Dr. Reinhard Pekrun, "Achievement Emotions: Origins, Functions and Educational Practices"
Achievement Emotions: Origins, Functions, and Educational Practices
A Talk by Dr. Reinhard Pekrun
Ludwig Maximilians University Munich
Emotions are ubiquitous in academic settings. Students experience various emotions in these settings, such as enjoyment, hope, pride, anger, anxiety, shame, or boredom. Despite the relevance of these emotions for learning, performance, and well-being, they have not received much attention by researchers, test anxiety studies and attributional research being notable exceptions. During the past fifteen years, however, there has been growing recognition that emotions are central to individual and collective productivity.
In this presentation, I will provide a state of the art overview of this nascent field of research. Using Pekrun’s (2006) control-value theory of achievement emotions as a conceptual framework, the presentation will focus on the following issues. (1) Which emotions are experienced in academic achievement settings, and how can these emotions be measured? (2) Are achievement emotions functionally important for students’ learning and achievement? Test anxiety research has shown that anxiety can exert profound effects on performance; is this true for other achievement emotions as well? (3) How can we explain the development of these emotions, what are their individual and social origins? (4) Are achievement emotions universal, or do they differ between content domains, genders, and cultures? (5) How can achievement emotions be regulated, and what are the implications for educational practices in the classroom?
In closing, open research problems will be addressed, such as the need for educational intervention studies targeting achievement emotions.
When: November 17th, 1:30 PM
Where: 3715 Peel (Coach House), Room 200 [map]
Biographical Note
Reinhard Pekrun holds the Chair for Personality and Educational Psychology at the University of Munich. His research areas include achievement emotion and motivation, personality development, and educational assessment. He pioneered research on emotions in education and originated the Control-Value Theory of Achievement Emotions. Pekrun is a highly cited researcher who has authored 21 books and more than 200 articles and chapters, including numerous publications in top journals.