Achievement emotions refer to emotions that occur in situations in which an individual’s competence is evaluated based on standards of quality. Prior literature has shown that achievement emotions can influence students’ cognition, action, and performance in achievement settings (i.e. Barroso et al., 2021; Camacho-Morles et al., 2021). Most of the studies focused on a small set of single emotions, such as anxiety, and few studies have integrated more than two or three specific achievement emotions. To call for more empirical studies on a broader range of achievement emotions, Pekrun et al. (2023) proposed a taxonomy of achievement emotions. They conducted four empirical studies to establish the validity of the taxonomy and examine the relationships between the emotions and other variables (e.g. students’ personality traits, learning strategies, performance).
The taxonomy of achievement emotions (see Table 1 in Pekrun et al., 2023) has three dimensions: valence (positive v.s. negative), arousal (high v.s. low), and object focus (activity, retrospective outcome, prospective outcome). First, valence of emotions can facilitate different thinking styles: positive emotions trigger holistic and creative thoughts, while negative emotions promote analytic and rigid thinking modes. Second, arousal refers to the level of energy and activation related to cognitive and behavioral action. High activating emotions, such as anger and anxiety, can increase effort put into studying. Deactivating emotions, such as sadness and disappointment, lead to avoidance and withdrawal from studying. Third, object focus is the event or situation that triggers achievement emotions. Emotions aroused by learning activities, such as working on an assignment, are named as activity emotions (e.g. enjoyment of a math assignment). Retrospective outcome emotions refer to positive or negative emotions toward past success and failure outcomes (e.g. shame after receiving a bad grade on an exam, pride after ranking high in a competition). Prospective outcome emotions are related to future success and failure and are differentiated by one’s expectations of the success or failure outcomes (e.g. hope about getting a good grade on a final or hopelessness about performance on a quiz).
To examine the strength of the taxonomy across times and contexts, Pekrun et al. (2023) conducted four empirical studies in different countries including Canada, the United States, Germany, and the United Kingdom. In addition to evaluating the proposed taxonomy, the researchers investigated the relationships between the emotions, the antecedents of the emotions (e.g. perceived control, personality traits), and important outcomes (e.g. learning strategies, academic performance). Participants were undergraduate students at universities for studies 1 through 3 and adults at work in study 4. Questionnaires were used to assess emotions, their antecedents and some outcomes such as learning strategies and health problems. Academic performance was assessed by instructor-provided scores of the exams in an undergraduate course. The findings from the studies suggested that the emotions represented in the taxonomy are present in achievement settings. Moreover, the proposed dimensions of valence, arousal, and object focus explain the structure of the exemplar emotions. More importantly, there are clear associations between the proposed emotions and important antecedents and outcomes. Specifically, two personality traits (neuroticism and conscientiousness), perceived control, value appraisal, and perceptions of the classroom instruction are related to achievement emotions. In terms of outcomes, achievement emotions are related to strategies used, academic performance, and health problems in young adulthood. Positive emotions, such as enjoyment, have positive influences and negative emotions, such as anxiety, have negative associations with the outcomes.
Pekrun et al.’s (2023) taxonomy of achievement emotions and their findings from empirical studies have several implications for educators and EPIC’s research. For educators, it is important to develop learning environments that facilitate positive emotions and reduce negative emotions. For instance, teachers can demonstrate enthusiasm in instruction to promote students’ positive perceptions of a class, which can, in turn, facilitate students’ excitement and enjoyment about the class. In terms of EPIC’s research, Pekrun et al. 's (2023) work points to the importance of considering multiple achievement emotions when investigating the psychology of failure. Given that negative emotion can be a barrier for people to learn from failures (link to the previous post), it is valuable to examine what emotions are present in failure experiences and whether different emotions have distinct profiles of relations with different types of failures, motivation to cope with failures, and actions.
To learn more about Pekrun et al.’s (2023) study, retrieve the article from the link: APA PsycNethttps://psycnet.apa.org › 2023-29709-001
References:
Barroso, C., Ganley, C. M., McGraw, A. L., Geer, E. A., Hart, S. A., & Daucourt, M. C. (2021). A meta-analysis of the relation between math anxiety and math achievement. Psychological Bulletin, 147(2), 134–168. https://doi.org/10.1037/bul0000307
Camacho-Morles, J., Slemp,G. R., Pekrun, R., Loderer, K., Hou, H.,&Oades, L. G. (2021). Activity achievement emotions and academic performance: A meta-analysis. Educational Psychology Review, 33(3), 1051–1095. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10648-020-09585-3
Pekrun, R., Marsh, H. W., Elliot, A. J., Stockinger, K., Perry, R. P., Vogl, E., ... & Vispoel, W. P. (2023). A three-dimensional taxonomy of achievement emotions. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 124(1), 145.
