,ecame dominant in
sychology- The situation did not change immediately )hen cognitive sychology
moved to the forefront ,ecause early cognitive theories focused on information
rocessing to the e!clusion of motivational rocesses- Fortunately that situation
no) has changed as researchers from educational# develomental# social# and
cognitive sychology ,egan to integrate motivational and cognitive varia,les to
,etter e!lain student learning and achievement 2Hidi# 68857- "esearchers today
commonly dra) a distinction ,et)een ersonal 2or individual7 interest and
situational interest- (ersonal interest is a more sta,le ersonal disosition to)ard
a seci0c toic or domain# )hereas situational interest reresents a more
temorary# situation&seci0c attention to a toic 2?rdan 3 Turner# 455<7- This
distinction is not uniformly acceted and sometimes ,ecome cloudy ,ecause
researchers al)ays do not attemt to measure ,oth tyes- 'e distinguish these
t)o tyes ,ecause many investigators do and reort results on each tye-
'ith resect to afect# )e noted in Chapter ' that some of the earliest
)or+ in sychology )as
focused on afects and emotions- Freudian and sychodynamic theories# in
articular# stressed the imortance of unconscious )ishes or desires giving rise to
various emotions and ,ehaviors- Ho)ever# as ,ehaviorism came to its dominant
osition# @uestions regarding the role of emotions and afect ,ecame less central
to mainstream research- 'ith the ascent of cognitive sychology cognitive models
and comuter metahors came to guide much of the research on cognition#
learning# and erformance- Although these models )ere not intentionally
designed to ignore afect# they emhasi.ed rational and cognitive rocesses# not
afective or emotional rocesses-
This is not to say that research on emotions and afect )as a,sent for many
years- There )as research conducted on emotional develoment ,y
develomental sychologists 2Saarni# Mumme# 3 *amos# 68897# as )ell as
research on attitudes and emotions in social sychology 2Eagly 3 *hai+en# 6889A
Sch)ar. 3 *lore# 688BA Ca%onc# 68897A ho)ever# research on cognition and
learning did not necessarily integrate this )or+- >ro)n# >ransford# Ferrara# and
*amione 2689;7# in the 2andboo# of
3hild (sychology# stated# D>lea+ though it may sound# academic cognition is
relatively efortful# isolated# and cold - - - Academic cognition is cold# in that the
rincial concern is )ith the +no)ledge and strategies necessary for eEciency#
)ith little emhasis laced on the emotional factors that might romote or
imede that eEciencyF 2- G97- It is unli+ely that this statement )ould ,e made
today ,ut it re1ects the general .eitgeist of research in the heyday of ure
cognitive models-
In addition# much of the research on achievement motivation has ,een
dominated ,y cognitive theories such as e!ectancy&value theory attri,ution
theory social cognitive theory goal theory# and self&determination theory Although
these theories include emotions# they focus on cognitions such as attri,utions#
%udgments of self&eEcacy and cometence# goals# and value ,eliefs- Attri,ution
theory 2Chapter 37 addresses emotions the most directly of all these theories#
,ut in attri,ution theory emotions are the direct outcome of a cognitive &
attri,utional analysis of success or failure- In this case# cognitions 2i-e-#
attri,utions7 are still the most imortant construct in the theory and emotions 1o)
from the nature of the attri,utions made in a situation 2'einer# 689B# 688<7-
Accordingly# cognition is still the dominant construct# not emotions- As )ith
interest# ho)ever# researchers are increasingly e!loring emotion and afect as
they recogni.e their imortance in achievement motivation-
PER&!%A" A% &IT$ATI!%A" I%TERE&T
A common ,elief is that eole )ill learn or do )ell if they are interested
and )ill not learn or erform )ell if they are uninterested- For e!amle# at the
,eginning of this chater# Ms- $uncan tal+s a,out ho) her students are not
interested in learning- Many arents ,elieve that their children=s lo)
motivation and oor erformance in school are due to a lac+ of interest- Students
)ill say that )hen they do not learn it is ,ecause school and classes are ,oring
and that they cannot ,ecome interested in the )or+- These intuitive vie)s of
motivation roose interest us an imortant asect of motivation that causally
in1uences attention# learning# thin+ing# and erformance- In addition# most
eole ,elieve that they +no) )hat interest is and that they understand ho) it
oerates to in1uence learning- Although these intuitive notions a,out interest are
lausi,le# their oularity has sometimes hindered the develoment of careful
sychological research on interest-
As noted in Chapter 2# the construct of interest is similar to )hat Eccles
and 'ig0eld termed intrinsic interest- Ho)ever# research on interest# ,roadly
de0ned# has ,een ursued ,y researchers from a num,er of diferent
ersectives# ,eyond e!ectancy&value theory and motivational theories in
general-
'e stated earlier that research on interest has )a!ed and )aned in
sychology and education over the years 2Hra# Hidi# 3 "enninger# 68847- Early
vie)s 2e-g-# Her,art# :ames# $e)ey7 )ere ,ased more on hilosohy than on
sychology and there )as little emirical research to suort their ideas- $uring
the heyday of ,ehaviorism# there )as little research on interest in the ?nited
States# although related concets such as curiosity 2>erlyne# 68B57 and attitudes
2Evans# 68G67 )ere e!amined 2Hra et al-# l8847- Ho)ever# )ith the develoment
of cognitive and descrition and e!lanation of motivation/ the role of interest in
learning and achievement - the self&)orth theory of achievement motivation
resented# )hich is highly relevant to interest and afect- 'e then cover research
on the role of afects and emotion in achievement settings- The chater
concludes )ith a discussion of one of the most researched constructs in
achievement motivation research&test an!iety&to include ho) it can learning and
erformance-
After studying this chater# you should ,e a,le to/
$istinguish ,et)een emotions and moods and understand the otential
emotional resonses that could ,e generated in classroom conte!t-
$istinguish ,et)een situational and ersonal interest and e!lain ho) ,oth
are related to student motivation and learning in achievement conte!t-
$escri,e the ma%or oints of the self I )orth theory achievement motivation
and e!lain ho) self I )orth varia,les can afect motivation and
achievement-
$iscuss the ma%or 0ndings on the role of emotions and afect in learning and
motivation-
$e0ne te!t an!iety and e!lain ho) it oerates to in1uence student
learning# as )ell as ho) classroom conte!ts can increase or degrease
an!iety-
HIT!RICA" #!$%ATI!%& !# I%TERE&T A% A##ECT
"nterest refers to the li+ing and )illful engagement in an activity 2schra) 3
Lehman# 45567- "esearch on interest has increased in recent years# ,ut the toic
has a long history in sicology and education 2Hidi# 68857- In the 6955s the
German hilosoher Her,art )rote that interest in a su,%ect can romote
motivation and learning- Many early sychologists emhasi.ed that interest can
energi.e# among them 'illiam :ames 269857- :ohn $e)ey 2686;7 e!lained his
osition forcefully ,y noting that the individual and the environment interact to
raise interest- Thorndi+e 268;<7 also stressed the erson and the situation ,y
contending the learning is afected ,y eole=s interest and ,y the interest value
of tas+- >artlett 268;47# noted for )or+ in human memory# ,elieve that interest
facilitated it-
"esearch on interest )aned )hen ,ehaviorism ,ecame dominant in
sychology- The situation did not change immediately )hen cognitive sychology
moved to the forefront ,ecause early cognitive theories focused on information
rocessing to the e!clusion of motivational rocesses- Fortunately that situation
no) has changed as researchers from educational# develoment# social# and
cognitive sychology ,egan to integrate motivational and cognitive varia,les to
,etter e!lain student learning and achievement 2Hidi# 68857-
"esearchers today commonly dra) a distinction ,et)een ersonal 2or
individual7 interest and situational interest- (ersonal interest is more sta,le
ersonal disosition to)ard seci0c toic domain# )hereas situational interest
reresents a more temorary# situation&seci0c attention to a toic 2?rdan 3
Turner# 455<7- This distinction is not attemt to measure ,oth tyes- 'e
distinguish these t)o tyes ,ecause many investigators do and reort result on
each tye-
'ith resect to afect# )e noted in Chapter 1 that some of the earliest
)or+
Figure B-6 Three aroaches to interest research
Adated front Hra et al-# 6884-
constructivist models of learning and develoment# research on interest ,ecame
more oular in
the 6895s and 6885s# Jevertheless# current theoretical and emirical )or+ on
interest is still
young comared )ith the traditions of e!ectancyKvalue theory attri,ution
theory social cogni&
tive theory and intrinsic motivation theory 2*hater G7-
Three Persectives on Interest
(ne of the issues that have lagued research on interest is the theoretical and
concetual de0nition
*haracteristics ot the Person
Personal interest as a
disosition
Psychological State ot
Individual
Actuali.ed individual
interest
*haracteristics of the
*onte!tlsltuatlon
lnterostingness of te!t#
materials# content tas+#
activity# classroom# conte!t
of the construct- in the recent research on interest ,y motivational sychologists#
develomental
sychologists# educational sychologists# and reading and literacy researchers#
many diferent de0&
nitions of interest have ,een given- Hra et al- 268847 roosed three general
ersectives on in&
terest that can hel us uriclerstand this diverse ,ody of research 2see Figure B-67-
The three
aroaches cover ersonal interest 2an individual disosition7# intcrestingness ian
asect of the con&
te!t7# and interest as a sychological state 2including situational interest7- Each of
these three er&
sectives is e!lained in the follo)ing te!t along )ith its relations to the other t)o
general
de0nitions of interest- it is clear from these de0nitions that interest inclttdes an
afective comonent
2e-g-# ositive afect7 and cognitive comonents such as +no)ledge and values
2Hra# 68887-
Personal Interest
"esearchers concctuali.e ersonal interest as a relatively sta,le enduring#
disosition# ersonality
trait# or characteristic of the individual 2Hra et al-# 68847- Personal interest
usually is assumed to
,e directed to)ard some seci0c activity or toic 2e-g-# a articular interest in
sorts# science# mu&
sic# dance# or comuters7 in contrast to curiosity# )hich is assumed to ,e tt
characteristic ofthe er&
son that is more difusely directed 2eg# someone )ho is generally curious a,out
many things7-
For e!amle# much of the vocational education and career choice literature is
,ased on as&
sessing individualsL interests in diferent activities and careers# Eccles and
'ig0elds concet of in&
trinsic interest 2see *hater C7 )ould ,e concetually similar to ersonal interest-
other
researchers have measured ersonal interest as a reference for certain toics
2e-g-# Dl refer math
to scienceF7# a general li+ing for the su,%ect area 2e-g-# F6 li+e mathF7# ersonal
en%oyment 2e-g##
D6 en%oy )or+ing on math ro,lemsF7# and sometimes imortance or ersonal
signi0cance of the
toic 2e-g-# DMath is imortant to mcF7 2Schiefcle# Hra# 96 'inteler# 68847- ln
Eccles and
'ig0clcls model# this last asect )ould he a searate construct of imortance or
attainment value#
Interest and Afect 46;
not interest 2see *hater 47- Given these de0nitions# research has focused on
individual diferences
in ersonal interest and ho) these individual diferences are related to learning
and erfomiance-
It is imortant to note# ho)ever# that ersonal interest&the ersonal li+ing or
ositive attitude or
afect&is directed to)ard a seci0c content or activity and is relatively sta,le over
time-
Interestingness as a *onte!tual Factor That Leads to Situational Interest
Another research aroach is to study the conte!tual features that ma+e some
tas+ or activity in&
teresting 2see Figure B-67A in other )ords# study the interestingness of the conte!t
2Hra et al-#
68847- ln this )or+# the interestingness of the conte!t should result in the
generation of
situational interest 2Hra et al#M 68847# )hich is the sychological state of ,eing
interested in
the tas+ or activity Thus# reading researchers have studied situational interest ,y
investigating
te!t&,ased interest# trying to understand ho) diferent asects of te!ts can
generate and sustain
interest on the art of readers# There are many diferent features of te!ts that can
generate inter&
est# such as noveltyA surrise# comle!ity am,iguity and inclusion of certain tyes
of themes 2e-g-#
love7- Given this situated ersective# researchers have tended to ignore
individual diferences
and have loo+ed for general rinciles to descri,e ho) the features of the
environment 2e-g-#
classrooms# media# comuters# te!t,oo+s7 can generate situational interest-
>rohy 268887 and
>ergin 268887 discussed many of the factors in classrooms that can generate
student interest-
Hidi and Anderson 268847 noted# ho)ever# that situational interest is diferent
from arousal or
curiosity 2>erlyne# 68B57# ,ecause situational interest may ,e tied to seci0c
content 2e-g-# ri story
a,out sace travel7 rather than to structural features of the te!t or environment
such as novelty and
surrise# and situational interest may last longer than arousal and develo into a
ersonal interest-
Although situational interest is more conte!t&deendent than ersonal interest# it
is still usually tied
to seci0c features of the te!t or conte!t- Hidi 245557 suggested that situational
interest involves
,oth ositive afect and increased attention to the tas+ as a function of the
afective involvement-
in addition# there may he t)o hases ofsituational interest- In the 0rst hase#
situational in&
terest is triggered or activated- ln the second# interest is further maintained 2Hidi#
6885# 4555A
Hidi 3L >aird# 689BA Hidi Sr Harac+ie)ic.# 45557- Mitchell 2688;7 referred to these
hrases as
catching and holding interest# follo)ing a distinction ,y $e)ey 2686;7- Ho)ever#
Hidi 245557 sug&
gested that catching refers to the direction or diversion of already activated
situational interest#
)hereas triggering suggests the initial activation of situational interest-
Interest as a Psychological State
As sho)n in Figure B-6# situational interest is one tye of interest as a
sychological state# The re&
vious section noted that situational interest is aroused or activated as a function
of interestingness
of the conte!t- Some te!ts 2a novel versus a dry te!t,oo+7 are more interesting
than others# some
content areas generate more interest than others# and some teachers or lecturers
are very good at
ma+ing their classrooms or lectures interesting# all of )hich can generate
situational interest- This
situational interest derives from conte!tual features and may not include any
ersonal interest-
lndivicluals can develo actuali.ed individual interest in )hich an individuals
ersonal interest
interacts )ith the interesting environmental features to roduce heightened
interest 2Hra et al-#
68847- For e!amle# Meg# a middle grades student Nvith a high level of ersonal
interest in science&
related toics# occasionally reads e!ository te!ts a,out science toics in her
language arts class- (n
these occasions# Meg e!eriences a heightened sychological state of interest in
contrast to other oc&
casions during language arts class )hen she reads a,out nonscienti0c toics- Her
ersonal interest
in science also is activated in the science class and she e!eriences actuali.ed
individual interest-
4 O *hater B
FlennlngerLs Model of the "elations
Palue for Activity
Lo) High
Lo) Prior Hno)ledge
To,iasL Model of the Flelatlons
Personal interest
Lo) High
Lo) Prior Hno)ledge #
Figure B-4 *ontrasting models of the relations het)een interest and +no)ledge
"enningers research on interest re1ects this relational construct ol interest as a
sychologi&
cal state 2"enninger# 6885# 6884A "enninger SI 'o.nia+# 689<7- As sho)n in Figure
B-4# she
concetuali.ecl interest as comrising ,oth high value for an activity 2choosing to
do it# thin+ing
it is imortant7 and high stored +no)ledge a,out the activity or toic 2a cognitive
comonent7#
llL individuals have very little +no)ledge of an activity or toic# it is hard for them
to %udge their
interest in it# Intlivicluals usually have more +no)ledge a,out activities that httve
tt high level nl
interest and value for them- Accordingly# ifa erson has a high value lor an activity
,ut lo) +no)l&
edge of the activity this is not interest ,ut rather actrticiion- Jonintcresrs are
delinecl ,y high stored
+no)ledge for an activity ,ut lo) value lor the activity The fourth cell in this t)o&
,y&t)o matri!
of +no)ledge and value is not la,eledA it reresents lo) value and lo) +no)ledge#
and the sy&
chological state )ould include unconcern# indiference# and ignorance a,out the
toic#
This 5Sltl5n that interest is evo+ed only )hen an individual has hoth high value
and high
+no)ledge ol an activity or toic has not ,een acceted ,y all interest
researchers- For e!amle#
Ale!ander# Huli+o)ich# and %etton 2688O7 and To,ias 2688O7 argued that
interestQvalue is or&
thogonal to rior +no)ledge- They assumed that individuals can have high
interest and high
+no)ledge 2cell O in Figure B-47# )hich is similar to "enningers interest cell-
Ho)ever# these re&
searchers assumed that individuals can have high interest in rt toic even though
they may have
lo) +no)ledge a,out it 2cell 4 in Figure B47- To,ias 2688O7 did not assign seci0c
la,els to his
cells# ,ut noted that although the lo) +no)ledge&high ersonal interest cell 2cell
47 may not ,e
lountl often in adults# there could ,e domains in )hich children are interested in
the content ,ttt
have little +no)ledge or e!ertise in that domain- Accordingly# To,ias 2688O7
suggested that this
Interest and Afect 46<
state of high interest&lo) +no)ledge )ould ,e transitory over the course of
develoment- He
noted that cells 6 and ; are similar to the ignorance and noninterest cells in
"enningers matri!-
it seems intuitively ossi,le that individuals could have high interest and lo)
+no)ledge# ,ut
"enningers 268847 logic a,out this state reresenting only attraction also seems
lausi,le-
This controversy over the relation ,et)een rior +no)ledge and interestQvalue
re1ects the
theoretical and concetual diEculties in research on interest- At the same time# it
ma+es it clear
that interest and cognition 2+no)ledge7 are inseara,ly lin+ed in these models#
unli+e many
models of motivation and afect that +ee them searate- 'e need ,etter
theoretical models and
more emirical research on the construct of interest- Fortunately )or+ is ongoing
and is an im&
ortant area of research in motivation theory
Measures of Interest and "esearch Findings
ln addition to the various de0nitions and theories of interest# diferent self&reort
and other meth&
ods have ,een used to measure interest- "esearch on ersonal interest has often
used self&reort
instruments li+e @uestionnaires that as+ students to rate various toics or
activities on Li+ert&
scaled items- ltems are rated in a num,er of diferent )ays# deending on the
theoretical frame&
)or+ for ersonal interest# including general attitude to)ard the activity seci0c
reference for
or li+ing the activity en%oyment of the activity ersonal imortance or signi0cance
of the activity
to the individual# intrinsic interest in the content of the activity and reorted
choice of or artic&
iation in the activity 2Schiefele et al-# 6884A 'ig0eld# 688OA 'iglleld /SI Eccles#
68847- StudentsL
resonses to these various asects of interest are then used to create scales that
re1ect diferent
levels of interest in diferent activities 2e- g-# mathematics verstts English#
academics versus sorts7-
These scales reresent individual diferences in interest 2i-e-# some eole )ill
have high in&
terest for academics# others )ill have high interest for sorts7 that are then used
to redict vari&
ous outcomes such as choice to do an activity in the future# ersistence# level of
efort or
engagement in the activity and actual erformance- Although these selllreorts of
interest can ,e
used @uite easily and eEciently there remain validity ro,lems )ith using them
,ecause they rc&
@uire some metacognition or self&a)areness on the art of individuals resonding
to them- This
is not %ust a ro,lem )ith interest self&reort itemsA it may ,e diEcult for sotne
individuals 2young
children7 to accurately reort on their interests-
interest also has ,een measured )ith thc E!erience Samling Method 2ESM7-
This method
)as develoed ,y *silRs.entmihalyi 268947- ln his research# designed to measure
the motivational
state of 1o) 2see *hater G7# adults carry ,eeers that sound several times a
)ee+# 'hen they sound
eole rate themselves on afect 2comrising items FhayF Fcheerful#F and
Fsocia,leF7 and on ac&
tivation 2comrising Dactive#F Falert#F and DstrongS7- They also%udge their resent
situation for chal&
lenges and the s+ills availa,le to them- The ESM often is referred to as the
D,eeer methodologyF
'ild# Hra# Schreyer# and Le)alter 268897 used the ESM&,eeer method and
as+ed stuR
dents a,out their interests# moods# motivation# and cognition during ,oth school
and )or+ ac&
tivities- This research also used self&reorts in that students )ere as+ed to reort
on their afect#
interest# and cognition in @uestionnaire format# ,ut they )ere ,eeed and
comleted the self&
reort forms at that seci0c time- This allo)s lor a more situation&seci0c
measure of interest than
that rovided ,y general self&reort @uestionnaires that as+ students to reort on
their interest for
a course in general- ln the latter case# students are essentially summing u their
e!eriences over
many occasions# and it is not clear )hether students actually erform this
cognitive calculation
or )hether they ma+e their M%udgments ,ased on seci0c salient times )hen they
)ere interested
or ,ored- in contrast# the ESM method as+s for a self&reort at a seci0c time and
should ,e a
4 6B *hater B
,etter indicator of students e!erienced interest- Although ESM data usually are
summed over
time or settings across individuals# this method rovides a rich dataset that can
,e used to more
accurately estimate the e!erience of interest in comarison to general
@uestionnaires-
"enninger 26885# 6884A "enninger 3r 'o.nia+# 689<7 also used actual
o,servations of the
lay of young children to measure interest as a sychological state- Students )ere
o,served dur&
ing 4O5 minutes of free lay and interest )as coded for o,%ects that the children
2a7 returned to
lay )ith reeatedly# 2,7 sent more time )ith than other o,%ects# 2*7 layed )ith
in solitary lay
and 2cl7 layed )ith in other than maniulative lay 2"enningerM 68847- (,%ects
could then ,e
classi0ed as high or lo) interest in relation to the individual childs actual ,ehavior
)ith the o,&
%ect- This rocedure rovided a sensitive measure of interest for each individual-
The results sho)ed that lay ohiects that )ere of high interest to some children
)ere not of much
interest to other children 2e-g-- some ,oys had a high interest in truc+s# ,ut other
,oys did not7- This
tye of ,ehavioral measure also allo)ed "enninger to e!amine interest )ithout
having to as+ chil&
dren seci0cally a,out their interests- Accordingly this tye of measure does not
assume that indi&
viduals have to ,e metacognitively a)are of their interests as do e!licit
@uestionnaire items that as+
a,out ersonal interest- Actual o,servations allo) for the investigation of interest
in young children
)ho may ,e lac+ing in the ver,al# cognitive# or metacognitive s+ills to ans)er
@uestionnaire items#
Moreover# ,y focusing on ,ehavior# o,servational measures do not introduce the
term ii.tviest and
avoid the validity ro,lems associated )ith invo+ing articiantsL rior
concetions of interest that
they then might use to interret @uestionnaire items diferently than the
researclier intenclecl-
Finally# situational interest researchers )ho have ,een concerned )ith the
inllucnce olL te!t&
,asetl interest on stttdentsT learning have emloyed a numher of diferent
measures of interest
2Ale!ander et al-# 688O7- They have used self&reort @uestionnaires olTstudcntsT
interest in the gen&
eral domain ofthe reading 2eg# science7 anti the seci0c toic ofthe reading 2cg#
sace travel7
in much the same )ay as noted in the research on ersonal interest- These
researchers have also
used students= ersonal ratings ofthe interestingness of the te!t 2e-g-# te!t on
sace travel )ritten
in an interesting style7# as )ell as seci0c details ofthe te!t 2e-g-# )al+ing on thc
moon or living
in outer sace7- More recently# QNinley and Hidi 245547 develoed a comuter
methodology that
allo)s for thc assessment of interest as students read a te!t- >oe+aerts 245547
develoed and val&
idated an (n&liiic Mntivati.m Uttrstioiinttiie 2(MU7 that is not comuter&,ased ,ut
can ,e used ,e&
fore ancl after students engage in classroom tas+s or activities and generates
situationttl measures
of motivation# ositive and negative afect# and interest-
The research on te!t&,ased interest also has used ratings of thc te!t ,y others
2other students#
adults# teachers# e!erts7 in tcmis o0ntercst and then assigned students to high&
and lo)Rintercst
grous ,ased on these ratings ,y others 2Hidi dr Anderson# 68847- This strategy
assumes that one
can normatively classify a te!t as generally interesting or uninteresting )ithout
considering ho)
an individtutl student )ill erceive the te!t# This methodology also raises
@uestions of validity
concerning the normative and idiograhic measurement of interest# another
ro,lem that )ill
have to ,e resolved in future research-
Although there are ro,lems in ,oth the theoretical concetions olL interest and in
the meas&
urement of interest# the research has revealed fairly consistent results regarding
ho) interest is re&
lated to other cognitive and achievement outcomes- in terms of cognitive
outcomes# ,oth situational
interest and actuali.cd ersonal interest are generally related ositively to
measures of memory at&
tention# comrehension# deeer cognitive engagement# thin+ing# and
achievement 2Hidi# 4555A
Hidi Sr Harac+ie)ic.# 4555A Schiefele# l88l# 6884A Schiefele 3 Hra# 688BA
Schielele et al-# 6884A
To,ias# 688O7- For e!amle# "enninger and 'o.nia+ 2689<7 sho)ed that
reschoolers= interest in
Interest and Afect 4 6G
diferent activities redicts their attention# recognition# and recall memory for
these o,%ects at a later
time- Schiefele 268867# using e!erimental and correlational desigis# found that
college studentsL
ersonal interest related ositively to their use of deeer cognitive rocessing
strategies such as ela,&
oration# see+ing information )hen confronted )ith a ro,lem# engagement in
critical thin+ing# and
self&reorted time and efort investment- Schiefele 268867 also reorted that
ersonal interest related
negatively to the use of a surface rocessing strategy&rehearsal-
Pintrich and his colleagues 2Pintrich# 6898A Pintrich 3 $e Groot# 6885A Pintnch 3
Garcia#
68867 found that ersonal interest and tas+ value measures correlated ositively
)ith deeer ro&
cessing strategies such as the use of ela,oration and organi.ational strategies# as
)ell as )ith re&
orts of critical thin+ing and time and efort regulation strategies# among college
and %unior high
school students- LIThe research on situational interest and te!t&,ased learning
sho)s ,asically the
same attern of relations 2Ainley 6&Iidi# St >erndorf# 4554A Ale!ander et al-# 688OA
Hidi# 4555A
6&lidi Vr Anderson# 6884A Hidi 3 Harac+ie)ic.- 4555A To,ias# 688O7# although the
0ndings are
comlicated ,y the tye of te!t involved 2narrative versus e!ository te!t# linear
versus nonlin&
ear te!t7 and levels of student rior +no)ledge-
Given these generally consistent and ositive 0ndings on the role of interest in
learning# fu&
ture research should address the issue of ho) interest has an inlluence on
leaming# not )hether
it has an efect 2Hidi# "enninger# Sr Hra# 68847- Such research )ill ,roaden our
understanding
of the four general ath)ays ,y )hich afect can in1uence learning and
erformance that are de&
scri,ed later in this chater- As )e note in that section# the third ath)ay deals
)ith attentional
resources and interest- "esearch has generally hyothesi.ed that interest afects
learning through
attention- Higher levels of interest are suosed to lead to greater attention to the
tas+# )hich in
turn roduces ,etter memory and learning-
Although this selective attention e!lanation has some emirical suort 2Shirey#
68847# oth&
ers argue that interest may actually result in less conscious attention given to the
tas+ 2Hidi#
68857- Hidi and Anderson 268847 suggested that )hen interest is high# there does
not have to ,e
as much ellortful selective attentionA that# in fact# interest could result in more
sontaneous Ell&
tention and less cognitive efort# ,ut still have a ositive in1uence on learning-
To,ias 2688O7 also
contended that high interest might ma+e it easier for students to activate a richer
net)or+ of rior
+no)ledge a,out the toic or activity that )ould ma+e memory and learning
easier 2the 0rst ath&
)ay mentioned in the ,eginning of this chater7- High levels of ersonal interest
also might de&
crease the demands for self&regulation of time and efort 2i-e-# students trying to
maintain their
efort level in the face of a ,oring tas+7 and there,y free u more cognitive
caacity for actual
learning of the tas+ content# rather than for self&regulation- "esearchers )ill
continue to e!amine
these and other ossi,ilities to hel us understand ho) interest can in1uence
learning-
$evelomental and Individual $iferences in Interest
ln comarison to the research on some motivational varia,les# there has ,een less
research on de&
velomental and grou diferences in interest- In terms of clevelotnent# the
research suggests that
Even young children 2;&O years old7 have relatively sta,le ersonal interests and
that these inter&
ests are related to their choice of activities and their learning 2"enninger# 68847-
There has ,een
little research# ho)ever# on ho) interests develo over time and e!erience-
Interest may lay a larger role in directing and guiding the ,ehavior of youngerL
children fora
larger num,er of tas+s than it does for older children and adults- (lder children
ancl adults often
have to engage in tas+s that do "(I interest them much 2eg# tas+s in school# %o,&
related tas+s7-
4 9 *hater B
ln these situations# interest may have a more diferential efect# deending on the
tas+ and *ontent area#
than the diverse efect it has for younger children on many tas+s 2Hra et al-#
68847- For e!amle#
Hidi and Anderson 268847 found that situational interest had a stronger efect on
reading for uer
elementary school children than it did for )riting- The functional role of interest in
learning may
vary deending on the age of the child- In terms of develomental diferences in
levels of interest#
research sho)s that studentsT interest in school and school tas+s declines )ith
age and that interest
in mathematics and science may dro the most 2Eccles et al-# 6889A Hahle et al-#
688;A Trace%t 4554A
Tracey B6/ 'ard# 6889A 'i g0eld# 688OA 'ig0eld Vr Eccles# 68847- There is a need
for more research
on the domain and develomental diferences in the role of interest in learning
and develoment-
The develoment of situational interest is often seen as one ath)ay to the
develoment of
sta,le ersonal interests- The general idea isLthat teachers should try to create
situational interest
in their courses )ith the hoe that over time this situational interest )ill hel
students develo
ersonal interest in the content or toics of the course- In addition# ,y attemting
to generate sit&
uational interest in all students- teachers do not have to deal )ith the ro,lems of
trying to as&
certain all the ersonal interests of their students 2)hich )ill vary a great deal7
and then trying to
stmcture the course to 0t these diferent ersonal interests 2Hidi 3r Harac+ie)ic.#
45557-
Follo)ing a distinction suggested ,y Hidi and >aird 2689B7 ,et)een factors that
stimulate sit&
uational interest versus those that maintain interest# Mitchell 2688;7 found that in
secondary
mathematics classrooms certain factors catch student interest and other factors
hold it# Mitchell
found that grou )or+# u..les# and the use of comuterslheled to activate
interest# ,ut did not
hold student interest- ln contrast# the use ofmeaningful )or+ and the active
involvement of stu&
dents as learners )ere related to the maintenance olL situational interest- ln the
vignette at the start
of this chater# Mr- Anderson and Mr- Loe. tal+ a,out )ays they try to catch and
hold student
interest using games and u..les as )ell as meaningfulness and involvement#
Harac+ie)ic. et al-
245557 found similar results in a college classroom setting- The simle e!erience
of en%oyment
of the course and the lectures# similar to the catch asect# )as not related to
continued interest
over time or to erformance- Ho)ever# a measure of interest in course content
that re1ected er&
cetions of meaningfulness of the content and intrinsic interest 2similar to the
hold comonent7
)as related to continued interest over time and short&term erformance-
Accordingly# the longK
tenn develoment of interest seems to ,e served ,etter ,y the use of meaningful
tas+s and student
l1WfUlW2XlfNXlNN ill iNXNlW2Y lUiN1iNlZlXN ltlldil ,y NYN<lI6Wg XlTt6mi*lR[ L5 ma+e the *lass
interesting and stimu&
lating- Alied "esearch B-6 discusses ho) com,ining ersonal )ith situational
interest can hel
relieve school ,oredom#
"esearch also has found gender diferences in interest- "enninger 268847 o,tained
gender dif&
ferences in the nature of reschool ,oysW and girls= lay )ith o,%ects of interest to
them# Girls )ere
more li+ely to use their interest o,%ects in a numher of diferent )ays in their lay#
)hereas ,oys
sho)ed more lay actions only )hen using their o,%ects to mimic the real&)orld
use of the o,%ect-
ln addition# "enninger 2 l8847 found gender diferences in the role of interest in
elementary school
studentsL solution of arithmetic ro,lems- >oys )ere more li+ely to ma+e errors on
uninteresting
math ro,lems# )hereas the girls made more errors )hen they )or+ed on
interesting math ro,&
lems# "enninger interreted this gender&,y&interest interaction ,y suggesting that
interest facilitates
,oysT ro,lem solving ,ecause it hels them to understand and )or+ on the
ro,lems- ln contrast-
interest seems to interfere and ,ecomes a distraction for girls on the ro,lems#
,chiefele et al-
268847 also found that the interest&achievement lin+age )as stronger for male
studentsA a,out 64\
of the variance in their achievement )as accounted for ,y interest# )hereas the
variance )as only
B\ for female students- (n the other hand# research sho)s that self&concet
redicts interest
Interest and Afect 4
APPLIE$ "ESEA"*H B-6
'hat *an >e $one to "educe School $roout]
School droout is a ma%or ro,lem in the ?nited States today This issue is
discussed in
greater deth later in this te!t 2*hater 657- There are many reasons )hy
students dro out
of school- Many are at high ris+ for failure and have serious de0cits in reading#
)riting#
mathematical# reasoning# and leaming s+ills- Aside from these ro,lems# ho)ever#
most
students )ho dro out of school 0nd school ,oring and sho) little e!citement
a,out school
learning- This chater suggests that such students lac+ ersonal interest in toics
covered
in school# and that the school setting is not heling to generate situational
interest#
The conditions in many classrooms do little to raise situational interest- Such
interest
)ill not ,e increased )hen teachers redominantly lecture# vary the classroom
format lit&
tle from day to day give students fe) choices in toics to study or research# and
ma+e lit&
tle attemt to lin+ the material to relevant issues in everyday life- Studying
@uadratic
e@uations# for e!amle# can ,e a dull e!ercise )hen teachers e!lain ho) to solve
them to
the )hole class and then assign ro,lems to solve in class and for home)or+# The
ro,&
lems can ,e made more interesting ,y lin+ing them to real&life henomena# such
as ho)
high a ,all )ill rise )hen thro)n into the air- *reative teachers )ill use classroom
and out&
door activities to demonstrate the roerties of mathematical e@uations-
All students have ersonal interests# and creative teachers )ill 0nd )ays to lin+
these
interests to the classroom toics- Such lin+ing com,ines ersonal )ith situational
interest#
)hich )ill revent ,oredom and ultimately could hel to reduce school droout- A
good e!&
amle is found in the increasingly oular senior ro%ects# )here high school
seniors select
a toic in )hich they have ersonal interest# research it# )rite a aer on it# and
reare and
deliver a resentation that includes ros- This assignment is art of the schools
academic
rogram and is used in one of the classes 2e-g-# English7- lt allo)s students to
e!lore in
greater deth a toic in )hich they are interested and )hich they choose- The
assignment
includes diferent activities# there,y ensuring a varied fomiat- Students set their
o)n sched&
ules to comlete the assignment and choose their resentation formats and
ros- Senior
ro%ects com,ine ersonal )ith situational interest and sho) students ho) school
learning
can he en%oya,le and can facilitate their understanding of a toic of high interest
to them-
Students )ho do not lan to attend college could choose a senior ro%ect lin+ed to
a voca&
- tional interest- Teachers could sho) students ho) the ro%ect )ill imrove their
)or+ s+ills
and otentially hel them in their careers- This ,elief might hel students stay in
school-
'e do not mean to do)nlay s+ill de0cits# ,ecause no amount of interest )ill lead
to
a s+illful erfomiance )hen caa,ilities are lac+ing- Most students at rs+ for
school
droout need remedial assistance in order to en%oy some measure of success- S+ill
remedi&
ation rograrns# com,ined )ith lin+ing studentsL interests )ith learning# may hel
to re&
duce the droout rate and thus contri,ute to a more roductive citi.enry
among seventh graders and that this efect is consistent across gender 2Marsh#
Traut)cin# Ludt+e
Holler# 3 >aumert# 455<7# There is a need for more research on gentler diferences
in ,oth situa
tional and ersonal interest- Alication B-6 suggests some ossi,le strategies
that teachers might
use to increase ,oth situational and ersonal interest in their classrooms#
445 *hater B
APPLI*ATI(J B-6 M ^ AA MW-P
Promoting Interest in the *lassroom
Given the diEculties in adating instruction to diverse ersonal interests# it may
,e easier for
teachers to attemt to create situational interest# ,ut many of these strategies
also may stimu&
late ersonal interest-
l# ?se original source materials- These materials often have interesting content or
details that get
left out of more generic te!ts and can hel sar+ situational interest- Mr- Forrester#
a high
school American history teacher# uses aT num,er of diferent te!ts and sources in
his class# not
%ust the te!t,oo+# These te!ts include more detailed# scholarly ,oo+s# as )ell as
original source
material- The students 0nd these materials more interesting than the rather dry
te!t,oo+-
4# Model your o)n entl&tttsiasm and interestfor the content- >y modeling interest
in the material#
the teacher can communicate that the content is interesting- Ms- "ose# a high
school ,i&
ology and chemistry teacher# consciously tries to model her o)n interest in the
science
material she is teaching ,y tal+ing a,out her learning of it and ho) it interests
her-
;- *reate surrise and disc@ttili,riant in the classroom- *reating surrise ,y
resenting material that
goes against e!ectations or rior +no)ledge can create cognitive clise@uili,rium
on the
art of students- They then may ,e dra)n to the material to attemt to 0gure out
)hy their
,eliefs or +no)ledge are discreant# and then they ,ecome more engaged and
involved-
Ms- Putnam attemts to create surrise and dise@uili,ritun ,y having students
re&
dict )hat )ill haen in diferent science e!eriments and then sho)ing that the
stuK
dentsL redictions are )rong )hen she does the model e!eriment- She sends
the
remainder of the class tal+ing a,out ho) thc students derived their redictions
and ho)
the e!eriment and related theory disrove their redictions-
O- ?se variety and novelty- As common sense# as )ell as interest research# tells
us# ifstudents are
doing the same activity day in and day out# ,oredom )ill inevita,ly set in# lt is
useful to
have a variety of activities throughout the )ee+# month# and school year- ln
addition# the
introduction of novel ideas# content# tasls# and activities may facilitate situational
interest-
Ms# >a++o is a third&grade elementary school teacher )ho uses a )ide variety of
ac&
tivity and tas+ formats to +ee her children engaged- The class has a regular
structure and
organi.ation# so the novelty is not over)helming# ,ut )ithin the structure- The
students
do many diferent activities for reading# arithmetic# science# and social studies-
Moreover#
the same activities are used not only )ithin one content area domain 2e-g-# lays
in read&
ing7 ,ut also across diferent domains- Students enioy the diversity of activities
and are
al)ays )aiting to see the ne!t ne) thing that Ms- >a++o )ill do in class-
<- Provide some choice of toics ,ased on ersonal interest- Motivation theories
suggest that
roviding some choice increases motivation- ln this case# the focus is on ,uilding
on in&
di)duals ersonal interest in a articular toic-
Mr# Hnight# a middle school social studies teacher# assigns geograhy ro%ects
every year
to his students- Ho)ever# students are allo)ed to choose their o)n toic or area
of study ,ased
on their ersonal interests- Some students )ant to investigate Alas+a ,ecause
their arents vis&
ited there once- (thers are very interested in Africa ,ecause of their heritage- Still
others )ant
Interest and Afect 44 l
to e!lore the *ari,,ean ,ecause they have gone there on sring ,rea+# Although
there is @uite
a ,it of diversity in the toics# Mr Hnight 0nds that the students are much more
engaged ,e&
cause they )or+ on something that connects to their o)n lives and ersonal
interests-
B- >uild on and integrate student ersonal interest in designing lessons- Although
there is clearly a
diversity of ersonal interests# many students share some interests- 'hen
teachers con&
nect the lesson content to ersonal interests or common interests of the students#
it can
facilitate attention and situational interest-
Ms- 'right is a si!th&grade elementary school teacher )ho )as having diEculty
get&
ting a grou of Latino ,oys in her class interested in some revie) of ,asic
arithmetic rin&
ciles# Although the rest of the class )as engaged in the games she designed# this
grou
of ,oys thought it )as ,oring- Ho)ever# she noticed that the ,oys sent time
discussing
,ase,all and the diferent star Latino ,ase,all layers in the ma%or leagues- She
then de&
signed a set of activities around comuting various ,ase,all statistics such as
,atting av&
erage# earned run average# and slugging ercentage- She found that although
some other
students did not li+e this home)or+ activity the grou of Latino ,oys got engaged
in this
and came to as+ for more so they could get ,etter at comuting these statistics-
SELF '("TH THE("_
(vervie)
Another varia,le relevant to ersonal and situational interest is self&)orth 2or self&
esteem7# )hich
concems individuals= afects# emotions# or feelings a,out themselves or
evaluations of themselves- At
the ,eginning of this chater# Ms- $uncan invo+ed self&esteem as an e!lanation
for some studentsL
motivational ro,lems- Self&)orth should not ,e confused )ith individualsL
ercetions of their o)n
cometence or self&eEcacy )hich are cognitive araisals or ,eliefs a,out the self
2see *haters 4
and O7- Self&)orth is a more afective or emotional reaction to the self- lt can mean
ta+ing ride in
yourself and your ,ehavior# feeling good a,out yourself and accomlishments#
and having a general
ositive image of yourself- in addition# self&)orth is usually a more clillusc and less
seci0c reaction
to the self than a seci0c araisal of ersonal a,ility to do a seci0c tas+ or of
cometence in a se&
ci0c domain 2Harter# 689<a# 68857- Accordingly if Matt ,elieved that he )as not
very good at tennis
2a lo) ercetion of tennis cometence7# this )ould not necessarily in1uence his
overall ositive or
negative feelings to)ard himself as a erson# as long as tennis )as not that
imortant to him- Hancr
2689<a# 68857 roosed that self&)orth can ,e lin+ed diferentially to a num,er of
diferent domains
across the life san rather than lin+ed to all domains in a glo,al and difuse
fashion-
This distinction is often lost in the oular vie)s of self&esteem# not %ust in schools
,ut in
many domains of life# much to the detriment of our understanding of motivation
and ho) self&
,eliefs can lay a role in in1uencing ,ehavior- For e!amle# on many TP tal+
sho)s or in ou&
lar self&hel ,oo+s# high self&esteem is ofered as a anacea for ro,lems- Poor or
lo) self&esteem
is seen at the root of ro,lems such as child a,use# sousal a,use# su,stance
a,use# )eight or
,ody image ro,lems# marital in0delity delin@uency# ersonal unemloyment#
criminality leam&
ing ro,lems# and ersonal urthainess and deression- It then follo)s that
increasing self&
esteem )ill result in remediation of these ro,lems- As La.arus 268867 noted# this
logic leads
444 sinner B
eole to ,elieve that they )ill avoid these ro,lems ,y rehearsing simle
ositive statements
a,out the self 2iMe-# D6Trn a good erson# student# or )orlRer-F7 or having others
give them the same
tye of noncontingent ositive feed,ac+- This vie) is simlistic in the lace of the
comle!ity of
these ro,lems 2*roc+er SI 'olfe# 45567-
"e1ecting the emhasis it receives in our oular culture# some educators
su,scri,e to this
simlistic vie)- Teachers are often afraid to say anything negative to students
a,out their er&
formance ,ecause they ,elieve it )ill hurt the students= self&esteem- There are
schools and class`
rooms that engage in self&esteem rograms )here,y children are as+ed to chant
ositive
statements a,out themselves in order to enhance self&esteem 2see Ms- $uncans
comments at the
,eginning of this chater7 or teachers are directed to give unconditional ositive
feed,ac+ to all
students- ln contrast to these oular ,ut misleading vie)s of self&esteem#
*ovington 26884#
6889A *ovington Vt >eeiy 68GB7 roosed a model of self&)orth ,ased on current
theories of stu&
dent motivation- l&le has develoed a rogram ofemirical research that hels tts
understand self`
)orth in school conte!ts-
*oncetual Model
*ovington 268847 roosed that the need for self&)orth is a ,asic need of all
individuals- This
need is reresented in the universal search for self&accetance# in 'estern
society# )orth for
school&age children often is determined ,y their academic achievements and is
assessed in com&
etitive )ays 2i#c-# doing ,ettcr than other students7# To the e!tent that children
internali.e orac&
cet this general societal value# their self&)orth )ill deend on their school
achievement-
*ovington 268847 suggested that the need for self&)orth )ill generate a num,er
of diferent
atterns of motivational ,eliefs and ,ehaviors- *hildren and adults often )ant to
ma+e attri,u&
tions to a,ility for their successes ,ecause these attri,utions increase self&)orth
more than do clL&
fort auri,utions 2see *hater ;7- The need for selfK)orth is driving the tyes of
attri,utions
individuals ma+e in situations- This is an imortant addition to attri,ution theory#
)hich docs not
include the ossi,ility that ersonal needs can in1uence the attri,ution rocess-
*ovington sug&
gested that individuals often )ill try to hide ho) tnttch clTlToaLt they ut forth on a
tas+ so that oth&
ers )ill thin+ they simly have high a,ility- For e!amle# some students )ill not
tell their eers
that they studied hard for a test- if they then do )ell# the usual attri,ution logic is
that they must
have high a,ility ,ecause they did not study hard 2*ovington# 6884# 68897#
*ovington 26884# l8897 has sho)n that students often engage in self&handicaing
,ehav&
iors 2i-e-# doing things that imede success7 to rotect their self&)orth- For
e!amle# students may
rocrastinate in studying for an e!am or doing a aer or ro%ect for a class# lf
they )ait until thc
last minute to do the )or+# it is li+ely that they )ill not ,e as successful as they
cottld ,e# (ver
the long run# this ,ehavior is self&handicaing ,ecause erformance is lo)cr than
ossi,le#
Ho)ever# from a self&)orth and attri,ution ersective# rocrastination can have a
ositive moK
tivtttional efect# lf the students do oorly they can attri,ute their erformance to
lac+ of efort#
there,y rotecting their self&)orth ,ecause they do not have to conclude they
lac+ a,ility At the
same time# ilL they end u doing )ell# even )ith the rocrastination# they can
ma+e an attri,ution
that they must have high a,ility (ther)ise# ho) could they e!lain success )ith a
lo) level of
efort] *onversely# if they clo try hard and do not rocrastinate and still do oorly#
it is li+ely that
the students )ill conclude they lac+ a,ility and their self&)orth )ill sufer- >y
com,ining his self&
)orth ersective )ith attri,ution theory# *ovington sho)ed that the dynamics of
self&)orth are
more comlicated than a simle self`esteem ersective )ould have us ,elieve-
Interest and Afect 44;
The issue is not that self&esteem is not an imortant outcome of schooling- 6&
larter 26889#
68887 revie)ed the research on self&concet and self&esteem and it is clear that
these concets are
correlated# al,eit they are not the same construct- More imortantly it is clear
from develomen&
tal research that self&esteem or self&)orth often declines over the course of
develoment# and in
articular during adolescence 2Harter# 6889# 68887- This decline often is
accomanied ,y an in&
crease in deression and other mental health ro,lems 2Harter# 6889# 68887- This
decline in self&
esteem is not %ust a function of ersonal cognitive&develomental changes or
conte!tual changes
2transition to middle schoolsQhigh schools7# ,ut rather an interaction ,et)een the
ersonal and
conte!tual factors- Jevertheless# the fact that self&esteem declines )ith age&and it
aears that
it may decline more for girls than for ,oys 2Hatter# 6889# 68887&is an imortant
issue- interest&
ingly 6&latter# 'aters# and 'hitesell 2688G7 suggested that some of the decline
may ,e a function
not of gender status ,ut rather of the individuals endorsement of masculinity&
femininity valttes#
)ith tnore feminine individuals sho)ing a ,igger dro in self&esteem over time#
Accordingly although schools should ,e sensitive to these issues of selfKestcem
and more
general issues ofmental health 2"oeser# 6889A "oeser# Eccles# 3 Stro,el# 68897#
the simle# causal
lin+age of self&esteem to school achievement is @uestiona,le- Many layeole and
teachers auto&
matically assume that if selfKesteem is imortant and should ,e encottraged#
they should )or+ on
it directly# often ,y raising the students indiscriminately >y )or+ing on
increasing self&esteem#
they assume that learning# motivation# and achievement )ill he automatically
imroved-
The causal ordering in this simle model is most li+ely incorrect# as sellL&esteem
tends to 1o)
from actual accomlishments and achievements# not vice versa- *roc+er and
'olfe 245567 dis&
cussed the +ey role olL self&)orth contingencies# or those outcomes on )hich
eole ,ase their
sense olL sclf&)orth- As $amon 2688<7 ointed ottt 2and as stated ,y Mr- Loe. in
the oening
vignette of this chater7# raising students noncontingently can ,e detrimental- lt
leads students
to thin+ they should ,e raised for %ust e!isting# not for their actual
accomlishments and s+ills-
in the long run# students )ill not ,ene0t from this tye ofemty raiseA they )ill
not get feed&
,ac+ to hel develo their s+ills and e!ertise- 'ithout accurate leedhac+ a,out
s+ill develo&
ment# it is diEcult for students to change oiL regulate their ,ehavior- For e!amle#
raising
students indiscriminately for their reading# even )hen many of them cannot read
veiy )ell# can
lead to students )ho thin+ they can read )hen they cannot- At some oint in their
lives# they )ill
have to confront the fact they cannot read )ell# and it is ,etter to have them )or+
on imroving
their reading early in their education than to 0nd out in adolescence that they lac+
,asic literacy
s+ills# ln addition# although the causal in1uence ,et)een self&esteem and
achievement is
,idirectional 2>lumenfeld et al-# 6894A 'ig0eld *Nr Harathian# 68867# it is easier to
hel students
learn the s+ills and +no)ledge they need to ,e successful academically than to
,oost their self&
esteem noncontingently#
EM(TI(JS AJ$ E$?*ATI(JAL (?T*(MES
Self&)orth theory emhasi.es that afects a,out the self# or self&esteem# can have
imortant con&
se@uences for interest and motivation- ln the ast fe) years the toic of emotions
in education
has seen greater emhasis among researchers and ractitioners# and esecially in
ho) etnotions
and cognitions may interact to afect leaming and motivation- ln this section )e
discuss the in&
terlay of emotions and educational outcomes-
4 O *hater B
Ta!onomy of Emotions
There are a num,er of diferent ta!onomies or )ays of de0ning emotions that
have ,een used ,y
ersonality and social sychologists 2Fri%da# 689BA Plutehi+# 6895A "ussell B/
>arrett# 6888A 'at&
son 3 Tellegen# 689<A 'atson# 'iese# Paidya# B6 Tellegen# 68887# ,ut )e use a
ta!onomy that has
,een related to student motivation# learning# and erformance 2Pe+run# 6884A
Pe+run 3 Frese-
68847- >efore descri,ing the ta!onomy# it )ill hel to clarify a fe) terms-
As Forgas 245557 ointed out# the de0nition of terms such as oXLect#Mfeclings#
emotions# and
mood is diEcult ,ecause there is a lac+ of ,road agreement among researchers
a,out their mean&
ing- This is not unusual in research on motivation 2Murhy b6 Ale!ander# 45557#
,ut it is a ro,&
lem in doing research on emotions and moods-
Forgas 245557 noted that afect can ,e considered the ,roadest and most
inclusive tenn ,e&
cause it comrises seci0c emotions and general moods- Forgas de0ned mood in
terms of rela&
tively lo)&intensity difuse# and enduring afective states that have no salient
antecedent cause and
little cognitive content- Peole can feel good or had or ,e in a good or had mood
)ithout any
salient antecedent event or )ithout really +no)ing )hy 2the cognitive antecedent7
they feel the
)ay they do- In contrast# Forgas 245557 suggested that emotions are more short&
lived# intense
henomena that usually have a salient cause 2eg# failing an e!am7- The individual
tyically is
a)are of the cause of the emotion- ln addition# emotions usually have some clear
cognitive con&
tent or referent- Seci0c emotions such as ride# anger# ity# fear# shame# and
guilt often are the
target of emotions research in contrast to the generaland more difuse good and
,ad moods that
mood researchers e!amine-
Pe+run 26884A Pe+run 3r Frese# 68847 roosed a general ta!onomy ofemotions
that is rele&
vant to student motivation# learning# and achievement- Ta,le B-6 dislays a
summary of his ta!on&
omy The columns rellect the common dimension ofthe ositivityQnegativity of the
emotions 2also
Ta,le B-6 Ta!onomy of Student Emotions
Positive Jegative
Tas+Kreaated
Process&related En%oyment >oredom
Prosective Hoe An!iety
Anticiatory %oy Hoelessness
2"esignationQdesair7
"etrosective "elief &
(utcome&related %oy Sadness
Pride $isaointment
ShameQguilt
Social
Gratitude Anger
Emathy :ealousyQenvy
Admiration *ontemt
SymathyQlove AntiathyQhate
Adated from Pe+in
n# l884-
Interest and Afect 44<
la,eled leasantnessQunleasantnessA "ussell 3 >arrett# 6888A 'atson et al-#
68887- ln other emo&
tions research# there often is a second dimension of activationQdeactivation 2or
engagementfdisen&
gagementA "ussell 3 >arrett# 6888A 'atson et al-# 68887# ,ut that is not re1ected
in the ta!onomy
in Ta,le B-6- ln contrast# the ta!onomy divides emotions into t)o general
categories/ tas+&related
and social- Tas+&related emotions are relevant to achievement or learning tas+s in
school or other set&
tings# as )ell as to )or+&related tas+s in occuations 2Pe+run B6 Frese# 68847-
Social emotions refer
to otential emotions that could ,e generated from social interactions )ith other
individuals-
'ithin the tas+&related section of Ta,le B-6# a distinction is made ,et)een
emotions that are
e!erienced )hile engaged in a tas+# )hich includes the rocess&related emotions
of en%oyment
and ,oredom- The second main category re1ects rosective emotions that
students might e!&
erience as they aroach a tas+ or thin+ a,out engaging in a tas+ and the
e!ected outcomes-
These rosective emotions include hoe or anticiatory %oy as )ell as an!iety
a,out the tas+#
hoelessness# or desair- The third category includes retrosective emotions that
a student might
e!erience after the tas+ is comleted# such as relief# %oy and ride# as )ell as
negative emotions
such as sadness# disaointment# shame# or guilt- Many of these retrosective
emotions are the
same as those discussed in *hater ; as outcomes of attri,utional rocesses- lt is
li+ely that ret&
rosective emotions such as ride# shame# and guilt are lin+ed closely )ith the
tye and nature
of the attri,utions that individuals ma+e for their tas+ erformance 2'einer# l8>B#
688<7-
The ta!onomy in Ta,le B-6 dislays the seci0c emotions that might ,e
engendered in school
achievement conte!ts- lt is clear that these emotionsL are more seci0c than
general good or ,ad
moods- In addition# many of these emotions have a cognitive comonent in terms
of some tye
of relerent for the emotion- That is# moods are more-dilTlTuse and do not have any
seci0c content
associated )ith them# )hile emotions such as ride# shame# or guilt# usually are
e!erienced in
reference to some seci0c tas+# ,ehavior# or achievement- Individuals can ,e in a
,acl mood )ith&
out much forethought- lf they feel ride or shame# ho)ever# they usually are
thin+ing a,out a ar&
ticular event such as succeeding or failing on an e!am# or doing )ell or oorly in a
cometition
or game- Although some individuals may feel general 2Ffree&1oatingF7 an!iety or
anger that is not
tied to any seci0c cognitive content or event# most li+ely there also )ill ,e
cognitive rumination
or thin+ing a,out )hy they are an!ious or angry
Forgas 245557 also noted that the distinction ,et)een mood and emotions
arallels# to some
e!tent# the research on the interlay of afect and cognition- For e!amle#
emotions researchers
tend to focus on the conte!tual and cognitive antecedents of emotional reactions#
including var&
ious araisal strategies li+e attri,utions- They attemt to understand ho) and
)hy eole come
to e!erience the seci0c emotions that are generated in diferent situations
2such as those out&
lined in Ta,le B- I 7- ln contrast# mood researchers are usually interested in the
conse@uences of
mood on cognition and cognitive rocessing# so mood ,ecomes the indeendent
varia,le- For
emotion researchers# on the other hand# the emotions often are the deendent
varia,le that results
from various cognitive and araisal rocesses-
Efects of Emotions on Learning and Motivation
There has ,een a long history of research on the causal orclenng of cognition and
afect 2Smith Sr
Hir,y 4555A 'einer# 689<,A Caionc# 6895# 45557- Similar to the de,ate over the
causal ordering
of self&concet and achievement 2'ig0eld Vr Harathian# 68867# the current and
most sensi,le
ersective on the cognition&afect lin+ is that the in1uence is ,idirectional-
"ather than con&
tinue to argue over )hether cognition recedes afect or vice versa# )hat is
needed is to develo
44B *hater B
models that hel us understand ho)# )hy# and )hen 2under )hat conditions7
cognition recedes
and in1uences afect and ho)# )hy and )hen afect recedes and in1uences
cognition-
ln the *hater ; discussion of attri,ution theory )e outlined some of the )ays
that cogni&
tive araisals and attri,utions can in1uence emotions- This chater focuses on
the lin+s from af&
fect to cognition- In terms of the relations ,et)een afect and su,se@uent
cognition# leaming# and
erformance# Pe+run 268847 suggested that there are four general routes ,y
)hich emotions or
mood might in1uence various outcomes# Three of these routes are through
cognitive mediators
and the fourth is through a motivational ath)ay The diferent models and
constructs discussed
in this chater illustrate all four of these routes @uite )ell 2Linnen,rin+ B6 Pintrich#
45557-
The 0rst route ,y )hich emotions or mood might in1uence learning and
erformance is
through memory rocesses such as retrieval and storage of information 2Pe+run#
68847# There is
@uite a ,it of research on mood&deendent memory The general idea is that
afective states such as
mood are encoded at the same time as other information and that the afect and
information are in&
timately lin+ed in an associative net)or+ 2>o)er# 6896A Forgas# 45557- This leads
to 0ndings such
HS afect&State deendent retrieval# in 'hich retrieval o0nforrnation is enhanced
if the ersons mood
at the retrieval tas+ matches the ersons mood at the encoding hase 2Forgas#
45557- "esearch
sho)s that mood or afective state facilitates the recall of afectively congruent
material 2Forgas#
45557# such that eole in a good mood are more li+ely to recall ositive
information and eole
in a ,ad mood are more li+ely to recall negative inforrnation- lMinnenhrinlR and
Pintrich 245557 and
Linnen,rin+# "yan# and Pintrich 268887 suggested that negative afect might
in1uence )or+ing
memory ,y mediating the efects ofgoal orientations- ln this research 2discussed
further later in this
chater7# negative afect had a detrimental efect on )or+ing memory ,ut ositive
afect )as ttnre&
lated to )or+ing memory LlThis general e!lanation for the integration of
encoding# retrieval# and
afective rocesses is one ofthe main thrusts of ersonal and situational interest
research-
The second inediational ath)ay is that afect in1uences the use ofdi1ercnt
cognitive# regula&
tory and thin+ing strategies# )hich could then lead to diferent tyes of
achievement and erform&
ance outcomes 2Forgas# 4555A Pe+run# 68847- For e!amle# some of the original
research suggested
that ositive mood roduced more raid# less detailed and less systematic
rocessing of infornra&
tion# )hile negative mood resulted in more systematic- analytic# or detailed
rocessing of informa&
tion 2Forgas# 4555A Pe+run# 68847# l&lo)cver# recent )or+ sho)s that this is too
simlistic a osition
and more comle! roosals are needed- Fiedler 245557 contended that ositive
afect as a general
aroach orientation facilitates more assimilation rocesses such as generative#
to&do)n# and cre&
ative rocesses# including see+ing out novelty ln contrast# negative mood re1ects
more of an aver&
sive or avoidance orientation and can result in more accommodation# including a
focus on e!ternal
information and details# as )ell as ,eing more stimulus&,ound and less )illing to
ma+e mista+es-
(ther research on the use of cognitive and self&regtrlatory strategies in school
settings has not
addressed the role olL afect in great detail# ,ut a fe) studies sho) that negative
afect decreases
the ro,a,ility that students )ill use cognitive strategies that result in deeer and
more elaho&
rated rocessing of the infTorLmation 2Linnenhrin+ [4 Pintrich# 45557- For e!amle#
Turner#
Thore# and Meyer 268897 found that negative afect related negatively to
elementary studentsL
deeer strategy use- Moreover# negative afect mediated the negative relation
,et)een erform&
ance goals and strategy use# lf negative afect or emotion is a generally aversivc
state# it ma+es
sense that students )ho e!erience negative afect are less li+ely to use deeer
rocessing strate&
gies# as these re@uire much more engagement and a ositive aroach to the
academic tas+- ln
contrast# ositive afect should result in more engagement and deeer strategy
use- This latter
hyothesis re1ects some of the 0ndings from the research on ersonal and
situational interest-
Interest andAfect 44G
The third cognitive ath)ay is that afect can increase or decrease the attentional
resources that
are availa,le to students 2Linnen,rin+ 3 Pintrich# 4555A Pe+run# 68847- As Pe+run
noted# emotions
can ta+e u sace in )or+ing memory and increase the cognitive load for
individuals- For e!amle#
if a student is trying to do an academic tas+ and at the same time is having
feelings of fear or an!i&
ety these feelings 2and their accomanying cognitions a,out )orry and self&dou,t7
can ta+e u the
limited )or+ing memory resources and can interfere )ith the cognitive rocessing
needed to do the
academic tas+ 26&lem,ree# 6899A 'ine# 68G6A Ceidner# 68897- This general
interference or cognitive
load e!lanation is a hallmar+ of )or+ on test an!iety that is discussed in more
detail later in this
chater- ?nder this general cognitive load hyothesis# it might ,e e!ected that
any emotion 2os&
itive or negative7 )ould ta+e u attentional resources and result in reduced
cognitive rocessing or
erformance- Ho)ever# this does not seem to he the case# given the diferential
and asymmetric 0nd&
ings for ositive and negative afect 2Forgas# 45557- There is a need for further
e!loration of ho)
emotions and mood can in1uence attentional resources and ultimately
erformance-
The fourth and 0nal general ath)ay that Pe+run 2l8847 suggested is that
emotions can
)or+ through their efect on intrinsic and e!trinsic motivational rocesses-
LinnenlcrinlR and
Pintrich 245557 also suggested that motivational and afective rocesses can
interact to inlluence
cognitive and ,ehavioral outcomes- ?nder this general assumtion# ositive
emotions# such as
the e!erience of en%oyment in doing a tas+ or the anticiatory or outcome&
related %oy of a tas+
2see Ta,le o-l7# may lead to intrinsic motivation for the tas+- ln *hater G )e
discuss diferent
de0nitions olL intrinsic motivation# one of )hich is the e!erience of en%oyment
and dee en&
gagement in a tas+- From this ersective# negative emotions such as ,oredom#
sadness# or fear#
should decrease intrinsic motivation for doing the tas+# al,eit some of them 2e-g-#
fear7 also might
increase the e!trinsic motivation for the tas+-
lt seems clear that afective and motivational rocesses can interact and# through
these inter&
actions# in1uence cognition# learning# and erformance 2Linnen,rin+ Sr Pintrich#
45557- At the
same time# there is a need for much more research on ho) to efectively integrate
afective rocesses
)ith the motivational and cognitive rocesses that have ,een e!amined in much
more detail- This
is sure to he one of the ma%or areas of future research in achievement motivation
research-
Emotions and Goals
Interest in emotions has turned in recent years to their interlay )ith self&
regulation- A +ey
rocess in self&regulation is goal setting- Self&regulation involves setting goals and
assessing goal
rogress )hile )or+ing on tas+s- The ercetion of rogress ,uilds self&eEcacy
2erceived caa&
,ilities7 and sustains motivation-
Linnenhrin+ and Pintrich 24554# 455O7 resented a model in )hich students=
afects a,out
school and learning in1uence their classroom goals- Students )ho feel ositively
are at to adot a&
roach goals 2see *hater <7# )hereas those )ho feel negatively may ,e more
inclined to)ard avoid&
ance goals- Ho)ever# the aroach or avoidance goals may ,e either mastery or
erfomiance-
Students )ho ,elieve that they have the resources to attain outcomes may ,e
more li+ely to adot
goals of leaming or of demonstrating cometence relative to others# and similarly
for avoidance goals-
Linnen,rin+ and Pintrich 24554# 455O7 also ostulated that achievement goals
in1uence stu&
dentsL seci0c emotions# )hich are tyically short in duration and over time
merge into more gen&
eral mood states- Aroach goals may ,e associated )ith elation as one
aroaches a goal or
sadness )hen one is not aroaching a goal- Avoidance goals may he associated
)ith relief )hen
the goal is avoided or an!iety )hen the goal is not avoided- Aroach mastery
goals should lead
449 *hater B
to an increase in ositive emotions and a decrease in negative emotions# )hereas
erformance a&
roach goals may ,e unrelated to ositive emotions and increase negative
emotions-
To date there has ,een little research testing these redictions- The 0ndings from
studies have
,een comle!- "esearch relating ositive and negative afect to mathematics
leaming sho)s os&
itive efects for efort and cognitive self&regulation ,ut not for learning# In science#
ositive afect
has ,een sho)n to ,e unrelated to concetual change ,ut moderately associated
)ith adative
strategy use and cognitive rocessing-
From these 0ndings )e might conclude that ositive afect increases efort and
strategy useA
ho)ever# the relation seems comle!- *learly further research is )arranted# )hich
should shed
light on a toic that is undere!lored ,ut otentially imortant for motivation and
achievement-
TEST AJdIET_
At the ,eginning of this chater Mr- Anderson and Mr- Loe. discussed the
ro,lem of test an!&
iety ancl ho) it can have a negative in1uence on student erformance on tests-
Mr- Loe. even
tal+ed a,out ho) he sufered from it )hen he )as a student- Test an!iety can ,e a
ma%or ro,&
lem at all levels# from elementary through ostsecondary education- lt reresents
a tye of emo&
tion that can have a negative efect on learning# in contrast to the ositive afect
that is generated
,y ersonal and situational interest-
ln addition# unli+e the recent resurgence ofemirical research on interest# test
an!iety research
has ,een outgoing since at least the 68<5s 2Tryon# 68957- Lloday there are
rolessional organi.ations
and %ournals devoted to test an!iety# as )ell as a num,er of edited hoo+s on the
ro,lems of an!i&
ety and stress 2lWlE6glPeltSIMl(l6Tl<*66# 6884A Sch)ar.er# van der Ploeg# b6
Siel,erger# 68987# Ceidner
268897 rovided an e!cellent and comrehensive state&of&the&art revie) of the
research on test an!&
iety "eaders interested in more detail on the role oftest an!iety should consult
these sources- Given
the e!tensive research on test an!iety )e do not resent a comrehensive
treatment of the toic
here# ,ut rather )e highlight some imortant issues a,out test an!iety and
academic erformance-
$e0ning Test An!iety
ln de0ning test an!iety there are a num,er of imortant issues to consider- A
general clelinition
of an!iety is Fan unleasant feeling or emotional Sl.lle that has hysiological and
,ehavioral con&
comitants# and that is e!erienced in formal testing or other evaluative situationsF
2$use+# 6895#
- 997- Test an!iety is a seci0c form of this generali.ed evaluative an!iety in
reference to test sit&
uations- Test an!iety is de0ned as a set of henomenological# hysiological# and
,ehavioral re&
sonses that accomany concern a,out ossi,le negative conse@uences or failure
on an e!am or
similar evaluative situation 2Ceidner# 68897-
The henomenological asect of test an!iety usually includes cognitive and
emotional com&
onents# The cognitive comonent is )orry# and the emotional comonent is
emotion or agent
2Lie,ert [6 Morris# 68BGA 'ig0eld b6 Eccles# 6898A Ceidner# 68897# The cognitive
2)orry7 com&
onent refers to the cognitions that accomany an!iety# such as )orrying a,out
0un+ing the test#
thin+ing a,out the conse@uences of failing the test 2e-g-# arents ,eing uset#
having to dro out
of college7# )orrying a,out ,eing una,le to 0nish the test# thin+ing a,out items
that one cannot
ans)er# and thin+ing a,out ,eing em,arrassed ,ecause of a lo) grade 2see Mr-
Loe.s comments
Interest and Afect 448
at the start of this chater7- These and similar thoughts might run through highly
test&an!ious
ersons= minds as they ta+e a test-
The emotionality comonent refers to the actual arousal that individuals
e!erience as they
ta+e a test# such as fear# unease# or uncomforta,leness 2Ceidner# 68897- This
arousal can ,ecome
a classically conditioned afective reaction to evaluative situations 2'ig0eld Gr
Eccles# 68987# It
should ,e noted that# although most eole feel some an!iety )hen ut in a
erformance situa&
tion# for test&an!ious individuals the an!iety ,ecomes over)helming and
interferes )ith their
a,ility to erform a tas+ they have mastered in another nonevaluative situation- in
the e!amle
at the ,eginning of this chater# Mr- Loe. recalled ho) he could do mathematical
ro,lems on
the home)or+ 2nonevaluative situation7 ,ut had diEculties during tests- Many
erformers such
as musicians# actors# and athletes may sho) de,ilitating efects of an!iety during
a erformance
in contrast to rehearsals or ractice- Ceidner 268897 also noted that the
hysiological asect can
include arousal symtoms such as s)eaty alms# uset stomach# and raid
heart,eat-
in Ceidners 268897 model of test an!iety these henomenological# hysiological#
and ,ehav&
ioral comonents are the most central to test an!iety The ,ehavioral asect of
an!iety can include
the various coing mechanisms that eole use to deal )ith their an!iety as )ell
as such ,ehavioral
and cognitive outcomes as tas+&related thin+ing# cognition# attention# and actual
erformance- >oth
conte!tual and ersonal factors in1uence the activation of test an!iety The nature
of the testing sit&
uation can create cues that can arouse an!iety ln addition# there are a num,er of
ersonal charac&
teristics 2e-g-# ersonal traits# self&eEcacy actual a,ility self&regulatory s+ills#
e!ertise7 that can lead
individuals to araise the same o,%ective testing situation in diferent )ays# For
some individuals#
tests can ,e seen as a challengeA for others# they are an!iety&arousing situations
2Ceiclner# 68897- "c&
garclless of diferences in conte!ts and cues# ho)ever# various forms of test
an!iety seem to ,e gov&
erned ,y the same tye of cognitive and motivational rocesses 2Ceidner or
Matthe)s# 455<7-
A second issue related to the de0nition of test an!iety concerns its sta,ility Most
models of test
an!iety roose that it is ,oth a trait and a state 2*ovington# 6884A Siel,erger#
68G4A Ceidner# 68897-
This dichotomy arallels the distinction ,et)een ersonal interest as a relatively
enduring trait of the
individual and a more situational interest fostered ,y e!temal conditions- Trait test
an!iety rere&
sents a sta,le incliviclual diferenceA some individuals are higher on test an!iety
across many difer&
ent situations in comarison )ith those lo) on test an!iety Highly test&an!ious
indivicluals tend to
e!erience an!iety in most testing or evaluative situations- These individuals are
li+ely to enter an
evaluative situation rimed to intetret it and araise it in an an!iety&arousing
manner- Those lo)
in trait an!iety are less li+ely to araise the same evaluative situation in such a
threatening manner-
in contrast# state I4Sl an!iety is more seci0c to the situation and tnay ,c
e!erienced ,y
many or most eole in certain stressful situations- For e!amle# ta+ing a college
or graduate
school admissions test 2e-g-# SAT# A*T# G"E# LSAT7 that has high imortance for
most eole
ro,a,ly )ill generate state test an!iety in many test&ta+ers- >esides these high&
sta+es testing sit&
uations# some classrooms in )hich testing# grading# and cometition are
emhasi.ed can gener&
ate high levels of state test art!iety in many students 2Hill B6/ 'ig0eld# 689O7-
Most test an!iety
models also redict that eole )ho are high in trait fB<6 an!iety )ill ,e even
more an!ious in
these tyes of an!iety&arousing situations#
Efects on Learning and Performance
The emirical research on the negative efects of an!iety on academic
erfonnance is large and con&
sistent 2Ceidner# 68897- Hem,ree 268997# in a meta&analysis of <B4 studies that
related test an!iety
4;5 *hater B
and academic achievement# found that test an!iety caused oor erfonnance#
related negatively to
self&esteem# and )as directly related to studentsT defensiveness and fear of
negative evaluation- Hill
and 'ig0eld 2689O7 reorted that studies have found negative correlations u to iL
^ & -B5 ,et)een
test an!iety and achievement- Hill and 'ig0eld estimated that in most classrooms
a,out 65\ of
the children have a relatively high level of trait an!iety )hich translates into a,out
t)o to three chil&
dren er classroom- >y their estimates# ,et)een O and S million children in
elementary and sec&
ondary schools in the ?nited States have to coe )ith high test an!iety Hill and
'ig0eld also
estimated that another 65&6<\ of the children in any classroom# although not in
the to 65\ of
the oulation in test an!iety e!erience some an!iety Ta+en together# this
resulting estimate that
4<\ of the children in classrooms have ro,lems )ith an!iety means that
aro!imately 65 mil&
lion children in the ?nited States may ,eafeeted ,y test an!iety Accordingly
there is a need to un&
derstand ho) test an!iety )or+s and )hat can ,e done to hel relieve it 2'iglield
Vr Eccles# 68987#
Several mechanisms or models have ,een suggested ,y researchers to e!lain
ho) an!iety in&
1uences learning and erformance 2Ceidner# 68897- Given that many emirical
studies have sho)n
that the )orry comonent is more closely lin+ed to erformance decrements than
the emotionality
comonent 2*ovington# 6884A Tryon# 68957# e!lanations have tended to focus on
the role of the
)orry comonent- To,ias 2689<7 rovided a model that integrates t)o
e!lanations of the efects
of test an!iety (ne e!lanation is that an!iety interferes )ith attention ,ecause
all of the negative
thoughts and )onLy distract the individual from the tas+ 2'ine# 68G6A Ceidner#
68897- Given the
limited caacity of )or+ing memory# these distracting thoughts ta+e u
cognitiveQattentional re&
sources that could ,e used to )or+ on the tas+ at hand 2the test7- In some )ays#
these students suf&
fer at the time of retrieval ,ecause they are not a,le to recall needed information
to do )ell on the
test# even if they +ne) it ,efore the test 2Ceiclner# 68897- This e!lanation
includes the 0rst and third
ath)ays that )ere resented in this chater on ho) afect might in1uence
learning 2Pe+run# 68847-
The other e!lanation is that highly test&an!ious students have de0cits in general
cognitive
learning strategies or test&ta+ing strategiesA that is# they do not +no) ho) to
study very )ell# do not
+no) ho) to ta+e a test strategically# and often are not )ell reared for the test-
This e!lanation
arallels the second ath)ay for the efect of emotion on cognition 2Pe+run#
68847- This lac+ of
s+ill can result in retrieval ro,lems- More imortantly this model suggests that
the ro,lem is re&
ally an encoding ro,lem at the time of learning the material- it is not that
students cannot re&
mem,er it )ell on the e!amA it is that these students never leamed it very )ell in
thc 0rst lace
2Ceidner# 68897- To,ias 2689<7 has suggested that these t)o models are
comlementary given our
limited cognitive caacity 'hen students have good study s+ills and testRtalRing
strategies# more
)or+ing memory caacity )ill ,e freed u to coe )ith any negative thoughts and
)orry gener&
ated ,y high test an!iety ln contrast# if students do not have those s+ills# the
)orry generated ,y
high test an!iety interferes )ith attention and cognitive rocessing and there is a
concomitant dro
in erfomiance-
Much research needs to ,e done to tcase aart these cli1erent e!lanations# ,ut
research that
focuses on the interactive nature ofan!iety and cognition# learning and coing
strategies# and self&
regulation is romising- ln fact# the most recent models of test an!iety are ,ased
in self&regulation
theory or coingQaraisal models that com,ine ,oth e!lanations and focus on
ho) cognitive and
metacognitive strategies# along )ith motivational and emotional coing
strategies- are used 2or not
used7 in testing situations 2Ceidner# 68897- For e!amle# Schut. and $avis 245557
resented a cle&
tailed model of ho) emotions# including l*S6 an!iety are related to the use olL
various cognitive and
emotional regulatory strategies in a classroom conte!t- This tye of model )ill ,e
in the vanguard
of future research on not only test an!iety ,ut also on all emotions and afect in
the classroom-
Interest and Afect 4;6
in temis of ho) the classroom situation can create state an!iety Hill and 'iglield
2689O7 and
'iglield and Eccles 268987 discussed a num,er of features of classrooms that can
heighten an!iety
for children- First# they noted that many classroom and standardi.ed achievement
tests have time lim&
its that create ressure on students to 0nish )ithin a certain amount of time- The
lac+ of time 2or er&
ceived lac+ of time7 can increase stttdentsT an!iety articularly if an!ious
students send art of the
testing time )orrying a,out their erformance- This distraction not only )ill
reduce cognitiveQatterr
tional caacity ,ut also )ill reduce the amount of overall time sent thin+ing
a,out the test- in ad&
dition# these tests are often introduced or discussed in terms of students= relative
a,ility )hich can
heighten social comarison and an!iety Finally Hill and 'iglield 2689O7 noted that
the format and
mechanics of the tess can ,e unfamiliar to students or more di1icult than their
usual school)or+-
Leaming settings that have overly high standards for evaluation are associated
)ith higher lev&
els of an!iety 2Helm+e# 6899A 'ig0eld Sr Eccles# 6898A Cat. B6 *hassin# 689<7-
"esearch on
atitude&treatment interactions suggests that organi.ed instruction and fairly
easy tas+s can hel an!&
ious students learn ,etter# )hereas less organi.ed and student&centered
instruction may not )or+ as
)ell )ith an!ious students 2*ron,ach Sr Sno) 68GGA To,ias# 6895A 'ig0eld ST
Eccles# 68987-
Moreover# general changes in grading ractices as students move into secondary
schools# )here
grading systems are more normative and strict# can increase student an!iety over
testing and evalu&
ation# Finally standardi.ed testing and grades ,ecome more salient and have
greater conse@uences
in later 2secondary7 grades# there,y increasing an!iety 2'ig0eld Sr Eccles# 68987-
Imortant as all
of these conte!tual factors are in increasing the ro,a,ility that students might
feel an!ious# current
models of an!iety stress that the most imortant factor is ho) the conte!t is
erceived and araised
,y the individual stttdent 2Ceidner# 68897- That is# it is not %ust the o,%ective
classroom environment
that is imortant# ,ut ho) students erceive and %udge the setting afects the
an!iety roduced- This
general ercetion&mediating model is in line )ith theories of motivation
discussed in this te!t-
Interventions
Hill and 'ig0eld 2689O7 summari.ed a num,er of studies that attemted to
change school or
classroom use of tests and reort cards- These studies suggest that simle
changes such as re&
moving time constraints from classroom tests can hel an!ious students erform
,etter- or
course# this may not ,e easy )hen classes are only O<&<5 minutes long- Ho)ever#
teachers can
develo crcativc )ays to change their test format to ensure that all students have
enough time to
demonstrate their mastery lf demonstrating mastery of the material is the most
imortant asect
of the assessment# the amount of time ta+en to do so should not ,e an issue#
articularly given
individual diferences in studentsL seed and a,ility to erform- ln addition# Hill
and 'ig0eld
found that reducing the amount of imortance that teachers laced on tests and
decreasing the
oortunities for social comarison of reort card grades and test grades 2eg# no
u,lic dislays
of grades7 heled to create a less an!ious classroom climate-
ln addition to changing the classroom climate and structure# several studies have
attemted
to change students= coing strategies for dealing )ith an!iety 2'iglielcl 3r Eccles#
6898A Ceidner#
68897- These interventions )ould include the DtnclRsF that Mr- Loe. said that his
mathematics
teacher taught him# Some of these intervention or treatment studies have mainly
addressed the
emotionality comonent# others have addressed the cognitive or )ony
comonent# and some
have attemted to address ,oth comonents 2Tryon# 6895A Ceidner# 68897-
Treatments aimed at
the emotionality comonent usually attemt some tye of desensiti.ation to the
negative afect
generated in the situation# similar to )hat is done in ,ehavior theray )ith
desensiti.ation of
4;4 *hater B
individuals )ith ho,ias- Some studies have also used self&directed rela!ation
techni@ues to hel
students coe )ith the negative afect and an!iety 2Ceidner# 68897- Tryon 268957
suggested that
these studies have had mi!ed success# )hich may ,e due to the fact that ,y
addressing only the
emotionality comonent they are not considering the )orry comonent# )hich is
more closely
associated )ith actual decrements in erformance#
interventions that have ,een aimed at the )ony comonent have included direct
study and
strategy s+ills training# cognitive ,ehavioral sell&regulation to control the
un)anted and distracl`
ing thoughts# and motivational or attri,ution training to hel students control and
manage their
an!iety 2Ceidner# 68897# These cognitive treatments have sho)n some)hat
stronger ositive ef&
fects on reducing an!iety and imroving erformance# ,ut most researchers
,elieve that inte)en&
tions need 65 address ,oth emotiortality and )orry comonents through a
diversity of methods
2Hill 3 'ig0eld# 689OA Tryon# 6895A Ceidner# 68897- For e!amle# Hill and 'ig0eld
2689O7 out&
lined a school&,ased an!iety reduction rogram that includes training in ,oth
study and test&
ta+ing s+ills# as )ell as motivational and attri,utional training# lt seems li+ely that
these tyes of
ecologically valid rograms that address the multile asects of an!iety in the
classroom )ill ,e
more successful than single treatment or simler interventions- An!iety
intervention rograms
need to ,ecome more integrated into the school curriculum# ,e sensitive to
develomental diller&
ences# and include strategies targeted to hel the diverse ro,lems that diferent
tyes of test&an!ious
students have 2s+ills training versus an!iety control7 2'igheld 3 Eccles# 68987-
Alication B-4
rovides some seci0c suggestions for decreasingitest an!iety in the classroom-
APPLI*ATI(J B-4 - ;L
Alying Test An!iety "esearch in the *lassroom
There are a large num,er of strategies that can ,e used to reduce test an!iety in
the classroom
2Ceidner# 68897- &
l M Pmvidc more time to comlete the test- The loosening of time re@uirements
seems to hel many
te!t&an!ious students- Mr- Fran+# an eighth&grade mathematics teacher# ma+es
arrange&
ments for some students to have a longer eriod of time to comlete his endKol&
unit tests-
He +no)s his tests usually ta+e a,out O5&O< minutes ofhis <5&minute eriod for
most stu&
dents- Ho)ever# several students need more time to ta+e the tests ,ecause of
their test an!&
iety He allo)s them to continue to )or+ on the test into the ne!t class eriod- His
ne!t class
is not disruted ,ecause they also are ta+ing the same end&of&unit test- Mr- Fran+
al)ays
e!lains to the other teachers )hy some of the students )ill ,e a little late to
their ne!t class-
4- Modify test item dMculty and order As noted throughout this ,oo+# tas+s
2including tests7
should ,e matched closely to student e!ertise&challenging# ,ut not
over)helmingly
diEcult- This rincile also alies to an!iety Tas+s that are too diEcult create
an!ietyA
test items that are too diEcult create test an!iety lt hels to have items that not
only are
matched to student s+ill level ,ut also rogress in diEculty level# from easier
items at the
start of the test to harder items later in the test-
Mr- March# a high school history teacher# designs his multileKchoice tests so that
easier items are at the ,eginning and harder items are at the end- He 0nds this
hels all
Interest and Afect 4;;
students D)arm uF to the tas+# and esecially those )ho are very ne)ous- As
they start
the test# they have some success and thus feel more comforta,le- Their an!iety
dissiates
and they can then rogress more easily through the test-
Provide students oortunities to comment on test or test items- PiQLhen some
students can )rite
comments on test items# articularly am,iguous ones or diEcult ones# it seems to
hel
them erform ,etter- Ms- l&long al)ays rovides sace on the test for students to
ma+e
comments a,out their thoughts a,out the items# their diEculty# etc# Students li+e
this and
seem to feel less an!iety ,ecause of it-
"educe social comarison and u,lic dislay of Lest scores- 'hen teachers and
students have
u,lic access to test scores 2i-e## through listing on u,lic ,ulletin ,oards# ,y the
u,lic
calling out of scores in front of )hole class7# it can create many oortunities for
social
comarison among students- ln this case# students +no) ho) others did and they
may
,egin to ma+e negative and maladative comarisons and attri,utions for their
o)n or
others= erformance- Teachers should strive to reduce social comarison and have
stu&
dents ma+e aroriate attri,utions for test erformance- Ms- Hastleton emloys
these
ideas ,y not osting students= scores on ,ulletin ,oards and tal+ing a,out test
erform&
ance as a function of efort and actual s+ill# not general a,ility
"educe the ci%ormance&oriented nature of testing situations to%icus on mastery
and Mhirmtttivc as&
sessmcnt uroses- If teachers discuss tests as )ays of ,eating out others# as a
cometition
that only a fe) can )in 2grading on a strict curve7# this can create an!iety for all
students#
not %ust for highly an!ious students-
Mr- *raven is careful to discuss tests as oortunities for all students to
demonstrate
)hat they have learned and as a )ay for him to evaluate his lEg;*lLlllLlg- l&lc also
notes ho)
the information from tests can hel students go ,ac+ and relearn )hat they have
not mas&
tered- The evaluation also rovides him )ith information that he might need to
reteach
certain concets if most of the students sho) on the test that they have not
mastered them-
S?MMA"_
Interest refers to the li+ing and )illful engagement in
an activity Historical 0gures in education such as
$e)ey and Thorndi+e felt that interest )as imortant
for learning and achievement# ,ut little research )as
conducted on interest )hile ,chaviorisin )as the
dominant aradigm in sychology Today researchers
actively are e!loring interest to assess its role in learn&
ing and motivation-
Personal interest and situational interest are tNvo
di1erent tyes of interest that can in1uence learning
and erfottnance# Personal interest is a more sta,le er&
sonality or individual diference varia,le- Personal in&
terests are directed at seci0c activities or toics ,ut
there is a great deal of varia,ility in )hat activities or
toics )ill ,e of ersonal interest to any one individual-
in contrast# situational interest is a conte!tual vie) of
interest# )here,y interest is generated ,ythe features of
the ittunediate environment- Situational interest can ,e
increased ,y the use of interesting te!ts# media# re&
sentations# and the li+e# and is generally assumed to ,e
relatively consistent across individuals- Personal and
situational interest relate ositively to choice of future
activities# memory attention# deeer cognitive rocess&
ing# and actual achievement and erformance-
Sell&esteem and self&)orth are emotional reactions
to the self- Self&)orth refers to emotional reactions or
4;O *hater B
feelings a,out the self- Poular vie)s of self&esteem are
too simlistic to ofer much hel in our attemts to un&
derstand student achievement in the classroom- *ov&
ingtons self&)orth theory addresses the role of
self&)orth in school learning and is relevant to current
theoretical models of motivation# such as attri,ution
theory Self&)orth research sho)s that self&)orth is an
imortant outcome of schooling- The oular notion
that increasing self&esteem )ill lead to ,etter learning
and achievement is not a useful ersective on the re&
lations ,et)een self&esteem and school learning- L
A%ect comrises seci0c emotions and general
moods# Emotions are short&lived henomena that have
identiha,le causes# )hereas moods are lo)&intensity
and difuse afective states )ith no salient antecetlents
and little cognitive content- There are various )ays to
categori.e emotions that students e!erience- (ne ta!&
onomy classi0es emotions in tenns of )hether they are
ositive or negative and tas+&related or social- 'ithin
the tas+&related category emotions may ,e rocess&
related# rosective# or retrosective-
There are multile ath)ays )here,y afect might
lead to diferential learning and erformance/ 267 al&
fective e!eriences in1uence ho) information is en&
coded and recalled# 247 afective e!eriences inlluence
the tyes of cognitive and self&regulatory strategies
used# 2;7 afective e!eriences in1uence attention and
)or+ing memory resources# and 2O7 afective e!eri&
ences inlluence intrinsic and e!trinsic motivation- "e&
gardless ofthe e!act rocess# it is imortant to +ee in
mind that the relationshi of afect and learning is ,i&
directionalA that is# each has an in1uence on the other#
Test an!iety has several comonents# ,ut t)o of
the most imortant are )orry and emotionality The
)orry comonent refers to the eognitions or
thoughts that individuals have )hen they )orry dur&
ing a test&ta+ing situation- The emotionality como&
nent involves the emotional arousal 2fear and
negative afect7 that often is generated in evaluative
situations- Paralleling the distinction ,et)een er&
sonal antl situational interest# te<l an!iety is often di&
vided into trait and state an!iety Trait an!iety
reresents a more sta,le ersonality characteristic of
an individual# )hereas state an!iety is a more situa&
tional arousal of an!iety due to stressful testing cir&
cumstances- Test an!iety has ,een consistently
sho)n to have a negative efect on academic learning
and erformance through its efects on attention#
memory# and strategy usc- Parious strategies have
,een sho)n to hel decrease test an!iety including
allo)ing students greater time on tests and minimi.&
ing u,lic evaluations of erformances-
F?"THE" "EA$IJG
*ovington# M- P 268847- Molting lll*gaTt6LlLL-LA self&)orth
ersective on motivation and school n%forni- Je) _orlt/
*am,ridge ?niversity Press-
Fnrgas#%- 245557- The role ofafect in social cognition- in
:- Forgas 2Ed-7# Fueling anrl Ihinlting/ The rolc ollttlfcct in
Social cognition 2- l&497- Je) _or+/ *am,ridge
?niversity Press-
Hitli# S- 268857- interest and its contri,ution as a mental
resource for learning- "evie) of Etlucatlottal "cscotrlt#
B5# <O8&<G6-
Pe+run# "- 268847- The imact of emotions on learning
and achievement/ To)ards a theory of
cognitiveQmotivational mediators- -Alied Psychology/
An littcrnationctl "uvicug O6# ;<8&;GB#
"enninger# H- QN- 268847- individual interest and
develomentA Imlications for theory and ractice- ln
H- A- "cnninger# S- i&lidiM sSr A# Hra 2Eds#7M The role t%
interest in learning and develoment 2- ;B6&;8<7#
Hillsdale# J%/ Erl,aum-
Ceidner# lvl- 268897- Test an!iety/ The state ofthe art- Je)
_orlt/ Plenum-