Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Effects On Academic Learning Of Manipulating Emotional States And Motivational Dynamics, Gregory J. Boyle

Gregory J. Boyle

The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of emotionally disturbing stimuli on the learning process. A five-minute film segment depicting horrific scenes of automobile accident victims, and part of a pathologist's post-mortem of a victim, was shown to an experimental group of 69 student teachers, while a non-treatment group of 66 student teachers served as controls. The two groups were well matched on several independent variables covering the four domains of ability, personality, motivation, and mood states. The emotionally disturbing treatment produced a decrement in learning performance, but resulted in a massive 36 per cent increase in …