ABSTRACT
Emotions are ubiquitous in school settings. Learning and achievement are of fundamental importance for students’ educational careers, implying that achievement-related emotions such as enjoyment of learning, hope, pride, anger, anxiety, or boredom are frequent, pervasive, manifold, and oft en intense in academic situations. Th e social nature of these situations also contributes to the emotional character of school settings; emotions such as admiration, contempt, or envy likely play a major role in these settings as well (Weiner, 2007). Furthermore, adding to their relevance, emotions are functionally important for students’ motivation, cognitive performance, and personality development. Adaptive emotions like enjoyment of learning help to envision goals and challenges, open the mind to creative problem-solving, and lay the groundwork for self-regulation (Ashby, Isen, & Turken, 1999; Pekrun, Goetz, Titz, & Perry, 2002a). Maladaptive emotions like excessive anxiety, hopelessness, or boredom, on the other hand, are detrimental to academic attainment, induce students to drop out of school, and impact negatively on their psychological and physical health (Zeidner, 1998).
