Theory and methodology in researching emotions in education

Abstract

Differing theoretical approaches to the study of emotions are presented: emotions as private (psychodynamic approaches); emotions as sociocultural phenomena (social constructionist approaches); and a third perspective (interactionist approaches) transcending these two. These approaches have important methodological implications in studying emotions in the field of education. Researchers of emotions in education need to make their theoretical assumptions about emotion explicit and acknowledge the complexity involved in the study of emotion.