Students' Mental Models of Positive Mood and Self-Regulation in Learning

Abstract

This study explored first-year students' beliefs about the relevance of positive mood to self-regulation. Students were supplied with the definitions of ten constructs relating broadly to aspects of general health (Physical health), positive mood (Psychological well-being, Emotional response, Hope, Explanatory style, Self-Esteem) and self-regulation (Self-regulation, Self-efficacy, Motivation, Intelligence) and asked to indicate whether they believed a causal relationship to exist between pairs of constructs, and in which direction the causal relationship was perceived. An interactive qualitative analysis (IQA) approach was followed to extract a composite mental model of students' beliefs about positive mood and self-regulation. Findings indicate that students perceive positive mood constructs to be causally related to aspects of self-regulation. A mental model was extracted that depicted students' beliefs about positive mood and self-regulation as a complex system consisting of four interlinked feedback systems, namely Input states, Evaluatory mechanisms, Future perspectives and Active participation. Constructs associated with positive mood (Psychological well-being and Explanatory style) were identified as primary driver and primary outcome respectively.