See discussions, stats, and author profiles for this publication at: https://www.researchgate.

net/publication/284106400

Emotions in education [special issue]

Article in Educational Psychologist · January 2002

CITATIONS READS
39 3,064

2 authors, including:

Paul A. Schutz
The University of Texas at San Antonio
83 PUBLICATIONS 4,661 CITATIONS

SEE PROFILE

All content following this page was uploaded by Paul A. Schutz on 25 November 2015.

The user has requested enhancement of the downloaded file.

Introduction: Emotions in Education SCHUTZ AND

Paul A. Schutz
Department of Educational Psychology
University of Georgia

Sonja L. Lanehart
Department of English
University of Georgia

As cognitive, developmental and educational psychologists to change formally for many of the authors represented in this
have moved out of the laboratory and tried to apply their find- special issue when they participated in a symposium during
ings to the classroom context, it has become evident that stu- the 1998 annual meeting of the American Educational Re-
dents’ and teachers’ motivational beliefs (i.e., goals, pur- search Association in San Diego. That symposium, titled
poses, intentions, interests, self-perceptions of efficacy,
“The Role of Emotions in Students’ Learning and Achieve-
control, and competence) influence their learning and behav-
ment,” was the first of five symposia to date by many of the
ior. In the 1990s, motivational issues can no longer be ignored
by researchers interested in cognition and learning in the authors included in this special issue. These symposia repre-
classroom. (Pintrich, 1991, p. 199) sent an example of the increased interest in the field of educa-
tional psychology regarding the study of emotions in
The preceding passage was taken from the Editor’s Comment education. The goal of this special issue is to add to the under-
section of a special issue of the Educational Psychologist on standing of emotions in the educational context by highlight-
motivation in education. It is clear that today a similar intro- ing the essence of this series of symposia.
duction could be written about this special issue on emotions To reach this goal, this special issue begins with an article
in education. That paragraph might look like this: by Linnenbrink and Pintrich (2002), titled “Achievement
Goal Theory and Affect: An Asymmetrical Bidirectional
As motivation, cognitive, developmental, and educa- Model,” in which they examine moods and emotions within
tional psychologists have continued to contextualize the context of achievement goal theory. They focus on the de-
their inquiry within the schools, it has become clear that velopment of a model to integrate issues related to moods and
emotions are an integral part of educational activity set- emotions into achievement goal theory. This is an important
tings. In the 2000s, researchers interested in teaching, advancement in achievement goal theory because both the
learning, and motivational transactions within the adoption of a particular goal orientation and students’ percep-
classroom context can no longer ignore emotional is- tions of the classroom goal structure create the potential for a
sues. Emotions are intimately involved in virtually ev- variety of emotional experiences that may or may not facilitate
ery aspect of the teaching and learning process and, academic success. Thus, the Linnenbrink and Pintrich article
therefore, an understanding of the nature of emotions helps us develop a better understanding of the relation be-
within the school context is essential. tween goal orientation and affect in the educational context.
The Turner, Husman, and Schallert (2002) article, “The
To date, however, inquiry on emotions in education has Importance of Students’ Goals in Their Emotional Experi-
been generally neglected, with two notable exceptions—re- ence of Academic Failure: Investigating the Precursors and
search on test anxiety (see Zeidner, 1998, for a recent review) Consequences of Shame,” draws on their program of research
and Weiner’s (1985) attributional program of research. Thus, on shame to help illuminate the relations among self-regula-
as indicated by Pekrun, Goetz, Titz, and Perry (2002), outside tion of emotions, motivation, and future goals. This program
of these two exceptions, inquiry has been slow to advance our of research is important for at least two reasons: First, re-
understanding of emotions in education. However, this began search on test anxiety has dominated the field of research on
emotions in education, resulting in very few investigations of
other emotions, pleasant or unpleasant. Thus, the inclusion of
Requests for reprints should be sent to Paul A. Schutz, Department of Ed-
shame is helpful for getting a different perspective on emo-
ucational Psychology, 325K Aderhold Hall, University of Georgia, Athens, tional experiences in the educational context. Second, by
GA 30602–7143. E-mail: pschutz@coe.uga.edu contextualizing the research on shame in the process of
68 SCHUTZ AND LANEHART

self-regulated learning, the authors of the article help to de- proceed. There is a rich history of research on emotions in a
velop a better understanding of how emotions such as shame variety of fields as well as increasing interest in the nature of
influence and are influenced by the processes involved in inquiry and the implications of using various methodologies
self-regulated learning. and methods during the research process. This article inte-
The Pekrun et al. (2002) article, “Academic Emotions in Stu- grates some of the current thinking about inquiry with the po-
dents’ Self-Regulated Learning and Achievement: A Program tential challenges that may occur when investigating
of Qualitative and Quantitative Research,” provides an over- emotions in education. The authors’ goal is to promote the
view of their research on students’ academic emotions. The arti- idea that the continual examination of the theoretical founda-
cle focuses on reciprocal linkages of emotions, achievement, tions on which inquiry in educational psychology is based is
and classroom instruction by presenting a cognitive-motiva- key to the healthy development of this research community.
tional model on emotion effects and a control–value theory ad- One consistent theme in this series of articles is that emo-
dressing their antecedents. To do so, the authors highlight the tions are an integral part of the educational activity setting.
development of their measure used to investigate both pleasant Therefore, an understanding of the nature of emotions in the
(e.g., pride and hope) and unpleasant (e.g., anger and anxiety) school context is important and has a lot of promise for in-
emotions in a variety of academic settings. In addition, the quali- forming the understanding of teaching, motivation, and
tative and longitudinal natures of some of the studies they pres- self-regulated learning. It is also clear that these articles rep-
ent provide a unique perspective on the relations among resent only the beginning of this inquiry process, or as Karl
emotions and academic learning and achievement. Popper (as cited in Miller, 1985) so eloquently stated
The Meyer and Turner (2002) article, “Discovering Emo-
tion in Classroom Motivation Research,” takes a reflective The game of science is, in principle, without end. He [sic] who
look at their program of research over the last 10 years. They decides one day that scientific statements do not call for any
discuss many of their “serendipitous findings” that have further test, and that they can be regarded as finally verified, re-
prompted them to conclude that “emotion is an essential part tires from the game. (p. 140)
of studying motivation in classroom interactions” (p. 107). A
unique aspect of this article is the way in which Meyer and Thus, in terms of our understanding of emotions in educa-
Turner trace their observations in the real classroom and tion, the game is just getting started.
show how that journey has influenced the development of
their theory. As such, their research is an excellent example of REFERENCES
how to blend quantitative and qualitative methodologies in a
program of research. Therefore, not only do the authors in- deMarrais, K., & Tisdale, K. (2002). What happens when researchers inquire
form research and theory about the nature of emotions in into difficult emotions?: Reflections on studying women’s anger
through qualitative interviews. Educational Psychologist, 37, 115–123.
classroom interactions, but they also provide an excellent
Linnenbrink, E. A., & Pintrich, P. R. (2002). Achievement goal theory and
model for a long-term program of research. affect: An asymmetrical bidirectional model. Educational Psycholo-
The deMarrais and Tisdale (2002) article, “What Happens gist, 37, 69–78.
When Researchers Inquire Into Difficult Emotions?: Reflec- Meyer, D. K., & Turner, J. C. (2002). Discovering emotion in classroom mo-
tions on Studying Women’s Anger Through Qualitative Inter- tivation research. Educational Psychologist, 37, 107–114.
Miller, D. (1985). Popper selections. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University
views,” approaches the study of emotions from a qualitative
Press
perspective. There is a growing movement in educational psy- Pekrun, R., Goetz, T., Titz, W., & Perry, R. P. (2002). Academic emotions
chology, as well as other areas, toward the inclusion of qualita- in students’ self-regulated learning and achievement: A program of
tive methods. DeMarrais and Tisdale use their own work on qualitative and quantitative research. Educational Psychologist, 37,
women and anger to inform their discussion of the hows, 91–105.
Pintrich, P. R. (1991). Editor’s comment. Educational Psychologist, 26,
whys, and potential challenges of using qualitative methods in
199–205.
the study of emotions and emotional regulation. This ex- Schutz, P. A., & DeCuir, J. T. (2002). Inquiry on emotions in education. Edu-
tremely timely article provides guidance not only for emotion cational Psychologist, 37, 125–134.
theory and research, but also for the qualitative methods that Turner, J. E., Husman, J., & Schallert, D. L. (2002). The importance of
are increasingly being used by educational psychologists. students’– goals in their emotional experience of academic failure:
Investigating the precursors and consequences of shame. Educa-
Finally, in Schutz and DeCuir’s (2002) article, “Inquiry on
tional Psychologist, 37, 79–89.
Emotions in Education,” the authors look at the current state Weiner, B. (1985). An attributional theory of achievement motivation and
of inquiry on emotions. They examine the theoretical founda- emotion. Psychological Review, 92, 548–573.
tions on which future inquiry on emotions in education might Zeidner, M. (1998). Test anxiety: The state of the art. New York: Plenum.

View publication stats