Introduction
The learning process for many people is a complex procedure during which many experiences are received. School is one such place where students often experience negative emotions. It is essential to understand what triggers such sentiments in the learning process. For teachers, the way to solve such a situation and alleviate it is crucial. The primary importance of getting rid of such emotions is that it will positively affect students and their desire to learn. Because being under stress and feeling negative emotions lowers a person’s efficiency and causes disinterest in learning. In this work, several theories will be proposed that can theoretically improve the condition of students.
Negative emotions in the learning process regarding students can be solved and motivated to study subjects they did not like before. To qualitatively fulfill such a goal, it is worth turning to behavioral theories, which can improve learning effectiveness in individual students (Schunk & DiBenedetto, 2020). In addition, for some students, it can take away negative emotions that usually arise while studying specific subjects. Several theories were chosen for this study: social cognitive theory, observational learning, behaviorist theories, and experiential learning theory. These theories, to some extent, will allow students to process the material qualitatively and improve their relationship with learning.
Social Cognitive Theory – Interaction Helps Change Emotions
Social cognitive theory is a theory that will help improve student’s learning and help partially get rid of their negative emotions. The main idea of the theory is what should be put together in pairs or groups of people with different knowledge (Masethe, Masethe & Odunaike, 2017). Such a theory states that the experiences of others motivate and stimulate others to practice and improve. Concerning emotions, one should understand that such a theory aims to consider a person’s comfort and inner self-awareness (Masethe et al., 2017). Thus, in this way, taking into account the ways of thinking of a person will allow to influence him and help improve his skills positively. This theory’s negative side is “when a learner is able to accomplish a task, but not through the best suited way” (Masethe et al., 2017, p. 26). Thus, such a theory is helpful, but that cannot apply it in all cases.
Observational Learning – Observation Helps a Child Cope with Emotions
Observational learning is a way of learning based on the experience of others and by observing other people. This method is quite similar to the previous theory but has some differences. This difference is manifested precisely in the way that does not work with others, and in this process, learning occurs, but students can observe the work of others (Ma, Heyman, Jing, Compton & Lee, 2018). Regarding training, this method is effective and allows a person to develop many good and helpful skills in using such a theory. In this way, the application brings mainly positive results because social behavior improves, and the emotional state because a person observing others can take for himself only what is positive and necessary for himself (Ma, & et al., 2018). However, here you should understand the negative side, not always the things that others do are positive, so here you should separate and be able to think critically.
The Use of Behaviorism Helps the Reservation of Positive Emotions in People
Behaviorism focuses on how a person interacting with the environment can improve his condition. Such a theory suggests that many people can learn new things, including emotional habits, in interacting with others. In addition, a person’s emotional state in such a theory depends on an excellent mutual connection. Thus, teachers are direct people who, concerning students, can interest and positively influence their work. On the positive side, even the most passive student can change his attitude toward a subject or a particular situation if he interacts well with others. Unsurprisingly, “the consequences result in delusion of learning, where the learner’s alignment of knowledge does not change permanently” (Masethe et al., 2017, p. 26). Thus, it is essential to use another theory in addition to this theory or to improve behaviorism from one’s point of view slightly.
Experiential Learning Theory is the Key to a Student’s Emotional Stability
The experiential learning theory is the last critical theory that allows for improving students’ emotional state and motivation. Such a theory is based on reflection and helps students better understand the work (Masethe et al., 2017). In addition, this type of learning will allow students to collect and analyze information for themselves while reflecting that “the learning is based entirely on the process instead of the outcome; learners see themselves through the learning experience” (Masethe et al., 2017, p. 27). That is, hands-on activities and analysis are vital to each student’s development, with teachers providing children with these hands-on tasks for improvement.
Conclusion
Ultimately, it is worth adding that all four proposed theories make it possible to improve the child’s learning and emotional state qualitatively. Will they completely get rid of all negative emotions? No, but they will be allowed to be partially avoided if they are correctly and comprehensively applied, based on individual students. The importance of applying these theories is that it is worth spreading them all together because each child has a different personality and a different type of thinking, so it is necessary to find the right way to reveal the emotional components in students. In this way, adherence to at least one theory will allow many times to improve the child’s learning process and preserve his emotional state.
Reference List
Ma, F., Heyman, G. D., Jing, C., Fu, Y., Compton, B. J., Xu, F., and Lee, K. (2018). ‘Promoting honesty in young children through observational learning’. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 167, pp. 234-245.
Masethe, M. A., Masethe, H. D., and Odunaike, S. A. (2017). ‘Scoping review of learning theories in the 21st century’. In Proceedings of the World Congress on Engineering and Computer Science, 1, pp. 25-27.
Schunk, D. H., and DiBenedetto, M. K. (2020). ‘Motivation and social cognitive theory’. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 60, p. 46.