Inquiry on emotions in higher education: progress and open problems

Abstract

This special issue provides a snapshot of current research on emotions in higher education. The findings document the wide range of emotions that can occur at university, help explain their antecedents, such as control-value appraisals and learning environments, and show that emotions are prime drivers of students’ and academics’ engagement, performance, and interpersonal perceptions. However, there also are limitations, which can be used to suggest directions for future research. Samples are often small, which can compromise replicability. Most studies use correlational between-person designs that are not suited to understand the causal mechanisms of emotional functioning, suggesting that they need to be complemented by experimental, longitudinal, and within-person research. Current self-report methods should be supplemented with multi-channel assessments to capture the real-time dynamics of emotions. Finally, it is necessary to more fully consider the broader institutional and socio-cultural context of emotions in higher education, beyond individual conditions and immediate learning environments.

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