"Accepting Emotional Complexity": A Socio-Constructivist Perspective on the Role of

Emotions in the Mathematics Classroom

Author(s): Peter Op 'T Eynde, Erik de Corte and Lieven Verschaffel
Source: Educational Studies in Mathematics, Vol. 63, No. 2, Affect in Mathematics
Education: Exploring Theoretical Frameworks: A PME Special Issue (Oct., 2006), pp. 193-207
Published by: Springer
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/25472122
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 PETER OP 'T EYNDE, ERIK DE CORTE and LIEVEN VERSCHAFFEL

"ACCEPTING EMOTIONAL COMPLEXITY":

A SOCIO-CONSTRUCTIVIST PERSPECTIVE ON THE ROLE
OF EMOTIONS IN THE MATHEMATICS CLASSROOM

ABSTRACT. A socio-constructivist account of learning and emotions stresses the situ

atedness of every learning activity and points to the close interactions between cognitive,
conative and affective factors in students' learning and problem solving. Emotions are
perceived as being constituted by the dynamic interplay of cognitive, physiological, and
motivational processes in a specific context. Understanding the role of emotions in the
mathematics classroom then implies understanding the nature of these situated processes
and the way they relate to students' problem-solving behaviour. We will present data from
a multiple-case study of 16 students out of 4 different junior high classes that aimed to
investigate students' emotional processes when solving a mathematical problem in their
classrooms. After identifying the different emotions and analyzing their relations to moti
vational and cognitive processes, the relation with students' mathematics-related beliefs will
be examined. We will specifically use Frank's case to illustrate how the use of a thoughtful
combination of a variety of different research instruments enabled us to gather insightful
data on the role of emotions in mathematical problem solving.

KEY WORDS: affect, emotions, mathematical problem solving, socio-constructivist per

spective, junior high students, component systems approach

1. Introduction

In Affect and mathematical problem solving: A new perspective (McLeod

and Adams, 1989), McLeod and Adams presented a state-of-the-art of
research on the role of affective processes in mathematics education and
stimulated scholars to think more systematically about the role of affect
in mathematics. McLeod's (1992, 1994) differentiation between three key
affective constructs, i.e. beliefs, attitudes, and emotions was one of the
first attempts to define 'affect' in the domain of mathematics education.
However, he concluded in a later review:

... the research community is still struggling to build a suitable framework for
the study of beliefs and attitudes related to mathematics learning (McLeod, 1994,
p. 643)

In the last 15 years, more and more scholars, including several participating
in this special issue, have been investigating the role of affective aptitudes1
and processes in mathematics learning (see e.g., Drodge and Reid, 2001;

Educational Studies in Mathematics (2006) 63: 193-207

DOI: 10.1007/sl0649-006-9034-4 ? Springer 2006

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 194 PETER OP 'T EYNDE ET AL.

Evans, 2000; Goldin, 2002; Hannula, 2002; Malmivuori, 2004). The va

riety of theoretical perspectives on affect and learning that characterize
these studies have opened up the field and have identified additional af
fective constructs and processes like, for example, students' task-specific
perceptions, somatic markers, emotional orientation, emotional regulation,
meta-affect, mathematical intimacy, etc. The manifold of constructs intro
duced, each grounded within and shaped by a more general theoretical
perspective on affect and mathematics learning, point to the many ways
in which researchers try to come to terms with the complex nature of the
field.
In line with accounts of cognition and learning that explicitly acknowl
edge the social-historical embeddedness as well as the constructive nature
of thinking (e.g., Cobb and Bowers, 1999), we hold a socio-constructivist
perspective on mathematics learning and problem solving (see Op't Eynde,
et al., 2001). In this article, we will first clarify how the role of affect, and
more specifically emotions, in mathematics learning and problem solving
can be conceived from such a perspective. We will discuss the implications
of such a view on emotions and learning for educational research. In the
second part of this contribution we will illustrate this with an empirical
study on the role of emotions in students' mathematical problem solving.

2. A SOCIO-CONSTRUCTIVIST PERSPECTIVE ON EMOTIONS

IN MATHEMATICS LEARNING

A socio-constructivist perspective on learning is characterized not only by

its focus on the situatedness of learning and problem solving but also by the
recognition of the close interactions between (meta)cognitive, motivational
and affective factors in students' learning (see Op 't Eynde et al., 2001).
Students' learning is perceived as a form of engagement that enables them
to actualize their identity through participation in activities situated in a
specific context. Their understanding of and behaviour in the mathematics
classroom is function of the interplay between who they are (their iden
tity), and the specific classroom context. Who they are, what they value,
what matters to them in what way in this situation is revealed to them
through their emotions (see Op 't Eynde, 2004). Accordingly, grounded
in and bounded by the specific context and broader socio-historical con
texts, affective processes, in close interaction with (meta)cognitive and
motivational processes, determine students' learning and problem solving
behaviour. Clearly, from a socio-constructivist perspective, students' emo
tions and other affective processes are conceived as an integral part of
problem solving and learning. Acknowledging the close relations between

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 ACCEPTING EMOTIONAL COMPLEXITY 195

(meta)cognitive, motivational and affective processes, such a perspective

encompasses then a view of emotions that stresses two main characteristics:

1. an emotion is a process in which appraisal processes play a central role

2. emotions are social in nature and situated in a specific socio-historical
context.

2.1. Appraisal processes at the core of emotions

Students' emotional reactions toward mathematics are the outcome of
consciously or subconsciously activated personal evaluative cognitions or
appraisals of mathematics, the self, and mathematics learning situations
(Malmivuori, 2001). Students' mathematics-related beliefs, but especially
their self-beliefs related to math (e.g., their expectancy and value beliefs),
have been shown to be influential factors determining the interpretation
and appraisal processes constituting their emotions (see e.g., Meece et al.,
1990; Seegers and Boekaerts, 1993). Students' mathematics-related belief
systems as well as students' mathematical knowledge can be identified
then as central mental structures underlying their understanding of and
functioning in the mathematics classroom (see Op 't Eynde et al., 2002;
Malmivuori, this issue).
Although appraisal processes are at the core of the emotional process,
other systems are involved too. Where traditional emotional theories seem
to be characterized by a growing polarization studying emotions, for ex
ample, from either a purely physiological or a purely cognitive (appraisal)
perspective, a component systems approach acknowledges the importance
of all these processes in constituting an emotion (see Dai and Sternberg,
2004). In this respect, Scherer (2000) differentiates between the following
five systems:

- the cognitive system, i.e. appraisal processes (appraisal)

- the autonomic nervous system, i.e. arousal (affect)
- the monitor system, i.e. feeling (affect)
- the motor system, i.e. expression (action)
- the motivational system, i.e. action tendencies (action)

A component systems approach stresses that the coordinated feedback from

all classes of these systems constitutes the emotional experience. It is es
sentially when the coordinated interactions between these systems become
particularly active that we experience an emotion. All these systems mu
tually regulate each other over time and within a particular context. The
insertion of the time dimension fully recognizes an emotion as a process that
takes place during a specific (time) episode. Within this episode the differ

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 196 PETER OP 'T EYNDE ET AL.

ent systems regulate each other through a variety of feedback loops starting
from initial appraisal processes and resulting in an emotional experience.2
Confronted with an event, an individual will appraise it in a certain way.
Taking into account the variety and complexity of event-related inputs and
the multiple goals and motives involved at any time, these initial appraisal
processes imply the nonconscious monitoring of the relation between all
the different sensory changes and the person's goals (Mascolo et al., 2000).
These (appraisal) processes modulate changes in the autonomic nervous
system (ANS) and in most of the other systems that, in turn, provide feed
back to the cognitive (appraisal) system and, as such, select for conscious
awareness and further action the very appraisals that helped initiate the
psychophysiological and other reactions in the first place. These appraisal
driven modifications and the ensuing feedback interactions between the
different subsystems constitute the pattern of an emotional experience. This
experience will shape the person's further behaviour and will set the stage
for new appraisal processes. These, in turn, will then modulate changes in
other component systems that through mutual feedback processes result
in a next, new emotional experience. This analysis of the feedback loops
describing the relations between the different component systems not only
clarifies the process character of a specific emotional experience, it also al
lows for a better understanding of the dynamics underlying the succession
of several sometimes only slightly different emotions over a short period
of time. Indeed, emotions have been found to change very rapidly with
changes in the context and/or their evaluation by the person (e.g., Scherer
and Tannenbaum, 1986).

2.2. The situatedness of emotions

Clearly, component systems do not only adjust themselves to each other but
also to continuous changes in the social context. Students' interpretation
and appraisals processes that initiate the emotional process are grounded
in a specific context. Not just because the different components of the
immediate context (e.g., the teacher's presence, how she looks, what she
says, the specific task she gives, etc.) are the object of the interpretation and
appraisal processes, but more importantly because the meaning attached
to the situation is based on the knowledge and beliefs one has about it
(see above). The latter are themselves social in nature and embedded in the
specific and broader socio-historical context(s) (see De Corte et al., 2002).
In line with Paris and Turner's (1994) characterization of situated mo
tivation, one can claim that every emotion that students experience in the
classroom is situated by virtue of four characteristics. First, emotions are
based on students' cognitive interpretations and appraisals of specific situ

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 ACCEPTING EMOTIONAL COMPLEXITY 197

ations. Second, students construct interpretations and appraisals based on

the knowledge they have and the beliefs they hold, and thus they vary by
factors such as age, personal history and home culture. Third, emotions
are contextualized because individuals create unique appraisals of simi
lar events in different situations. Fourth, emotions are unstable because
situations and also the person-in-the-situation continuously develop.
This situated character of emotions implies that small differences in the
knowledge and beliefs as well as in the specific characteristics of the local
social context that determine the initial appraisal processes, result in signif
icantly different emotional experiences of, for example, anger or fear with
possibly different behavioural consequences. This phenomenon is referred
to as the sensitive dependence on initial conditions which implies that

even small differences in conditions under which different emotional experiences

arise can lead to increasingly large differences in their organization (Mascolo et al.,
2000, p. 134)

This sensitive dependence on initial conditions cannot only result in the

experience of two entirely different emotions but is also responsible for the
fact that the sadness people feel in one social context (e.g., the mathematics
class) can differ substantially from the sadness they feel in another con
text (e.g., the English class). Similarly, the sadness student X experiences
as a consequence of what just happened in class a minute ago might be
different from the sadness student Y experiences in the same situation as
a consequence of the fact that they possess different knowledge and hold
different beliefs. Further, even a student's experience of sadness today in
class caused by getting a bad grade might be different from the sadness he
or she experienced a week ago getting an equally bad grade in the same
class, since the class situation as well as his beliefs and goals might have
changed.

2.3. Discussion

Combining a socio-constructivist perspective on learning and a compo

nent systems approach of emotions provides a comprehensive and promis
ing theoretical framework for the study of the role of emotions in class
room learning and problem solving, involving clear consequences for the
research methodologies and instruments used to investigate these phenom
ena (see Op 't Eynde, 2004).
Indeed, a socio-constructivist approach of emotions takes activity and
meaning in the classroom as its basic currency. Emotions are not treated as
objects that can be studied as independent and detachable from the specific
individual and context. The focus is on the meaning structure of emotional

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 198 PETER OP 'T EYNDE ET AL.

activities and of mathematical learning activities. A meaning structure that,

although individually constructed based on beliefs and knowledge, in a very
fundamental sense is always social (cultural) and inherently linked to the
socio-historical context.
The assumption that the socially situated appraisal processes are at the
core of emotions in mathematics learning and problem solving in school
implies that scholars have to study students' learning and problem solving
in the classroom. Moreover, researchers should take an actor s perspective
that makes explicit the meaning structure underlying students' behaviour
and emotions (see also Op 't Eynde, 2004). Depending on the perspec
tive taken, one can focus on groups of students and their interactions (e.g.,
Evans, Morgan andTsatsaroni, this issue) or on individual students in the
classroom, as we did (see below). There is no contradiction in stressing
the social nature of emotions and opting for the individual student-in-the
classroom as a unit of analysis (see Op 't Eynde et al., 2001). Similarly,
scholars can focus on the more unconscious processes and (meaning) struc
tures underlying students' emotions and behaviour (e.g. Evans et al., this
issue; Brown and Reid, this issue) or study the more conscious self-beliefs
and processes (e.g., Malmivuori, this issue).
Although the recognition of the social and situated nature of the inter
pretation and appraisal processes is at the core of a socio-constructivist
account of emotions, it is obvious that there is more to emotions than just
appraisal processes. Scholars should consider, as much as possible, all, and
not just some, of the different component organismic systems engaged in an
emotional process. They should try to stay aware of the close interactions
between affective, motivational, and cognitive processes within emotional
processes and mathematics learning, in general. The variety of 'windows
of affect' used by DeBellis and Goldin (this issue) to capture an 'affective
state' clearly tries to address some of the different component systems of an
emotion. Hannula (this issue) specifically addresses the relation between
the motivational system and emotions. The notion of 'somatic markers' dis
cussed by Brown and Reid (this issue) is a promising way to conceptualize
the interconnectedness of emotions, feelings and thoughts in students' and
teachers' decision making and learning.
The socio-constructivist framework presented here is comprehensive
in the sense that it integrates different aspects of emotions that are also
addressed by other contributors in this special issue, albeit from a slightly
different angle and/or with a more specific focus. Nevertheless, the strong
emphasis put in this framework on the social nature of emotions and learn
ing and on students' meaning structure is not shared by all frameworks
presented it this issue. Above and elsewhere (see Op 't Eynde, 2004;
Op 't Eynde et al., 2001) we have discussed the consequences of such

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 ACCEPTING EMOTIONAL COMPLEXITY 199

a theoretical stance for studying emotions in mathematics education. The

issues discussed there certainly pose challenges that will be differently an
swered by the respective contributors to this issue depending on their view
on emotions and other affective factors in mathematics education. Here,
we point only to two issues that are strongly linked to the central theses of
our framework:

1. Since learning and emotions are highly situated processes, investigating

the role of emotions in mathematics education has to take place in
the educational arena, i.e. the mathematics classroom. What 'different'
kind of cognitive, motivational, and/or emotional processes are scholars
analysing when they study them outside the classroom and to what extent
can it tell us something about students' emotions in the classroom?
2. Since students' (situated) interpretation and appraisal processes are at
the core of their emotions (at a conscious or unconscious level) they are
central to the identification of emotions, their antecedents and their con
sequences. How do these 'subjective' processes relate to more external,
observable, parameters of emotions, like facial expressions, physiolog
ical parameters, etc? Is an 'objective' account of emotions, taken an
observer's rather than an actor's perspective, possible and sensible -
or does the nature of an emotion essentially imply heavy reliance on
students' interpretation and appraisal processes in the classroom?

In the next section of this article we present a study where we take into
account as much as possible the consequences for research on emotions
in mathematics learning implied by a socio-constructivist perspective. It
further clarifies our theoretical position and illustrates the implications it
has for research and mathematics education. Frank's case was an integral
part of this study and will be discussed in more detail.

3. Emotions in mathematics learning and problem solving:

a multiple case study

3.1. Aim of the study

In line with the theoretical framework on learning and emotions described

above, the focus of the study was to analyse the relations between students'
mathematics-related beliefs, their emotions, and their problem-solving be
haviour in the mathematics classroom. The aim was to document how
students engage in solving a mathematical problem in class, stressing the
emotional dimension of their behaviour, next to the motivational and (meta)
cognitive aspects. Consequently, students' activities and the meaning they
give to it were the basic research objects.

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 200 PETER OP 'T EYNDE ET AL.

3.2. Research design

The main characteristics of the research design as well as the instruments
used are discussed in our presentation of the case study of Frank (Op 't
Eynde and Hannula, this issue).

3.3. Data analysis

The analysis of all the different data gathered involved a cyclic procedure.
For each student, we first studied the thinking aloud and problem-solving
protocol, his answers on the On-line Motivation Questionnaire [OMQ], the
interview transcript and the videotape of the problem-solving process. We
used these different data sources to describe chronologically, carefully and
in detail, the different (mental) experiences and activities that characterized
the problem-solving process. This resulted in sixteen rich narratives of
the way students' handled and experienced the problem that were then
analyzed. Although attention was paid to (meta)cognitive, motivational
and emotional processes, the focus was on the last category, resulting in a
fine-grained analysis of the emotional dimension of problem solving.
In a second phase emotions were labelled and identified through a tri
angulation of the following data sources: (1) facial actions observable on
videotape tape; (2) vocalizations on the tape; (3) bodily actions on the tape;
(4) interpretations and appraisals explicated during the interview.
The data were coded in relation to each other making use of some
aspects of existing coding systems (e.g., the maximally discriminative facial
movement coding system; Izard, 1983). The core of the labeling process,
however, consisted of an analysis of students' interview data to interpret
their appraisals of certain events in relation to the obtained data. Here we
used the research literature's accepted definitions of relevant emotions: for
example, frustration refers to episodes that involve goal blockage and an
appraisal that one cannot attain a still-wanted goal (Mascolo et al., 2000).
The succession of emotions experienced by an individual student during
problem solving was represented on a schematic overview (see e.g., Frank's
succession of emotions in Figure 2 in Op't Eynde and Hannula, this issue).
These schematic overviews have to be interpreted from an intra-personal
perspective. In Frank's case, the labels given to the emotions are based
on Frank's expressions and appraisal processes as deduced from video,
thinking aloud and interview data. The intensity of the respective emotions
has to be treated from a within emotion - within person perspective. It
results from a comparison of all Frank's experiences of a specific or related
group of emotions (e.g. frustration and anger) when solving this problem
and the ordering of these experiences on an ordinal scale.

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 ACCEPTING EMOTIONAL COMPLEXITY 201

In the third phase of the analysis the focus moved from describing to ex
plaining. The data, specifically students' task-specific perceptions (OMQ)
in the orientation phase, were re-analyzed to unravel and explicate rela
tions between these perceptions and what actually happened during prob
lem solving. The interview transcripts were also further investigated to
look for relations between students' mathematics-related beliefs and their
problem-solving behaviour. Students' results on the Mathematics Related
Belief Questionnaire [MRBQ] were taken into account.
Finally, after this vertical analysis of each student's problem-solving
process, a more horizontal approach was taken by looking for recurrent pat
terns and/or fundamental differences between students that might deepen
our understanding of what happens during problem solving and more
specifically of the role of emotions in this process.

3.4. Results

As pointed out before, sixteen rich narratives of students' problem

solving behaviour were used as the basis for analysis of the specific role
(meta)cognitive, motivational and emotional processes play in their prob
lem solving. In reporting the results we will discuss excerpts of the nar
ratives of some students in more detail for their illustrative character. Es
pecially, the case of Frank will be dealt with more extensively because it
helps us to document in a clear way some of the more general findings.

3.4.1. Students' emotions during problem solving

Frank's case is, in a sense, prototypical for the others. All students ex
perienced different emotions during problem solving. They felt at times,
for example, annoyed, frustrated, angry, worried, anxious, relieved, happy,
and/or nervous.
Moreover, some of these emotions were frequently observed in a par
ticular order that is characterized by an intensification of the emotional
arousal linked to specific interpretation and appraisal processes. For in
stance, Frank first became worried with the way the problem solving was
going (brow lowering, not feeling well). When after 10 seconds he still
did not manage to solve it, he became frustrated (I don't want to use the
calculator, it does not help me, while I still want to reach the goal), and
later started to panic, ending up angry (Come on, what is this all about).
This episode of consecutive emotions refers to subtask 2 of the problem
(see Op 't Eynde and Hannula, this issue). It is a clear example of the suc
cession of several slightly different emotions over a short period of time as
a consequence of changing events and their evaluation by the student (see
discussion above of appraisal processes as the core of emotions).

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 202 PETER OP 'T EYNDE ET AL.

The overall results of the study indicate that negative emotions usually
were experienced at moments that students were not able to solve the prob
lem as fluently as they expected. Experiencing the inadequacy of the cogni
tive strategies used is apparently as much an emotional as a (meta)cognitive
process. However, the nature and intensity of the emotion experienced,
when confronted with a comparable cognitive block, significantly differed
between students. Confronted with a difficulty in an early stage of the
problem-solving process, one of the students became hopeless and imme
diately quit. Another student, who also got stuck at the same point, became
a bit annoyed, but experienced this as a challenge, and tried to circumvent it.
The latter observation also reveals another aspect of the role of emo
tions in mathematical problem solving. In most of our cases, the emotional
experience triggered students to redirect their behaviour, looking for alter
native cognitive strategies to find a way out of the problem. For example,
the arrows mentioned in Figure 2 of Op 't Eynde and Hannula (this issue)
indicate Frank's attempts to redirect his behaviour during subtask 2. How
ever, big differences among students were observed in the effectiveness
and/or efficiency of the cognitive strategies used.
Frank, after panicking, keeps focusing on the subtask. At a certain point
he thinks about working with bigger numbers to have a more extreme case
that might be more insightful with regard to the correct solution strategy
(e.g., 60 km at 120 km/h instead of 14 km at 20 km/h). However, he decides
to stay with the given numbers and looks for a way to bridge the gap between
20 km and 14 km, with good result.
Another student, Steve, used another strategy getting stuck with subtask
1. He decides to continue with the second part of this subtask, hoping that
this will help him to find out how he has to solve the first part. During the
Video Based Stimulated Recall Interview [VBSRI] Steve clarifies why he
shouted "Come on pal" during the problem solving process and how he
proceeded:
Come on pal,...
Int: "Come on pal?!"
Steve: "If this doesn't go, what will I have to do then and maybe I should
start in another way, although..."
Int: "Come on pal, are you angry at yourself then?"
Steve: "Yes, normally this should go. I wasn't afraid, but real angry at
myself. I thought once I get there, things will be easier."
Int: "You don't find it, you are angry at yourself and still you go on.
What do you try next?"
Steve: "I then decided, first, to solve the next subtask, that was easier and
then I hoped that this subtask could be solved in the same way."

Steve noticed that to calculate the time needed to go from one point to
another, the second part of subtask 1 contained easier numbers (i.e. walking

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 ACCEPTING EMOTIONAL COMPLEXITY 203

5 km at 10 km/h) compared to the first part (i.e. walking 4 km at 5 km/h).

Solving the second part first made him discover the proper mathematical
solution strategy that he then used fluently for the first part also.

3.4.2. Students' beliefs, emotions, and problem-solving behaviour

Students' descriptions and explanations of their emotional experiences in
the VBSRI refer many times to underlying belief systems. When we com
bined these data with their results on the MRBQ and the OMQ, we found -
as illustrated below - that students' general competence and value beliefs
appeared to determine the interpretation and appraisal processes underlying
the emotional experiences. The task-specific perceptions in the orientation
phase are closely related to these beliefs, although they sometimes dif
fer, due to the specific task context. For example, Steve who is absolutely
convinced that he is not good in mathematics and really does not like it,
nevertheless scores high on task-specific perception of attractiveness (9/12)
and moderate on task-specific self-efficacy (14/24) when we presented him
one of our problems. After all, he is convinced that he is good in word prob
lems. Frank, on the other hand, believes that he is good in mathematics in
general and also will do well on this task (self-efficacy: 17/24), although
he is not too fond of the physics stuff in it (attractiveness: 6/12).
Although the influence of students' mathematics-related beliefs on their
problem solving is found to be mediated by their task-specific perceptions,
it turns out that these more general beliefs also have a more direct impact
through the emotions experienced during problem solving. This becomes
most obvious when the task-specific perceptions differ from the general
beliefs, as in Steve's case.
Steve, who is almost as convinced as Frank that he will be able to solve
the problem presented, started doubting his abilities at the first cognitive
blockage. "If I'm already not able to solve this, than I surely will not be
able to solve the problem". Frank, confronted with the same problem never
started questioning his abilities. Apparently the difference in their beliefs
about their general mathematics competence made the difference. Those
who believe in themselves act self-confidently throughout the problem
solving process. Others who score low on confidence in their mathematics
abilities, start questioning their abilities the first minute they encounter a
problem (see discussion of the situatedness of emotions above).

4. Conclusion

The results of this study indicate that, in general, there is an individu

ally changing flow of emotional experiences that derives from students'

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 204 PETER OP 'T EYNDE ET AL.

interpretations and appraisals of the series of events that occur during math
ematical problem solving in class. We found, on the one hand, that solving
a problem in class usually consists of an different chain of events for each
student. Further, our analyses showed that comparable events are in some
cases interpreted and appraised differently according to the person and the
task context. Emotions were very much part of problem solving in our
mathematics classrooms. Especially negative emotions as, for example,
frustration and anger are frequently experienced by students. As Mayer
and Wittrock (1996, p. 47) explain:

"A problem occurs when a problem solver wants to transform a problem solving
situation from the given state into the goal state but lacks an obvious method for
accomplishing the transformation".

For tasks constructed so that there is no obvious method for immediate so

lution, those who really want to reach the goal state, i.e. find the solution,
most likely will find themselves frustrated at some points in the process.
Teaching students how to solve mathematical problems then implies that we
have to teach them also how to cope effectively with feelings of frustration
or sometimes anger. In other words, when teaching and learning mathemat
ical problem solving, the allowing of space for negative emotions might be
an educational goal from a cognitive, as well as motivational, point of view.
Indeed, only when experiencing negative emotions will students have the
opportunity of learning how to deal with them. At the same time, expe
riencing negative emotions would indicate that students really care about
solving the problem and are motivated. After all, only those who attach
value to finding the solution are predisposed to become frustrated.
The study of Frank's and other students' emotions in the mathe
matics classroom from a socio-constructivist perspective demands the
recognition of the situatedness and the inherent complexity of these emo
tions. Acknowledging emotions as belonging to a person-in-context al
ways implies the study of these emotions in the classroom using methods
that allow scholars to discover on a moment to moment basis students'
interpretation and appraisal processes (next to other subsystems) in class.
It not only enables researchers to become aware of the dynamics un
derlying the succession of several emotions over a short period of time
but also points to the highly specific person-in-context nature of these
processes.
This represents a real challenge to emotion research. We are well aware
of the constraints imposed by limited research resources as well as by the
practices studied. For one thing, research in the classroom is always con
strained by the fact that the presence of researchers, etc. may affect the
learning of 20 or more students. Combining (video)taping of classroom

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 ACCEPTING EMOTIONAL COMPLEXITY 205

interactions, on-line measurements of student processes, interviews with

different participants, is usually possible only on a limited scale. Conse
quently most studies of emotional experiences in the classroom done from
this perspective will take the form of an in-depth investigation of a lim
ited number of cases, i.e. classes or individuals, and will focus either on
the individual-in-the-classroom (as in our study), on interactions within a
group of students (e.g., Evans et al., this issue) or on whole-class discussion.
Related to these constraints is the need to develop more adequate research
methods and instruments to investigate the different component systems
constituting students' emotions as well as the different classroom dynamics
that influence these processes. The instruments developed and used in our
study only enabled us to get a closer insight into some of these systems
(e.g., cognitive appraisal systems), others (e.g., hormonal and physiologi
cal processes) were not closely studied since valid and usable instruments
were not available. More research is needed to come up with a wider va
riety of instruments and methodologies that can advance our research and
understanding in this respect.

Notes

1. The term "affective aptitudes" is a general term that refers to individual difference
constructs that are affective in nature and in interaction with the context determine
students' problem-solving behaviour (see e.g. aptitude-treatment interaction, Snow et al.,
1996).
2. Emotional experience is used here as a synonym for the whole emotional process. When
referring to the behavioural reaction of a person on an emotion, i.e. the way he or she
deals with it, we will explicitly use the term behavior.

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Center for Instructional Psychology

and -Technology (CIP&T)
Department of Educational Sciences
University of Leuven
Vesaliusstraat 2
B-3000 Leuven
Belgium
E-mail: peter.opteynde@ped.kuleuven.ac.be

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