Psychology and ELT: The Long Reach of Emotions
Nick Michelioudakis, Greece
Nick Michelioudakis (B. Econ., Dip. RSA, MSc [TEFL]) is an Academic Consultant with LEH (the representatives of the Pearson PTE G Exams in Greece). In his years of active involvement in the field of ELT he has worked as a teacher, examiner and trainer for both teachers and Oral Examiners. His love of comedy led him to start the ‘Comedy for ELT’ project on YouTube. He has written numerous articles on Methodology, while others from the ‘Psychology and ELT’ series have appeared in many countries. He likes to think of himself as a ‘front-line teacher’ and is interested in one-to-one teaching and student motivation as well as Social and Evolutionary Psychology. When he is not struggling with students, he likes to spend his time in a swimming pool or playing chess. For articles or handouts of his, you can visit his site at www.michelioudakis.org
‘No, they did nothing wrong; I dislike them because I was mean to them!’
Menu
Introduction
Dostoyevsky’s insight
Does our emotional state affect the way we behave?
The self-justification mechanism
Implications for the field of ELT
The power of negative emotions
Conclusion
Useful terms explained
References
This article explores the counter-intuitive idea that seemingly insignificant actions prompted by fleeting emotions can nevertheless have a very serious effect on what we do in the future. Our actions help shape our perceptions of who we are and this in turn influences our subsequent behaviour.
As is the case with many great writers, Dostoyevsky had a profound intuitive understanding of human psychology. In a passage from ‘The Brothers Karamazov’ (in Tavris & Aronson, 2007, p. 28), Fyodor Pavlovitch recalls how he had been asked at some point why he hated someone. ‘I’ll tell you’ he replied ‘He has done me no harm. But I have played him a dirty trick and ever since I have hated him!’ I remember going over this passage again and again when I first came across it – ‘I wronged him, ergo I hate him?!?’ But then it started making sense. You hurt someone (for whatever reason) and then you reason to yourself ‘I am a nice person and yet I have hurt this other guy; either I am not such a nice person, OR s/he deserved it!’ So you come to hate them. This is classic ‘Cognitive Dissonance reduction’ * (Festinger, in Abelson, Frey, & Gregg, p 66). What is amazing is what long-term consequences a short-lived emotion can have. Professor Ariely has studied this phenomenon and here he is explaining the main idea:
In this experiment (Andrade & Ariely, 2009), some people (Group A) were shown a scene from a film where a man was treated with gross unfairness by his boss. They were naturally outraged. Some other people (Group B) spent a few minutes watching ‘Friends’ instead. They left with a smile on their faces. All these individuals were then asked to take part in a round of ‘The Ultimatum Game’. ** They were paired with an unseen partner (in fact, the researcher) who made them an unfair offer: They were to get € 5, while their partner had apparently kept € 15 for themselves. Would they accept it? Would their emotional state make a difference?
It did. People in Group A were much more likely to reject the offer. Unsurprisingly, perhaps, their anger (at the man’s boss) had ‘spilled over’ into the Ultimatum Game, which had nothing to do with what they had watched! But now came the amazing part of the study: the researchers waited until the initial feelings had dissipated (they actually checked to make sure of that) and then they had the two groups participate in yet another round of the Ultimatum Game. Once again, all participants were confronted with a similar unfair division. Surely, the results should be about the same between the two groups this second time?! Well, amazingly they were not! Once again, group A were far more dismissive of the unfair offer (ibid). Why?
According to Cognitive Dissonance theory, our mind works ceaselessly trying to justify our actions to ourselves. Here, individuals in group A might have reasoned along these lines: ‘I have just rejected an offer for € 5. Why? Either I am stupid, or I have a strong sense of justice. Of course it’s the latter – it’s the principle of the thing!’ (Notice how (a) the cause of the rejection – the ‘spill-over effect’ – is usually lost on people. We very often misattribute the reasons for our actions (Wiseman 2012, p. 70). (b) Naturally, our mind dismisses the idea that we might have made a mistake in the first place!) Having come to this conclusion, these people had self-righteously cast themselves as ‘just’; this being so, they could not possibly accept the similarly unfair offer the second time round! This may well lead to a self-perpetuating cycle; the next time such a situation arose, these people would perhaps not think at all. We do not want to tax our brain too much; often, when we have a decision to make we simply ask ourselves ‘What did I do last time?’ Rather than consider the situation afresh, we line up behind ourselves (Ariely, 2010, p. 262).
We have seen then that there are a number of key ideas at work here:
- Very often we are aware of our emotions but not where they come from.
- Once we have acted in a certain way, we tend to act consistently in the future.
- We use our actions as an indicator of who we are; in a sense, we attach a label to ourselves!
What does all this mean for teaching?
Beware of importing negativity
Unfortunately, we cannot disengage our minds upon entering the classroom from all the problems we face in our lives. It may be that we have quarreled with our spouse and we are feeling tense and then something happens in class and we just take it out on our students. At times this may be understandable, but as we have seen it can have far-reaching effects; if we yell at our students we may come to see them as spoilt (in order to justify our actions!) and worse still perhaps, we may have taken the first step towards seeing ourselves as ‘people who do not take any nonsense’ which may colour our subsequent behaviour. Unless we notice this and take remedial action, this may well lead to a vicious circle of unreasonably strict behaviour and self-justification.
Take quick remedial action
Knowing all this, we can sometimes detect such things when they happen (‘I shouldn’t have yelled at them; I was angry with the Director of Studies and I took it out on my students…’). Yet, simple recognition is not enough; we need to do something about it. First of all, we could acknowledge the mistake and apologise to the class – in this way we cast ourselves in the role of the ‘mature teacher who is above all this’. Something else we can do is focus on the ‘silver lining’ – the positive aspects of the experience (e.g., ‘it gave me an insight into how I react sometimes’). Research shows that people who do this tend to be much more forgiving afterwards towards the people they had quarreled with – the students in this case (Wiseman, 2010, p. 185).
Label yourself positively
We have seen how accidental actions can shape our subsequent behaviour – but so can conscious ones! If you label yourself as the kind teacher, who loves his/her, students and cares for them, you are likely to act in a more tolerant way towards them even if they play you up and even if you are feeling on edge yourself. If you behave positively towards them, you commit yourself to a certain pattern of behaviour which your mind will subsequently use as a guide. Even simply attaching that label to yourself and thinking of yourself in this way can influence your actions when you find yourself in a difficult situation (cf. Zimbardo’s views about ‘heroic ideation’ – YouTube).
Get students to do things for you
What has been said for the teacher also applies to other people of course. In a fascinating study (Jecker & Landy, 1969), students were promised some payment in order to take part in an experiment. Once it was over, they received the money, but later the researcher assistant asked them if they would mind returning it. Half the students were told that the department lacked adequate funds while the rest were told that the researcher was funding the study out of his own pocket and he was in the red. Everyone agreed to return the money. What was interesting however was that when asked later it was the latter group who found the researcher most likeable! (An explanation of this according to The Cognitive Dissonance Reduction theory is that the subjects must have reasoned to themselves ‘Either he was a nice guy so I did well, or I did a stupid thing returning the money!’) The moral here is that the more things you get students to do for you, the more they will like you.
Exploit student exuberance
Very often you may find students in an exuberant mood (perhaps because the national team has won an important match). This is an opportunity not to be missed! According to Aronson (1999, p. 32) an emotion consists of two parts: a) psychological arousal and b) a ‘label’ (where the feeling comes from). However, as we have already seen, the label may be the wrong one. This means that we can exploit the students’ state and do a number of interesting/fun activities with them (e.g., games / songs / puzzles etc.). We could even get them to give a talk about why the match was a great match or the chances of the national team winning the World Cup (or whatever it is they are playing for!). The point is that there is a good chance the students may misattribute their feelings of elation to your amazing teaching and as a result be more motivated in subsequent lessons!
Better still – create it!
Of course there is no reason to wait for such opportunities to arise – you can create them yourself. Starting your lesson with a joke or with a funny video (e.g., YouTube ‘Comedy for ELT’) can put students in a good mood. This positive feeling may then ‘spill over’ to the other activities you do which ss may be prepared to work harder at. Students may then use their behaviour in this particular lesson as a guide for subsequent sessions and they may even ‘label’ themselves as being highly motivated. It is all a virtuous circle: the happier the students are, the harder they are prepared to work, the more they think of themselves as motivated learners. Labels tend to stick!
There is one last thing to be said about negative emotions (fear, anger, etc.): for evolutionary reasons, they are far more powerful than positive ones. Baumeister (quoted in Kashdan & Bisaws-Diener 2015 – p. 54) has put it succinctly: ‘Bad is stronger than good’. Time and again, research reveals this assymetry; for instance, studies of couples in therapy have shown that for a marriage to stand any chance of surviving, positive comments between the partners should outweigh negative ones at least 5 to 1 (Gottman, 1994). There is a moral here for teachers which the pioneer of humanistic education, G. Moscowitz, has spelled out for us in no uncertain terms ‘Avoid [a negative focus] like the plague!’ (Moscowitz, 1978, p 26). The salience of negative comments tends to blot out almost anything positive in the context and it can trigger all kinds of defensive responses.
There is one last thing to be said about negative emotions (fear, anger, etc.): for evolutionary reasons, they are far more powerful than positive ones. Baumeister (quoted in Kashdan & Bisaws-Diener 2015 – p. 54) has put it succinctly: ‘Bad is stronger than good’. Time and again, research reveals this assymetry; for instance, studies of couples in therapy have shown that for a marriage to stand any chance of surviving, positive comments between the partners should outweigh negative ones at least 5 to 1 (Gottman, 1994). There is a moral here for teachers which the pioneer of humanistic education, G. Moscowitz, has spelled out for us in no uncertain terms ‘Avoid [a negative focus] like the plague!’ (Moscowitz, 1978, p 26). The salience of negative comments tends to blot out almost anything positive in the context and it can trigger all kinds of defensive responses.
* Cognitive Dissonance: A state of discomfort people experience when they find they hold two inconsistent views or that their beliefs clash with their actions. According to Festinger, people are motivated to reduce this feeling, either by adjusting their beliefs or, quite frequently, by re-interpreting reality.
** The Ultimatum Game: You are wondering around a university campus, when somebody accosts you, tells you that he is a psychologist and asks you if you can spare 3 minutes. You say ‘yes’ and the psychologist then finds another volunteer. His name is John and you have never met him before. The psychologist then gives you 20 one-Euro coins. He then asks you to divide them up between John and yourself – you can divide them up any way you want: e.g., € 12 for John and € 8 for you, or € 10 each, or € 5 for John and € 15 for you etc. Then John is given a choice – he can ‘take it or leave it’. If he ‘takes’ it, you both take your money and leave. If he decides he does not like the deal, he says ‘no’, in which case you just return the money to the psychologist and you both leave. No discussion or negotiation is involved – hence the name of the game (Frank, 1988).
Abelson, R., Frey, K., & Gregg, A. (2004). Experiments With People. New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Andrade, E., & Ariely, D. (2009). The Enduring Impact of Transient Emotions on Decision Making. Organizational Behaviour and Human Decision Processes 109, no 1: 1-8.
Ariely, D. (2008). Predictably Irrational. London: HarperCollins.
Aronson, E. (1999). The Social Animal. New York: Worth – Freeman.
Frank, R. (1988). Passions Within Reason. New York: Norton.
Gottman, J. (1994). Why Marriages Succeed or Fail. New York, Simon & Shuster.
Kashdan, T., & Bisaws-Diener R. (2015). The Power of Negative Emotion. Oneworld.
Moscowitz, G. (1978). Caring and Sharing in the Foreign Language Class. Cambridge, MA: Newbury House.
Nettle, D. (2005). Happiness. New York: Oxford University Press.
Tavris, C., & Aronson, E. (2008). Mistakes were Made (But not by Me). London: Pinter and Martin.
Wiseman, R. (2010). 59 Seconds. London: Pan Books.
Wiseman, R. (2012). Rip it Up. London: Macmillan.
Zimbardo, P. The Psychology of Evil. TED Talks – YouTube.
YouTube link: www.youtube.com/watch?v=c14sdXf8VzI&hd=1
Please check the NLP & Coaching Skills for Teachers course at Pilgrims website.
Please check the How the Motivate your Students course at Pilgrims website.
Please check the Building Positive Group Dynamics course at Pilgrims website.
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