Within-person analyses of situational interest and boredom: Interactions between task-specific perceptions and achievement goals.

Abstract

Despite the increasing number of studies examining the correlates of interest and boredom, surprisingly little research has focused on within-person fluctuations in these emotions, making it difficult to describe their situational nature. To address this gap in the literature, this study conducted repeated measurements (12 times) on a sample of 158 undergraduate students using a variety of self-report assessments and examined the within-person relationships between task-specific perceptions (expectancy, utility, and difficulty) and interest and boredom. This study further explored the role of achievement goals in predicting between-person differences in these within-person relationships. Using hierarchical linear modeling, we found that, on average, a higher perception of both expectancy and utility, as well as a lower perception of difficulty, was associated with higher interest and lower boredom levels within individuals. Moreover, mastery-approach goals weakened the negative within-person relationship be tween difficulty and interest and the negative within-person relationship between utility and boredom. Mastery-avoidance and performance-avoidance goals strengthened the negative relationship between expectancy and boredom. These results suggest how educators can more effectively instruct students with different types of goals, minimizing boredom and maximizing interest and learning.

An analysis of predictors of history content knowledge: Implications for policy and practice

“…Lacking historical positionality beyond the marginalized or the victim, non-White students are more likely to look upon such a narrative with skepticism and dissonance (Chikkatur, 2013;Epstein, 2009;VanSledright, 1998). Consequently, they find learning history/social studies boring, inversely affecting their motivation to learn historical material (Stodolsky, Salk, & Glaessner, 1991;Tanaka & Murayama, 2014). Importantly, race and class should not be conflated.…”

Can nursing students' perceived teacher enthusiasm dampen their class-related boredom during theoretical lessons? A cross-sectional study among Chinese nursing students

“…Teachers' enthusiasm for teaching was thought of as an important part of professional competence of teachers (Kunter et al, 2013). According to this, enthusiastic teachers may facilitate their students' interest and dampen their boredom in lectures (Kim and Schallert (2014); Tanaka and Murayama, 2014). Based on the controlvalue theory of achievement emotions (Pekrun, 2006;Pekrun et al, 2007), the current study examined relationship between perceived teacher enthusiasm and class-related boredom during theoretical lesson hours among Chinese nursing students.…”

“…Additionally, Frenzel et al (2009) and Kim and Schallert (2014) found that perceived teacher enthusiasm can predict learning enjoyment and interest in students. Additionally, interest in learning was found to set significant precedents for boredom experienced by students (Daschmann et al, 2014), and interests in specific tasks were found to be negatively correlated with boredom (Tanaka and Murayama, 2014). Based on the separated, reciprocally related yet not mutually exclusive relationship between positive and negative emotions (Cacioppo and Berntson, 1994;Schimmack, 2001;Smith et al, 2006;Schimmack and Colcombe, 2007), perceived teacher enthusiasm may induce situational interest and reduce class-related boredom.…”

“…Two items (i.e., "Today's class was hard for me" and "Compared to other courses, today's class was hard for me") from the studies by Eccles and Wigfield (1995), Wigfield and Eccles (2000), and Tanaka and Murayama (2014) were used to assess perceived task difficulty. Responses are indicated on a five-point Likert scale ranging from 1 (not at all true of me) to 5 (very true of me).…”

Biomimicry: Do Frames of Inquiry Support Search and Identification of Biological Models?

“…Educational studies have discovered negative correlations between the perceived task difficulty and level of interest [29,30]. It follows that female participants, who reported having significantly more difficulty with the biomimicry exercise, may have been less interested by it.…”