ERIC Number: EJ757707
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2006-Dec
Pages: 15
Abstractor: Author
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1040-726X
EISSN: N/A
Connecting with Learning: Motivation, Affect and Cognition in Interest Processes
Ainley, Mary
Educational Psychology Review, v18 n4 p391-405 Dec 2006
In this paper we draw on our research on interest to explore the questions posed for this special issue. Interest is conceptualized as an affective state that represents students' subjective experience of learning; the state that arises from either situational triggers or a well-developed individual interest. Drawing on the broad research literature on interest, and using our own findings in relation to the state of interest, we consider how interest represents an integration of affect, motivation and cognition. In particular, how the state of interest brings together motivation in the form of prior goals and interests and focuses them into on-task behavior. We illustrate ways that our research monitoring on-task sequences of affect and behavior, is confronting some of the methodological concerns posed in relation to measurement of affective states. Finally, we examine some of the paths by which triggered states of interest can contribute to productive student engagement with learning.
Descriptors: Learning Motivation, Literature, High School Students, Educational Research, Schemata (Cognition), Student Interests, Affective Behavior
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A