Some Educational Implications of Sympathy and Anger from an Attributional Perspective

We begin with two speculations about the influence of teacher affects on student thoughts and self-perception. First, there are times when sympathy from a teacher, which is thought to be a positive affect, might lower the self-esteem of a failing student and lead to the belief that trying has no instrumental value. And second, there are some situations where anger from a teacher, typically viewed as a negative affect, will enhance self-perception of ability and lead a failing pupil to believe she should try harder.