Concepts and structures of emotions.

What role do the emotions of students and teachers play in learning and teaching? Should the experience and expression of emotions be encouraged or discouraged? How can emotions be regulated in educational settings? Due to varying explanations of the cause, regulation, and measurement of emotions, different theories of emotions answer these questions in different ways. In order to better understand the role of emotions in an educational setting and in order to avoid misunderstandings from the very beginning, it is therefore important to be aware of the breadth of theoretical perspectives. In this chapter, we will (1) briefly discuss the desirability of emotions for learning; (2) present commonalities in how researchers from different theoretical backgrounds think about emotions-namely, that emotions are multicomponential episodes, which can be differentiated from other affective phenomena, such as moods; (3) discuss current controversies about the definition of emotion; (4) illustrate the implications of the different theoretical perspectives for the regulation of emotions, the structural relationships among emotions, the measurement of emotions, and the bodies of knowledge that have been generated; (5) and, finally, conclude with current and future directions in the research on emotions. This brief review chapter is selective by necessity, and we do not present in detail many important aspects about the concepts and structures of emotions. (For more information, see also Davidson, Scherer, & Goldsmith, 2003; Frijda, 1986; Lewis, Haviland-Jones, & Barrett, 2008; Moors, 2009; Niedenthal, Krauth-Gruber, & Ric, 2006; Oatley, Keltner, & Jenkins, 2006; and Sander & Scherer, 2009.)EMOTIONS AND LEARNING: FRIENDS OR ENEMIES? In early papers, the “passions,” as they were called, were primarily seen as disruptive for behavior and intelligent thinking (Mandler, 2001). After all, how is a student to sit still at her desk and study when shaking with anxiety about an upcoming test? How can onehold a sensible lecture in front of a rowdy crowd? One implication of the view that emotions are disruptive is that humans should generally aim at suppressing emotions.