Positive academic emotions correlate positively with interest, effort, flexible learning strategies, and perceived self-regulation, while boredom and hopelessness correlate negatively with all of these motivational variables¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study (2 entries) · associational r1–r2 · q2
Currency · newest study 2002 · checked against its sources 2026-10-22 (automated, 2 of 2 entries) · not reviewed by a person

Subclaims¶

q2 i? In a sample of 230 university students, positive emotions (enjoyment, hope, pride) correlated positively with study interest, effort, elaboration, and self-regulation, whereas boredom and hopelessness correlated negatively with all motivational variables and effort. → Reinhard Pekrun 2002 q2 i? Negative emotions correlated positively with task-irrelevant thinking, with boredom showing especially strong relations because mental withdrawal and daydreaming are strongly tied to it. → Reinhard Pekrun 2002 (2)

Evidence¶

Reinhard Pekrun 2002¶

Reinhard Pekrun, Thomas Goetz, Wolfram Titz, & Raymond P. Perry. (2002). Academic Emotions in Students' Self-Regulated Learning and Achievement: A Program of Qualitative and Quantitative Research. https://doi.org/10.1207/s15326985ep3702_4

q2 · i? · associational · r1

Cross-sectional correlational analysis of trait learning-related emotions and components of self-regulated learning in 230 university students (Titz, 2001, Study 2), reported in Table 4 with exemplary correlations such as enjoyment-study interest r = .62.

"In contrast, the negative deactivating emotions of boredom and hopelessness correlated negatively with all of these motivational variables and with self-reported effort (cf. Table 4), thus suggesting that these two emotions may be detrimental for students' academic motivation."

Reinhard Pekrun 2002 (2)¶

Reinhard Pekrun, Thomas Goetz, Wolfram Titz, & Raymond P. Perry. (2002). Academic Emotions in Students' Self-Regulated Learning and Achievement: A Program of Qualitative and Quantitative Research. https://doi.org/10.1207/s15326985ep3702_4

q2 · i? · associational · r2

Same correlational dataset (N = 230 university students). The authors report relations of other negative emotions to irrelevant thinking are at least as strong as for test anxiety, exemplified by boredom's r = .72 with irrelevant thinking in Table 4.

"Negative emotions, on the other hand, correlated positively with task-irrelevant thinking. In test anxiety research, irrelevant thinking has of-ten been defined as a component of this specific emotion (cf. Hodapp & Benson, 1997)."

Discussion¶

Learner Variables¶

• Achievement Emotions — predictor: learners who differ on it differ in outcomes
• Affect Regulation — predictor: learners who differ on it differ in outcomes

Related Claims¶

• Pre-actional metacognitive, motivational, and positive-emotional components are positively associated with regulatory behavior in the actional phase, while anger and anxiety are negatively associated — related
• Academic emotions cluster into four groups by antecedents, with anxiety and hopelessness highly correlated (r > .70) yet kept as separate scales — related
• Emotions measured early in the semester longitudinally predict cumulative grades and exam scores, with negative deactivating emotions (hopelessness, boredom) showing stronger coefficients than activating negative emotions — related
• Academic emotions—enjoyment, anxiety, and boredom—mediate the association between perceived AI-adaptive environments and SRL, accounting for 54.8% of the total effect — related
• Enjoyment correlates positively (r = .31), and boredom, mathematics anxiety and test anxiety negatively (r = −.23 to −.28), with mathematics achievement — related
• Within persons, grades negatively predict subsequent anger and hopelessness, and anger, anxiety, boredom, and hopelessness negatively predict subsequent grades — related