The Power of Positive Emotions: Understanding How Positive Emotions Influence Cognitive Learning Processes

Abstract

Current research in educational psychology also highlights at the importance of affect in the improvement of cognitive learning processes. Emotions like joy, curiosity and the sense of excitement are considered to have the potential of enlarging the pool of cognized information, enhancing the ability to recall and develop novel problem-solving skills. The aim of this research is to determine how willingness to forgive, hope and gratitude affect cognitive consequences, in particular, memory and focus, as well as the differentiation and abstract thought. Through eliciting these relationships, this research shall seek to add to the existing knowledge concerning relationships between emotions and learning. A quantitative correlational design was used in which structured self-administered questionnaires were used to gather the data from 100 participants. A self-developed questionnaire was labeled to indicate overall feelings, feeling tones and self-estimated achievements during learning which were collected on a 5- Likert- scale. The positive affect including the joy, curiosity and excitement were measured; the learning outcomes, including memory and concentration, were captured as well. Consequently, the Pearson’s correlation analysis and T-tests were used to analyze data to establish of positive emotions influenced cognitive performance. The findings showed a positive relationship between positive emotions and cognitive results. The findings indicated that the people who specifically felt joyful and curious during learning were better at memorizing, concentrating and problem-solving. SD values of participants’ positive emotion levels were compared to the T-test values of two groups and the results showed that the high positive emotions group had statistically significant difference when compared with the low positive emotions group and the first cognitive task scores of the high positive emotions group were higher than low positive emotions group. For that reason, these findings add to the increasingly acknowledged concept of emotions as strong regulators of learning outcomes. The study validates the proposition that positive emotional regulation in learning environments will lead to improved performance. Positive emotions make learning more enjoyable and at the same time enhances key cognitive academical abilities that in turn yields better results. This study shows that teachers or parents should foster safe emotional contexts that produce enthusiasm and passion for learning to enhance the students’ learning capacity.