Search

Background Aims Sample Methods Results Conclusion Recent research on boredom suggests that it can emerge in situations characterized by over‐ and under‐challenge. In learning contexts, this implies that high boredom may be experienced both by low‐ and high‐achieving students.This research aimed to explore the existence and prevalence of boredom due to being over‐ and under‐challenged in mathematics, for which empirical evidence is lacking.We employed a sample of 1.407 students (fifth to ninth graders) from all three secondary school tracks (lower, middle and upper) in Bavaria (Germany).Boredom was assessed via self‐report and achievement via a standardized mathematics test. We used latent profile analysis to identify groups characterized by different levels of boredom and achievement, and we additionally examined gender and school track as group membership predictors.Results revealed four distinct groups, of which two showed considerably high boredom. One was coupled with low achievement on the test (i.e. ‘over‐challenged group’, 13% of the total sample), and one was coupled with high achievement (i.e. ‘under‐challenged group’, 21%). Furthermore, we found a low boredom and high achievement (i.e. ‘well‐off group’, 27%) and a relatively low boredom low achievement group (i.e. ‘indifferent group’, 39%). Girls were overrepresented in the over‐challenged group, and students from the upper school track were underrepresented in the under‐challenged group.Our research emphasizes the need to openly discuss and further investigate boredom due to being over‐ and under‐challenged. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Technology-rich learning environments (TREs) play an increasingly important role for 21st century education, and the emotions learners experience in these environments are pivotal for their cognitive and affective learning gains. The contributors to this special issue address the importance of understanding and measuring emotions in TREs as a mechanism for fostering learning. In particular, the special issue situates this research with a systemic review and meta-analysis of the literature on emotions in TREs. Following this review empirical research is presented on measuring emotions in the context of learning with TREs in multiple domains, including medicine, history, and mathematics. These researchers use concurrent measures to capture students' cognitive, metacognitive and affective processes before, during, and after solving problems, documenting the complex role of such processes as individuals and groups learn with technology. The special issue concludes with two commentaries that point the way to next steps in this field of research. • Technology-rich learning environments (TRES) play a role in 21st century education. • Emotions learners experience in TRES are pivotal for learning gains. • Examples of measuring emotions in the context of learning with TREs are provided. • Individual and group emotions are explored in the context of TRES. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Understanding emotions in technology-based learning environments (TBLEs) has become a paramount goal across different research communities, but to date, these have operated in relative isolation. Based on control-value theory (Pekrun, 2006), we reviewed 186 studies examining emotions in TBLEs that were published between 1965 and 2018. We extracted effect sizes quantifying relations between emotions (enjoyment, curiosity/interest, anxiety, anger/frustration, confusion, boredom) and their antecedents (control-value appraisals, prior knowledge, gender, TBLE characteristics) and outcomes (engagement, learning strategies, achievement). Mean effects largely supported hypotheses (e.g., positive relations between enjoyment and appraisals, achievement, and cognitive support) and remained relatively stable across moderators. These findings imply that levels of emotions differ across TBLEs, but that their functional relations with appraisals and learning are equivalent across environments. Implications for research and designing emotionally sound TBLEs are discussed. • We reviewed 186 studies on emotions in technology-based learning. • Correlations were consistent with hypotheses derived from control-value theory. • Enjoyment correlated positively with control, cognitive support, and achievement. • Anxiety correlated negatively with these variables as well as learning strategies. • Effects were largely unaffected by moderators such as type of learning environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on control-value theory (CVT), this study (N = 550 Chinese university students) examined relations between control-value appraisals, subsequent achievement emotions, and resulting performance in foreign language (FL) learning. The results show that perceived control and value related positively to positive emotions (enjoyment, hope, pride) and FL performance, and negatively to negative emotions (anger, anxiety, shame, hopelessness, boredom). Control and value interacted in predicting all eight emotions and FL performance. The multiplicative impact of the appraisals on performance was mediated by four of the focal emotions. These findings elucidate the impact of appraisals and emotions on achievement and support the generalizability of CVT to foreign language learning. Directions for future research and implications for education are discussed. • Control-value appraisals positively predict positive emotions and performance. • These appraisals negatively predict students' negative emotions. • The interaction between control and value significantly adds to the prediction. • Emotions mediate the link between appraisals and performance. • Teachers should attend to students' perceptions of academic control and value. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: In recent years, there has been a growing interest in the role of emotions in academic settings, especially in how emotions shape student engagement and learning. This special issue highlights new research in this area and aims to inspire others to join us in conducting empirical research on emotions in education. Using a variety of theoretical and methodological perspectives, all contributions share a unique focus on the linkages between students’ emotions and their academic engagement. What is particularly important about this set of papers is their consideration of how and why student emotions emerge, how these emotions in turn shape students’ engagement and achievement, and the ways in which students can harness emotional resources for facilitating their engagement and achievement. In this introduction to the special issue, we briefly highlight each of the manuscripts and suggest several directions for future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research on emotions and second language (L2) learning has proceeded for four decades, and L2 scholars have made important contributions in this overshadowed research area. However, advances in the field have failed to match the more general research on emotion and learning in psychology and education that has proven beneficial for understanding a broad range of emotions experienced in educational settings and has direct implications for classroom teaching. Specifically, the control-value theory (CVT) of achievement emotion, which addresses the origins and functions of diverse emotions in education, has gained strong momentum and emerged as a useful theoretical framework, although it is largely unknown and unused by L2 researchers. The present article aims to introduce the concept of achievement emotions into the L2 context and bridge the gaps between these two fields of emotion research. We first review research on emotions in second language acquisition (SLA) and identify crucial areas for improvement. Then, we discuss theory, measurement, and empirical studies related to the construct of achievement emotions. In conclusion, we call for an integration of research on achievement emotions with the field of emotions and instructed SLA and highlight the potential benefits of such an endeavor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Control-value theory proposes that achievement emotions impact achievement, and that achievement outcomes (i.e., success and failure) reciprocally influence the development of achievement emotions. Academic buoyancy is an adaptive response to minor academic adversity, and might, therefore, offer protection from achievement being undermined by negative achievement emotions. At present, however, there is little empirical evidence for these hypothesized relations. In this study we examined reciprocal relations between three achievement emotions (enjoyment, boredom, and anxiety) and test performance in the context of mathematics, and whether academic buoyancy moderated relations between these emotions and test performance. Data were collected from 1,242 primary school students (mean age = 9.3 years) over 4 waves within 1 school year. Achievement emotions (T1 and T3) and test performance (T2 and T4) were measured alternately. Academic buoyancy was measured at T3. A structural equation model showed negative relations of anxiety to subsequent test performance and negative relations of test performance to subsequent anxiety. Test performance also predicted enjoyment and boredom, but not vice versa. A latent-interaction structural equation model showed buoyancy moderated relations between anxiety and test performance. Test performance was highest when anxiety was low and buoyancy high. Practitioners should consider using interventions to reduce anxiety and downstream effects on achievement. Educational Impact and Implications Statement: In classroom settings, multiple emotions such as enjoyment, boredom, and anxiety may occur. Among these emotions, anxiety is especially important for students' achievement in mathematics according to this study with elementary schoolchildren. Reducing anxiety would be beneficial for students' achievement, for example through fostering their adaptive responses to failure and increasing perceptions of control. The findings also suggest that developing academic buoyancy can benefit the achievement of students with mild forms of anxiety. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Achievement emotions are emotions linked to academic, work, or sports achievement activities (activity emotions) and their success and failure outcomes (outcome emotions). Recent evidence suggests that achievement emotions are linked to motivational, self-regulatory, and cognitive processes that are crucial for academic success. Despite the importance of these emotions, syntheses of empirical findings investigating their relation with student achievement are scarce. We broadly review the literature on achievement emotions with a focus on activity-related emotions including enjoyment, anger, frustration, and boredom, and their links to educational outcomes with two specific aims: to aggregate all studies and determine how strongly related those emotions are to academic performance, and to examine moderators of those effects. A meta-analytical review was conducted using a systematic database of 68 studies. The 68 studies included 57 independent samples for enjoyment (N = 31,868), 25 for anger (N = 11,153), 9 for frustration (N = 1418), and 66 for boredom (N = 28,410). Results indicated a positive relation between enjoyment of learning and academic performance (ρ =.27), whereas the relations were negative for both anger (ρ = −.35) and boredom (ρ = −.25). For frustration, the relation with performance was near zero (ρ = −.02). Moderator tests revealed that relations of activity emotions with academic performance are stronger when (a) students are in secondary school compared with both primary school and college, and (b) the emotions are measured by the Achievement Emotions Questionnaires – Mathematics (AEQ-M). Theoretical and practical implications are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examined how adolescents' emotions in mathematics develop over time. Growth curve modeling was applied to longitudinal data collected annually from 2002 to 2006 (Grades 5–9; N = 3425 German adolescents; Mage = 11.7, 15.6 years at the first and last waves, respectively; 50.0% female). Results indicated that enjoyment and pride decreased over time (Glass's Δs = −.86, −.71). In contrast, negative emotions exhibited more complex patterns: Anger, boredom, and hopelessness increased (Δs =.52,.79,.26), shame decreased (Δ = −.12), and anxiety remained stable (Δ =.00). These change trajectories of emotions were associated with change trajectories of perceived control, intrinsic value, achievement value, and achievement in mathematics. Implications and future directions are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examined the role of emotions in predicting university faculty teaching and research performance while addressing the methodological limitations of past research. Recruited using social media, 312 early-career faculty completed an online survey containing six newly adapted multi-item emotion scales assessing enjoyment, anxiety, and boredom related to both teaching and research. Analyses supported the reliability as well as convergent and divergent validity of the scales. Results of structural equation modeling revealed that enjoyment positively predicted perceived success whereas anxiety and boredom negatively predicted success in both teaching and research, even after accounting for social-environmental predictors. The emotions also significantly related to faculty research publication and citation counts. In terms of implications for faculty development, the findings suggest that fostering value and control may be a mechanism for improving faculty emotions and performance in teaching and research. The discussion includes future theoretical and methodological contributions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When individuals seek to learn about scientific information, they likely turn to the Internet. There, they will find multiple documents with conflicting points of view and varying degrees of accuracy. Integrating this information is challenging and may evoke epistemic emotions which may, in turn, influence how this information is integrated. Additionally, understanding complex scientific topics such as climate change requires causal reasoning. The current study investigated the role of emotions and prior knowledge in learning about the causes and effects of climate change from multiple texts. One hundred and twelve university students read either a congruent argument (two texts affirming the same point of view) or an incongruent argument (two texts with competing points of view). Text presentations were counterbalanced. Those who read congruent texts showed greater knowledge gains and were more likely to think causally than those in the incongruent group. Across all conditions, emotions tended to decrease in salience as participants read the second text, suggesting that individuals may become desensitized to the challenges of climate change with increased exposure to information. This suggests that caution must be taken to avoid promoting disengagement and inaction of individuals around controversial issues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current mixed-method study examined the emotions experienced by pretenure faculty regarding teaching and research, specifically their emotion frequency, antecedents, and relationships with perceived success. Interviews with 11 faculty identified 46 discrete emotions with the most common being enjoyment, frustration, excitement, happiness, and anxiety. A survey of 102 pretenure faculty found more enjoyment, happiness, pride, satisfaction, and relaxation regarding teaching; conversely more frustration, anxiety, worry, fear, envy, shame, loneliness, and hopelessness in research. Path analyses revealed faculty control, value, and positive/negative affect mediate the relationships of collegiality and balance with self-reported success. The results have implications for faculty development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives Appraising health as controllable is typically thought to be adaptive, but recent evidence suggests the paradoxical possibility that perceived control (PC) can be detrimental. We considered the premise that high PC should have a survival benefit when it is part of an adaptive mindset involving high value (importance) for health, but it might be detrimental when it is part of a mindset comprised of low health value (HV). In addition, we examined whether the survival consequences of PC and HV vary with advancing age. Method Interviews were conducted with a heterogeneous sample of community-dwelling adults (n = 341; 72–99 years) to assess appraisals of control and value in the domain of health. Mortality data were obtained over 12 years from a provincial health registry. Results Both age and HV moderated the PC effect on mortality. The predicted beneficial and detrimental PC effects emerged at younger ages: higher PC predicted longer survival times when health was highly valued but shorter survival times when health was less highly valued. Discussion These findings deepen the knowledge regarding the conditions under which PC is or is not adaptive, suggesting the consequences depend on age and the extent to which health is valued. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights • The role of epistemic emotions was explored in conceptual change. • Participants were randomly assigned to a refutation or expository text condition. • Text type moderated relations between value, emotions, and learning strategies. Abstract We explored the role that epistemic emotions play in conceptual change, specifically whether task value served as an antecedent to these emotions and whether type of text (refutation or expository) moderated relations between task value, epistemic emotions, and learning strategies. One hundred twenty university undergraduates completed a measure of misconceptions about genetically modified foods and were randomly assigned to study an expository or refutation text. After studying, participants reported their levels of surprise, curiosity, and confusion during learning, the extent to which they used self-reported critical thinking and elaboration strategies, and again completed the misconceptions measure. Individuals studying the refutation text experienced more surprise and changed more misconceptions to correct conceptions compared to participants studying the expository text. Moderated mediation analyses revealed that text type moderated the mediated relations between task value and surprise, curiosity, self-reported critical thinking and elaboration. Task value was positively related to surprise in the refutation condition but negatively related to surprise in the expository condition. Additionally, curiosity positively predicted self-reported critical thinking and elaboration strategies in the refutation condition but not in the expository condition. Results demonstrate that epistemic emotions play a significant role in conceptual change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Peer victimization at school is a worldwide problem with profound implications for victims, bullies, and whole-school communities. Yet the 50-year quest to solve the problem has produced mostly disappointing results. A critical examination of current research reveals both pivotal limitations and potential solutions. Solutions include introducing psychometrically sound measures to assess the parallel components of bullying and victimization, analyzing cross-national data sets, and embracing a social-ecological perspective emphasizing the motivation of bullies, importance of bystanders, pro-defending and antibullying attitudes, classroom climate, and a multilevel perspective. These solutions have been integrated into a series of recent interventions. Teachers can be professionally trained to create a highly supportive climate that allows student-bystanders to overcome their otherwise normative tendency to reinforce bullies. Once established, this intervention-enabled classroom climate impedes bully-victim episodes. The take-home message is to work with teachers on how to develop an interpersonally supportive classroom climate at the beginning of the school year to catalyze student-bystanders' volitional internalization of pro-defending and antibullying attitudes and social norms. Recommendations for future research include studying bullying and victimization simultaneously, testing multilevel models, targeting classroom climate and bystander roles as critical intervention outcomes, and integrating school-wide and individual student interventions only after improving social norms and the school climate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Both self-regulation and external regulation are key to understanding adolescents' learning and positive development at school. However, evidence on the joint development of self-regulated learning and externally regulated learning during adolescence is lacking. In addition, the current knowledge on interrelations between the development of adolescents' self-regulated learning, externally regulated learning, behaviors of teachers and parents in terms of autonomy support and achievement pressure, and academic achievement is very limited. The present multilevel longitudinal analysis focusing on the domain of mathematics (N = 1,542 German adolescents; annual assessments from Grades 5 to 9; mean age at Grade 5 = 11.79 years, SD = 0.71, 51.75% female) addressed these gaps. Results from multilevel latent basic growth curve models showed that self- and externally regulated learning decreased over the 5 years at both the individual student and the class level. Changes in self- and externally regulated learning were linked: Classes with higher levels of self-regulated learning at Grade 5 showed a stronger decrease in externally regulated learning over time. Initial levels of and changes in student-reported teacher and parental autonomy support and achievement pressure were associated with self- and externally regulated learning at the individual student level; student-reported teacher autonomy support and self-regulated learning were also linked at the class level. Self-regulated learning related positively to standardized achievement test scores but not to adolescents' grades. This study adds to the scarce evidence base on different regulatory forms of adolescents' learning and can inform future research on adolescents' positive development and educational practice. Public Significance Statement: This study indicated that adolescents became less self-regulated in their mathematics learning over time; however, their externally regulated learning declined as well. If teachers and parents supported their autonomy, adolescents reported higher levels of self-regulated learning, whereas adolescents who experienced that their teachers and parents pushed them to perform better at school and had unrealistic academic expectations (i.e., achievement pressure) exhibited higher levels of externally regulated learning. Teachers and parents should refrain from exerting achievement pressure and increase their provision of autonomy support for adolescents' mathematics learning as a means to promote self-regulated learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

School victimization issues remain largely unresolved due to over-reliance on unidimensional conceptions of victimization and data from a few developed OECD countries. Thus, support for cross-national generalizability over multiple victimization components (relational, verbal, and physical) is weak. Our substantive–methodological synergy tests the cross-national generalizability of a three-component model (594,196 fifteen-year-olds; nationally -representative samples from 77 countries) compared to competing (unidimensional and two-component) victimization models. We demonstrate the superior explanatory power of the three-component model—goodness-of-fit, component differentiation, and discriminant validity of the three components concerning gender differences, paradoxical anti-bullying attitudes (the Pro-Bully Paradox) whereby victims are more supportive of bullies than of other victims, and multiple indicators of well-being. For example, gender differences varied significantly across the three components, and all 13 well-being indicators were more strongly related to verbal and particularly relational victimization than physical victimization. Collapsing the three components into one or two components undermined discriminant validity. Cross-nationally, systematic differences emerged across the three victimization components regarding country-level means, gender differences, national development, and cultural values. These findings across countries support a tripartite model in which the three components of victimization—relational, verbal, and physical—relate differently to key outcomes. Thus, these findings advance victimization theory and have implications for policy, practice, and intervention. We also discuss directions for further research: the need for simultaneous evaluation of multiple, parallel components of victimization and bullying, theoretical definitions of bullying and victimization and their implications for measurement, conceptual bases of global victimization indices, cyberbullying, anti-bullying policies, and capitalizing on anti-bullying attitudes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Enjoyment is one of the most relevant and frequently experienced discrete emotions for both teachers and students in classroom learning contexts. Based on theories of emotion transmission between interaction partners, we propose a reciprocal effects model linking teachers' and students' enjoyment in class. The model suggests that there are positive reciprocal links between teachers' and students' enjoyment and that these links are mediated by teachers' and students' observations of each other's classroom behaviors. The model was tested using 3-wave longitudinal data collected across the 1st 6 months of a school year from N = 69 teachers (78% female) and their 1,643 students from Grades 5 to 10 (57% female). A multilevel structural equation model confirmed our mediation hypotheses. Teacher enjoyment at the beginning of the school year (Time 1 [T1 ]) was positively related to student perceptions of teachers' enthusiasm during teaching 4 weeks later (T2), which was positively related to student enjoyment at midterm (T3). Further, student enjoyment at T1 was positively related to teacher perceptions of their students' engagement in class at T2, which was positively related to teacher enjoyment at T3. This study is the first to provide longitudinal evidence of reciprocal emotion transmission between teachers and students. Implications for future research and teacher training are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Our newly proposed integrated academic self-concept model integrates 3 major theories of academic self-concept formation and developmental perspectives into a unified conceptual and methodological framework. Relations among math self-concept (MSC), school grades, test scores, and school-level contextual effects over 6 years, from the end of primary school through the first 5 years of secondary school (a representative sample of 3,370 German students, 42 secondary schools, 50% male, M age at grade 5 = 11.75) support the (1) intemal/extemal frame of reference model: Math school grades had positive effects on MSC, but the effects of German grades were negative; (2) reciprocal effects (longitudinal panel) model: MSC was predictive of and predicted by math test scores and school grades; (3) big-fish-little-pond effect: The effects on MSC were negative for school-average achievement based on 4 indicators (primary school grades in math and German, school-track prior to the start of secondary school, math test scores in the first year of secondary school). Results for all 3 theoretical models were consistent across the 5 secondary school years: This supports the prediction of developmental equilibrium. This integration highlights the robustness of support over the potentially volatile early to middle adolescent period; the interconnectedness and complementarity of 3 ASC models; their counterbalancing strengths and weaknesses; and new theoretical, developmental, and substantive implications at their intersections. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The school principal's job is becoming increasingly demanding and complex, but their well-being is under-studied. • Job satisfaction and self-efficacy are key constructs for school principal's well-being. • Research assumes self-efficacy leads to job satisfaction but is untested. • School-leader job satisfaction and self-efficacy are reciprocally related over time. • Methodologically we critique and juxtapose competing statistical models of reciprocal effects. • Our study is a substantive-methodological synergy of strong data, methodology, theory & implications. The school principal's job is increasingly demanding and complex, but school principal well-being is understudied. Self-efficacy and job satisfaction are critical constructs for studying school principals' well-being, and self-efficacy is a core predictor of job satisfaction. Cross-sectional research typically assumes a unidirectional ordering; self-efficacy predicts (and leads to) job satisfaction, not the reverse. However, this unidirectional ordering is inconsistent with theoretical models positing a bidirectional (reciprocal) ordering. Furthermore, the assumption is largely untested with appropriate longitudinal data and statistical models. We evaluated the directional ordering of job satisfaction and self-efficacy for a large (N = 5663), nationally representative, longitudinal (nine annual waves) sample of Australian school leaders. Job satisfaction and self-efficacy were moderately correlated within waves and over time. Consistently with theoretical models and a priori predictions, the two constructs were reciprocally related over time; prior measures of each had small statistically positive effects on subsequent measures of the other, with no evidence of directional predominance of one over the other. Support for reciprocal effects was remarkably consistent across competing cross-lag-panel models, multiple tests of the consistency of effects over time (measurement invariance and stationarity), control for covariates, and the addition of lag-2 paths. Methodologically, we critique competing models that estimate cross-lagged effects and evaluate directional ordering from within- and between-person perspectives. We demonstrate the value of both approaches in achieving a robust framework for assessing longitudinal panel models.. Our substantive-methodological synergy has important substantive implications for theory, policy, and practice—showing that school-leader job satisfaction and self-efficacy are mutually reinforcing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Conflicting claims about important socio-scientific debates are proliferating in contemporary society. It is therefore important to understand the individual characteristics that predict learning from conflicting claims. We explored individuals’ beliefs about the nature of knowledge and knowing (i.e., epistemic beliefs) and their emotions as potentially interrelated sets of learner characteristics that predict learning in such contexts. Undergraduate university students ( N = 282) self-reported their topic-specific epistemic beliefs and were given three conflicting texts about climate change to read. Immediately after each of the three texts, participants self-reported the emotions they experienced. Following reading and self-report, participants wrote summaries of the conflicting texts. Text-mining and human coding were applied to summaries to construct two indices of learning from conflicting texts that reflected which source’s information is privileged in memory. Results from structural equation modeling revealed that epistemic beliefs were consistent in their predictions of emotions, which in turn variously predicted different learning outcomes. In particular, a belief that knowledge is justified by inquiry predicted surprise and curiosity, which at times facilitated learning. In contrast, confusion, predicted by passive reliance on external sources, related to impaired memory of conflicting content. Theoretical and methodological implications are discussed for research on the relations between epistemic beliefs, emotions, and learning about controversial topics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Academic self-concept and achievement have been found to be reciprocally related across time. However, existing research has focused on self-concept and achievement scores that have been averaged over long time-periods. For the first time, the present study examined intraindividual (within-person) relations between momentary (state) self-concept and lesson-specific perceived achievement (i.e., self-reported comprehension) in students' everyday school life in real time using intensive longitudinal data. We conducted an experience-sampling (e-diary) study with 372 German secondary school students in Grades 9 and 10 over a period of 3 weeks after each mathematics lesson. Multilevel confirmatory factor analyses confirmed a two-factor between-level and within-level structure of the state measures. We used dynamic structural equation modeling to specify a multilevel first-order vector autoregressive model to examine the dynamic relations between self-concept and perceived achievement. We found significant reciprocal effects between academic self-concept and perceived achievement on a lesson-to-lesson basis. Further, we found that these relations were independent of students' gender, reasoning ability, or mathematics grades. We discuss implications for methodology, theory, and practice in self-concept research and educational psychology more generally. Educational Impact and Implications Statement: This study suggests that students' momentary perception of their mathematics ability (i.e., their state mathematics self-concept) directly influences their lesson-specific comprehension (i.e., perceived achievement) from mathematics lesson to mathematics lesson. In turn, state mathematics self-concept is itself influenced by students' previous perceived achievement (i.e., in showing reciprocal relations). Therefore, our results indicate that students' state mathematics self-concept makes a substantial contribution to their academic development in their everyday life at school. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent research has shown that for some topics, messages to refute and revise misconceptions may backfire. The current research offers one possible account for this backfire effect (i.e., the ironic strengthening of belief in erroneous information after an attempted refutation) from an educational psychology perspective and examines whether emotions mediate the relationship between self-concept and learning from refutation texts. In an experimental design, 120 undergraduate students responded to a questionnaire focused on their dietary self-concept and were randomly assigned to read an expository or refutation text on the topic of genetically modified foods. Immediately after reading, participants self-reported their emotions followed by completing post-test measures of their knowledge and attitudes of the topic. Results showed an interaction between self-concept and text condition on emotions wherein self-concept predicted negative emotions (i.e., confusion, anxiety, frustration) while reading a refutation text specifically. Further, negative emotions significantly mediated relations between self-concept and post-test knowledge and attitudes. Implications for educational design and future research are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research has established the health benefits of psychological factors, including the way individuals appraise outcomes. Although many studies confirm that appraising outcomes as controllable is adaptive for health, a paradoxical possibility is largely ignored: Perceived control may be detrimental under some conditions. Our premise was that appraising health as controllable but at the same time ascribing little value to it might signal a dysfunctional psychological mindset that fosters a mistaken sense of invincibility. During face-to-face interviews with a representative sample of older adults (age range = 72–99), we identified individuals with such a potentially maladaptive “invincible” mindset (high perceived control and low health value) and compared them to their counterparts on several outcomes. The findings were consistent with our hypotheses. The invincibles denied future risks, they lacked the activating emotion of fear, and they visited their physicians less often over a subsequent five-year period. Moreover, in contrast to their counterparts, the invincibles did not appear strategic in their approach to seeking care: Even poor health did not prompt them to seek the counsel of a physician. The recognition that psychological appraisals are modifiable highlights the promise of remedial methods to alter maladaptive mindsets, potentially improving quality of life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Theories on the link between achievement goals and achievement emotions focus on their within-person functional relationship (i.e., intraindividual relations). However, empirical studies have failed to analyze these intraindividual relations and have instead examined between-person covariation of the two constructs (i.e., interindividual relations). Aiming to better connect theory and empirical research, the present study ( N = 120 10th grade students) analyzed intraindividual relations by assessing students' state goals and emotions using experience sampling ( N = 1409 assessments within persons). In order to replicate previous findings on interindividual relations, students' trait goals and emotions were assessed using self-report questionnaires. Despite being statistically independent, both types of relations were consistent with theoretical expectations, as shown by multi-level modeling: Mastery goals were positive predictors of enjoyment and negative predictors of boredom and anger; performance-approach goals were positive predictors of pride; and performance-avoidance goals were positive predictors of anxiety and shame. Reasons for the convergence of intra- and interindividual findings, directions for future research, and implications for educational practice are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The proliferation of information and divergent viewpoints in the 21st century requires an educated citizenry with the ability to critically evaluate information and make informed decisions. To meet this demand, adaptive epistemic understandings and beliefs about the nature of knowledge are needed, such as believing that scientific knowledge is evolving (development of knowledge) and needs to be justified through experimentation (justification of knowledge). Our study is the first to use nationally representative samples from 72 countries/regions (PISA 2015 database; N = 514,119 students) to examine how scientific epistemic beliefs about development and justification of knowledge in science are associated with students' science motivation, achievement, and career aspirations in the STEM fields, as well as the cross-national generalizability of these relations. Results showed that (a) students who had more adaptive beliefs about knowledge being changeable and stemming from experimentation were likely to have high science self-efficacy, utility value, and particularly high intrinsic value; (b) epistemic beliefs were more strongly linked to science achievement than were motivational constructs; (c) the positive relation between epistemic beliefs and STEM-related career aspirations was largely explained by motivation and achievement; (d) the pattern of results generalized well across societies. Our findings suggest that epistemic beliefs are substantially positively associated with adolescents' science learning, implying that developing effective interventions that focus on development and justification of knowledge would be fruitful for promoting science educational outcomes. Educational Impact and Implications Statement: Holding adaptive epistemic beliefs about the nature of scientific knowledge is critical in distinguishing accurate and useful information from diverse, less trustworthy sources in the digital era. Based on data from more than half a million 15-year-old students from 72 countries/regions, we found that adolescents with more adaptive epistemic beliefs tend to have higher science achievement, feel more self-efficacious, be more intrinsically and extrinsically motivated to engage in science learning, and have higher aspirations to pursue a STEM-related career. Notably, epistemic beliefs are more strongly linked to science achievement than are motivational constructs. Consistent patterns across societies suggest that preparing students for 21st century challenges will require policy initiatives that ensure epistemic cognition is a core component of science education and scientific literacy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Teachers’ emotions are critically important for the quality of classroom instruction, and they are key components of teachers’ psychological well-being. Past research has focused on individual differences between teachers, whereas within-teacher variation across contexts has rarely been considered. As such, the present research addresses the long-standing yet unresolved person-situation debate pertaining to the emotional experiences of teachers. In two diary studies (N = 135, 70% female, and N = 85, 28% female), we examined the role of person, academic subject, and group of students for teacher emotions; focusing on three of the most salient emotions found in teachers: enjoyment, anger, and anxiety. Findings from multi-level analysis confirmed the person specificity of enjoyment, anger, and, in particular, anxiety. In addition, underscoring the existence of within-teacher variability, findings supported that teachers’ emotions considerably varied depending on the subject and group of students taught, particularly so for enjoyment and anger. Implications of the person and context specificity of teacher emotions are discussed in relation to assessments and intervention programs aiming to improve teachers’ emotional lives in the classroom. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research has shown that negative affect reduces working memory capacity. Commonly, this effect has been attributed to an allocation of resources to task-irrelevant thoughts, suggesting that negative affect has detrimental consequences for working memory performance. However, rather than simply being a detrimental effect, the affect-induced capacity reduction may reflect a trading of capacity for precision of stored representations. To test this hypothesis, we induced neutral or negative affect and concurrently measured the number and precision of representations stored in sensory and working memory. Compared with neutral affect, negative affect reduced the capacity of both sensory and working memory. However, in both memory systems, this decrease in capacity was accompanied by an increase in precision. These findings demonstrate that observers unintentionally trade capacity for precision as a function of affective state and indicate that negative affect can be beneficial for the quality of memories. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When there is an established strategy to solve a problem, we often approach the problem with a mindset that makes us blind for more efficient solutions. We examined the role of affect in overcoming such blinding effects of mindsets. As positive affect is known to broaden and negative affect to narrow thought–action repertoires, we speculated that positive affect facilitates and negative affect impedes the overcoming of a current mindset. To induce a mindset, participants initially solved 60 similar problems which were only solvable using the same complex strategy. After a short break in which positive or negative affect was induced, participants continued to work on the problems. Critically, there now was an additional simple way to solve the problems. Participants experiencing positive affect were more likely to detect the simple solution than participants experiencing negative affect. These findings reveal that affect modulates how much we are constrained by current mindsets. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

We tested key predictions of a theoretical model positing that confusion, which accompanies a state of cognitive disequilibrium that is triggered by contradictions, conflicts, anomalies, erroneous information, and other discrepant events, can be beneficial to learning if appropriately induced, regulated, and resolved. Hypotheses of the model were tested in two experiments where learners engaged in trialogues on scientific reasoning concepts in a simulated collaborative learning session with animated agents playing the role of a tutor and a peer student. Confusion was experimentally induced via a contradictory-information manipulation involving the animated agents expressing incorrect and/or contradictory opinions and asking the (human) learners to decide which opinion had more scientific merit. The results indicated that self-reports of confusion were largely insensitive to the manipulations. However, confusion was manifested by more objective measures that inferred confusion on the basis of learners’ responses immediately following contradictions. Furthermore, whereas the contradictions had no effect on learning when learners were not confused by the manipulations, performance on multiple-choice posttests and on transfer tests was substantially higher when the contradictions were successful in confusing learners. Theoretical and applied implications are discussed. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The big-fish-little-pond effect (BFLPE), the negative effect of school-/class-average achievement on academic self-concept, is one of educational psychology's most universal findings. However, critiques of this research have proposed moderators based on achievement motivation theories. Nevertheless, because these motivational theories are not sufficiently well-developed to provide unambiguous predictions concerning moderation of the BFLPE and underlying social comparison processes, we developed a Theory-Integrating Approach; bringing together a panel of experts, independently making theoretical predictions, revising the predictions over several rounds based on independent feedback from the other experts, and a summary of results. We pit a priori hypotheses derived from achievement motivation theories against the more parsimonious a priori prediction that there is no moderation based on previous BFLPE empirical research and Darwinian-economic theory (N = 1,925 Hong Kong students, 47 classes, M age = 12 years). Consistent with both BFLPE research and Darwinian perspectives, but in contrast to achievement motivation theory predictions, the highly significant BFLPE was not moderated by any of the following: prior achievement, expectancy-value theory variables, achievement goals, implicit theories of ability, self-regulated learning strategies, and social interdependence theory measures. Although we cannot "prove" that there are no student-level moderators of the BFLPE, our synthesis of social comparison posited in the BFLPE theory and an evolutionary perspective support BFLPE's generalizability. We propose further integration of our Theory-Integrating Approach with traditional Delphi methods, combining quantitative and qualitative approaches to develop a priori theoretical predictions and identify limitations in existing theory as an alternative form of systematic review. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study which was part of the DISUM-project, 224 ninth graders from 14 German classes from middle track schools (Realschule) were asked about their enjoyment, interest, value and self-efficacy expectations concerning three types of mathematical problems: intra-mathematical problems, word problems and modelling problems. Enjoyment, interest, value and self-efficacy were assessed before and after a ten-lesson teaching unit promoting modelling competency related to the topics 'Pythagoras' theorem' and 'linear functions'. The study aimed to answer the following research questions: (1) Do students' enjoyment, value, interest and self-efficacy expectations differ depending on the type of task? (2) Does the treatment of modelling problems in classroom instruction influence these variables? (3) Are there any differential effects for different ways of teaching modelling problems, including a 'directive', teacher-centred instruction and an 'operative-strategic', more student-centred instruction emphasising group work and strategic scaffolding by the teacher? The findings show that there were no differences in students' enjoyment, interest, value and self-efficacy between the three types of tasks. However, teaching oriented towards modelling problems had positive effects on some of the student variables, with the student-centred teaching method producing the most beneficial effects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the present research, a 3 x 2 model of achievement goals is proposed and tested. The model is rooted in the definition and valence components of competence, and encompasses 6 goal constructs: task-approach, task-avoidance, self-approach, self-avoidance, other-approach, and other-avoidance. The results from 2 studies provided strong support for the proposed model, most notably the need to separate task-based and self-based goals. Studies 1 and 2 yielded data establishing the 3 x 2 structure of achievement goals, and Study 2 documented the antecedents and consequences of each of the goals in the 3 x 2 model. Terminological, conceptual, and applied issues pertaining to the 3 x 2 model are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Previous research has shown that emotional stimuli are more likely than neutral stimuli to be selected by attention, indicating that the processing of emotional information is prioritized. In this study, we examined whether the emotional significance of stimuli influences visual processing already at the level of transient storage of incoming information in iconic memory, before attentional selection takes place. We used a typical iconic memory task in which the delay of a poststimulus cue, indicating which of several visual stimuli has to be reported, was varied. Performance decreased rapidly with increasing cue delay, reflecting the fast decay of information stored in iconic memory. However, although neutral stimulus information and emotional stimulus information were initially equally likely to enter iconic memory, the subsequent decay of the initially stored information was slowed for threatening stimuli, a result indicating that fear-relevant information has prolonged availability for read-out from iconic memory. This finding provides the first evidence that emotional significance already facilitates stimulus processing at the stage of iconic memory. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This study investigated adolescents' developmental trajectories of mathematics interest and explored related effects of gender, family, and school context. Latent growth curve modeling was used to analyze longitudinal data of N=3,193 students (51% female) from grades 5 to 9 from all 3 ability tracks of the German state school system. Annual assessments involved student questionnaires on interest in mathematics, perceptions of classroom characteristics (classroom values for mathematics, mathematics teacher enthusiasm), as well as parent questionnaires regarding family values for mathematics. Results indicated a downward trend of students' mathematics interest that plateaued in later years, with high variability in mean levels, but little variability in the shape of the growth trajectories. Boys reported higher mathematics interest than girls, but similar downward growth trajectories. Students from the lowest ability track showed more favorable interest trajectories than students from the middle and highest tracks. Family values and classroom characteristics were positively related to within-person levels of interest over time and to average individual levels of interest, but not to growth parameters. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Affect and emotions are frequently seen as outcomes of mastery and performance goals, but affective experiences may also predict goal adoption. In a predictive study (N = 669 first-year college students), the authors used structural equation modeling to estimate relationships from 2 initial affective experiences to mastery and performance-approach goals, from goals to discrete emotions, and from discrete emotions to final grades in a university course while controlling for prior achievement. Representing initial affective experiences, hopefulness positively predicted mastery and performance goals, whereas helplessness negatively predicted mastery goals. Mastery goals positively predicted enjoyment, which in turn positively predicted achievement, and negatively predicted boredom, which in turn negatively predicted achievement. Anxiety was negatively predicted by mastery goals, positively predicted by performance goals, and exerted a negative predictive influence on achievement. The findings suggest that predictive relationships between goals and achievement are mediated by students' emotions. Results are discussed with regard to the importance of affect and emotions for achievement goal theory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article investigates gender differences in 181 gifted and 181 average-ability sixth graders in achievement, academic self-concept, interest, and motivation in mathematics. Giftedness was conceptualized as nonverbal reasoning ability and defined by a rank of at least 95% on a nonverbal reasoning subscale of the German Cognitive Abilities Test. Mathematical achievement was measured by teacher-assigned grades and a standardized mathematics test. Self-concept, interest, and motivation were assessed by questionnaire. In both ability groups, boys earned significantly higher test scores but there were no gender differences in grades. Girls scored lower on measures of academic self-concept, interest, and motivation. Gender differences were larger in gifted than in average-ability students. Ability group differences for self-concept and interest were only found for boys in favor of the gifted. Results support the assumption that gender differences in self-concept, interest, and motivation in mathematics are more prevalent in gifted than in average-ability students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The authors investigated between- and within-domain relations of academic emotions, including students enjoyment, pride, anxiety, anger, and boredom experienced in mathematics, physics, German, and English classes (N = 542; Grades 8 and 11). Corroborating assumptions of domain specificity, the between-domains relations of these emotions were weak and inconsistent. However, there was more domain specificity of academic emotions in Grade 11 students compared with Grade 8 students, suggesting that between-domains differentiation increased as a function of grade level. Concerning within-domain relations, emotional experiences of enjoyment and pride, anxiety, and anger and boredom were clearly differentiated. The strength of within-domain relations of academic emotions differed considerably across the 4 academic domains. However, for each of the 4 domains, within-domain relations were similar for the 2 grade levels. Methodological and educational implications as well as directions for future research are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This study examined test-related experiences of enjoyment, anger, anxiety, and boredom in a sample of 2059 German school students (50% female) from grade 6, and how they relate to students'' abstract reasoning ability (ARA). Emotions were assessed immediately before, during, and after a mathematics achievement test. Analysis of variance showed that emotions experienced during the test situation differed based on students'' ARA level, with correspondence analysis revealing substantial differences between the emotional profiles of different ability groups. Enjoyment proved to be most prominent in students with high ARA, whereas anger and anxiety were predominant for students with low ARA. Boredom was found to be highest among students in the intermediate ARA group. Implications for research and practice are discussed. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The authors analyzed the domain specificity of emotions and focused on experiences of enjoyment, anxiety, and boredom in the domains of mathematics, Latin, German, and English. On the basis of assumptions in R. Pekrun's (2000; in press) control-value theory and findings of pilot studies, the authors hypothesized the existence of a largely domain-specific organization of emotional experiences. The sample consisted of 721 students from grades 7 to 10. Confirmatory multitrait-multimethod factor analysis of the 2-faceted dataset (emotions and domains) corroborated assumptions of domain specificity. Furthermore, using multilevel analysis, the authors found that emotions were significantly more domain-specific than students' grades, with enjoyment being the most domain-specific of the three emotions under investigation. The authors discuss implications for future research and practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although self-initiative is recognized as instrumental to success in college, some students do not take responsibility for their academic development and fail to make the transition from high school to college. This problem is exacerbated when bright, highly skilled students drop courses or quit college entirely. Research into this paradox of failure reveals that, although high academic control benefits learning-related emotions, cognitions, motivation, and performance, it is not sufficient to ensure optimal success. Along with academic control other factors are implicated in the paradox. In this 3-year longitudinal study, four groups of students who differed in academic control (low, high) and failure preoccupation (low, high) were tracked using broad indices of scholastic development. Overall, students higher in academic control obtained better 3-year GPAs and withdrew from fewer courses. More notable, however, high-academic-control students who were concerned about failure had better 3-year GPAs and also were less likely to withdraw from courses or quit university than the other three groups. Paradoxically, high-academic-control students who were less concerned about failure did poorly. In qualifying the assumption that more perceived control is always better, these results are interpreted following social cognition theory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aimed to investigate the relationship between attachment state of mind and perceptual processing of social and non-social, affective, and neutral material. A total of 57 young adults completed the Adult Attachment Interview (AAI) plus an experimental task in which their perceptual thresholds to different types of pictures were assessed. Significant correlations were found between the AAI dimensions and perceptual thresholds for social stimuli such as social interactions or human faces displaying emotional expressions. As expected, no relationships were found between the AAI and perception of neutral stimuli. The pattern of correlations was especially clear for the dismissing dimension. The results suggest that higher vigilance to social stimuli is related to dismissing attachment tendencies and, to a milder degree, to preoccupied tendencies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Internal working models of attachment (IWMs) are presumed to be largely unconscious representations of childhood attachment experiences. Several instruments have been developed to assess IWMs; some of them are based on self-report and others on narrative interview techniques. This study investigated the capacity of a self-report measure, the Inventory of Parent and Peer Attachment (IPPA; Armsden & Greenberg, 1987), and of a narrative interview method, the Adult Attachment Interview (AAI; George, Kaplan, & Main, 1985), to measure unconscious attachment models. We compared scores on the two attachment instruments to response latencies in an attachment priming task. It was shown that attachment organisation assessed by the AAI correlates with priming effects, whereas the IPPA scales were inversely or not related to priming. The results are interpreted as support for the assumption that the AAI assesses, to a certain degree, unconscious working models of attachment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Examines the academic and action control in the achievement of college students. Information on the demands for self-initiative and autonomy in college; Importance of perceived academic control and action control for self-regulated learning; Description of Kuhl's action control theory.

Test anxiety is a widespread and mostly detrimental emotion in learning and achievement settings. Thus, it is a construct of high interest for researchers and its measurement is an important issue. So far, test anxiety has typically been assessed using self-report measures. However, physiological measures (e.g., heart rate or skin conductance level) have gained increasing attention in educational research, as they allow for an objective and often continuous assessment of students' physiological arousal (i.e., the physiological component of test anxiety) in real-life situations, such as a test. Although theoretically one would assume self-report measures of test anxiety and objective physiological measures would converge, empirical evidence is scarce and findings have been mixed. To achieve a more coherent picture of the relationship between these measures, this systematic review and meta-analysis investigated whether higher self-reported test anxiety is associated with expected increases in objectively measured physiological arousal. A systematic literature search yielded an initial 231 articles, and a structured selection process identified 29 eligible articles, comprising 31 studies, which met the specified inclusion criteria and provided sufficient information about the relationship under investigation. In line with theoretical models, in 21 out of the 31 included studies, there was a significant positive relationship between self-reported test anxiety and physiological arousal. The strengths of these correlations were of medium size. Moderators influencing the relation between these two measures are discussed, along with implications for the assessment of physiological data in future classroom-based research on test anxiety. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Appraisals of control and value are proposed as proximal antecedents of achievement emotions, which, in turn, predict achievement. Relatively few studies have investigated how control and value may interact to determine achievement emotions, or subsequent achievement mediated by emotions. Aim: To examine whether control, value, and their interaction predicted mathematics test score directly, and indirectly, mediated by three salient achievement emotions: enjoyment, boredom, and anxiety. Method: Data were collected from 1,298 primary schoolchildren. Participants completed self‐report measures of control, value (i.e., intrinsic, attainment, and utility), and achievement emotions (i.e., enjoyment, boredom, and anxiety), in the context of mathematics. Participants then undertook a curriculum‐based mathematics test in class. Results: Higher control and value were related to a higher mathematics test score directly, and indirectly, mediated via higher enjoyment and lower anxiety. The interaction of control and intrinsic value predicted mathematics test score directly, and indirectly, mediated via enjoyment. Conclusion: Intrinsic value amplified the direct positive relation between control and mathematics test score. Intrinsic value also protected mathematics test scores at lower levels of control indirectly, through higher enjoyment. Helping students to maximize control and value will be beneficial for their learning experience and outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To advance emotion research in education, there is a need to develop practical and context-relevant measures of emotion and to test the applicability of emotion theories using these measures. In two studies, we examined validity evidence of a self-report scale (the Medical Emotion Scale, MES) designed to measure the unique range of emotions activated within medical education. In Study 1, we administered the MES and conducted interviews with medical trainees (N = 15). Content analysis of interviews demonstrated that the MES captured an appropriate range of emotions and that there was alignment between scale responses and interview responses. In Study 2, we measured medical trainees' (N = 60) emotions using the MES for three learning environments. Results from principal components analysis revealed a structure of emotions according to valence (negative, positive) and novelty. The findings have implications for the measurement of emotions within technology-rich learning environments and beyond. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Existing research shows that high achievement boredom is correlated with a range of undesirable behavioral and personality variables and that the main antecedents of boredom are being over- or under-challenged. However, merely knowing that students are highly bored, without taking their achievement level into account, might be insufficient for drawing conclusions about students' behavior and personality. We, therefore, investigated if low- vs. high-achieving students who experience strong mathematics boredom show different behaviors and personality traits. The sample consisted of 1,404 German secondary school students (fifth to 10th grade, mean age 12.83 years, 52% female). We used self-report instruments to assess boredom in mathematics, behavioral (social and emotional problems, positive/negative affect, cognitive reappraisal, and expressive suppression), and personality variables (neuroticism and conscientiousness). In comparing highly bored students (more than one SD above M, n = 258) who were low vs. high achievers (as indicated by the math grade, n = 125 / n = 119), results showed that there were no mean level differences across those groups for all variables. In conclusion, our results suggest that high boredom can occur in both low- and high-achieving students and that bored low- and high-achievers show similar behaviors and personality profiles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Verifying that conceptualisations of emotions are consistent across languages and cultures is a critical precondition for meaningful cross-cultural research on emotional experience. For achievement-related emotions tied to successes or failures, such evidence is virtually non-existent. To address this gap, we compared Canadian, German, Colombian, and Chinese university students' (NTotal = 126) perceptions of affective, cognitive, motivational, physiological, and expressive characteristics of 16 achievement-related emotions using a psycholinguistic tool for profiling emotion concepts (Achievement Emotions CoreGRID). Cross-cultural similarity of emotion concepts quantified through double-entry intraclass correlations was generally high, and highest for their affective, cognitive, and motivational components. However, results also point to cultural variation, particularly for physiological and expressive components. Variation in perceived physiological characteristics was most pronounced for boredom, and for comparisons of Canada, Germany, and Colombia with China. Implications for theoretical propositions of universality of emotion concepts and future research on achievement-related emotions are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The concept of self is central to personhood, but personality research has largely ignored the relevance of recent advances in self‐concept theory: multidimensionality of self‐concept (focusing instead on self‐esteem, an implicit unidimensional approach), domain specificity (generalizability of trait manifestations over different domains), and multilevel perspectives in which social‐cognitive processes and contextual effects drive self‐perceptions at different levels (individual, group/institution, and country) aligned to Bronfenbrenner's ecological model. Here, we provide theoretical and empirical support for psychological comparison processes that influence self‐perceptions and their relation to distal outcomes. Our meta‐theoretical integration of social and dimensional comparison theories synthesizes five seemingly paradoxical frame‐of‐reference and contextual effects in self‐concept formation that occur at different levels. The effects were tested with a sample of 485,490 fifteen‐year‐old students (68 countries/regions, 18,292 schools). Consistent with the dimensional comparison theory, the effects on math self‐concept were positive for math achievement but negative for verbal achievement. Consistent with the social comparison theory, the effects on math self‐concept were negative for school‐average math achievement (big‐fish‐little‐pond effect), country‐average achievement (paradoxical cross‐cultural effect), and being young relative to year in school but positive for school‐average verbal achievement (big‐fish‐little‐pond effect—compensatory effect). We demonstrate cross‐cultural generalizability/universality of support for predictions and discuss implications for personality research. © 2020 European Association of Personality Psychology [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]