The Role of Task Features in Moderating the Relations Between Epistemic Emotions and Self-Regulated Learning

• In Event: Putting Tasks Under the Microscope: Task Features Triggering Emotions and Modulating Their Effects on Learning

Abstract

Objectives

I report on a critical analysis of empirical studies conducted on the role of emotions during learning. The purpose was to understand under what task conditions positive or negative emotions arise, and whether task features moderate relations between emotions and learning.

Theoretical Framework

This critical analysis was situated in Muis et al.’s (2018) model on the role of epistemic emotions and self-regulated learning (SRL). SRL is defined as an event that unfolds during learning that is goal-directed and includes cognitive, metacognitive, affective, and social components. Epistemic emotions are defined as emotions that result from information-oriented appraisals about the alignment or misalignment between new information and existing beliefs, existing knowledge structures, or recently processed information. For example, individuals may experience epistemic emotions like surprise, curiosity, and confusion when there are discrepancies in processing information that causes disequilibrium (D’Mello et al., 2014) or equilibrium (Muis et al., 2015).

In their framework, Muis et al. (2018) described four phases of SRL and five areas that are regulated (see Figure 1). The four phases include: task definition, planning and goal setting, enactment, and evaluation. The five areas for regulation are cognition (e.g., epistemic cognition), motivation (e.g., epistemic value), affect (e.g., epistemic emotions), behavior (e.g., help seeking), and context (e.g., resources, instructional cues). Of particular relevance, Muis et al. (2018) described five antecedents to epistemic emotions during learning, and five consequences of those emotions. The five antecedents are control, value, novelty, complexity, and achievement or impasses of epistemic aims. The five consequences are effects on planning and goal setting, motivation, cognitive and metacognitive strategies, learning outcomes, and revisions to antecedents.

Based on this theoretical framework, I critically analyzed 15 empirical studies that explored the role of emotions during learning.

Methods

I evaluated whether task features moderated the role of emotions during learning in terms of both antecedents and consequences, how they moderate relations, and under what learning conditions moderation occurs. Studies ranged across a variety of ages, learning conditions, and content (see Table 1). Studies that used the same materials or tasks were also chosen to examine trends. Trend analysis was conducted across studies to determine patterns of relations between emotions and learning within and across contexts. Task features and methodological approaches used to capture emotions and learning processes were considered.



Results and Scholarly Significance

In the context of mathematics problem-solving, although some patterns of relations were consistent across studies with the same task, trend analyses revealed that differences arose as function of variations in methods used to capture emotions and cognitive/metacognitive processes. In contrast, for text-based studies, trend analyses revealed that variations in relations were a function of the nature of the text as well as the methods of measurement. In the full paper, I discuss theoretical implications these results have in terms of how methods of measurement and tasks influence relations, and how results from other studies should be interpreted.

Author

• Krista R. Muis, McGill University
  Presenting Author