The Importance of Postive Affect in the Classroom

1. Positive affect improves performance on tasks used as indicators of creativity or innovative problem solving (such as the candle/box test) and also leads to greater cognitive flexibility (the ability to put ideas together in new but useful ways).

1.1. gives rise to more thoughts, more nontypical thoughts, and innovative solutions to problems

1.2. thinking becomes flexible so that both usual and unusual aspects and senses of concepts may be more easily accessed

2. Dopamine is projected into the hippocampus(which is thought to be neccessary for the consolidation of episodic memories), into the VTA- the prefrontal cortex (facilitates working memory) and anterior cingulate (facilitates executive attention and the selection of cognitive perspective)

2.1. anterior cingulate may function also for error monitoring and executive attention

2.2. the posterior system mediates perceptual attention, anteriror system medaites cognitive or executive attention (activated in tasks in which a person must select or switch among various interpretations or aspects of the stimulus)

2.3. under normal circumstances, most people do not use negative feelings for memoriy organization and storage- there is substantial evidence that positive affect facilitates the recall of neutral and positive material

3. When tasks are even minimally interesting or important, postive affect promotes careful, thorough, open-minded, and systematic processing. Positive affect may also influence word fluency- imrprovement, largely coming from enhanced flexbility in the selection of cognitive perspective-. Also reduces "anchoring" and rigidity in thinking- more open to new information even when it contradicts previous information or thoughts.

3.1. Increases a person's ability to organize ideas in multiple ways and to access alternative cognitive perspectives.

3.2. positive affect fosters cognitive elaboration (the process of forming associations between new information and prior knowledge)

3.3. positive affect associated with greater expectations of positive outcomes, and is known to promote socialbility and helpfullness- this helpfullness comes from that flexible shifting in cognitive perspectives letting one see others who may be socially distinct as in an "out group" be percieved as part of an "in group"- this facilitates cooperation despite differences

4. Even moderate fluctuations in positive feelings can affect cognitive processing. Reward is the most common method for inducing positive affect - Rewards (things such as humor or report of success on an ambiguous task) , and events (even in anticipation of one) that signal rewards, release dopamine from several brain stem sites.

4.1. the effects can be prompted readily by small things in people's lives and everyday events

4.2. Dopamine release of even a couple seconds continues its effects for 30 minutes

5. Research suggests that out of all the senses, odor is the closest and most direct link to positive affect- has the most direct route.

5.1. Also might elicit the most immediate affective response, OVER audio or visual stimuli

5.2. Pleasant odors increased helping behaviors and improved performance on an anagrams task - the pleasant odor had the same induction of positive effect that is achieved by giving someone an unexpected gift

5.3. Positive affect has has adapting effects when situations are unpleasant or negative- so even if the student is having a bad day, and comes int o a classroom with a pleasant aroma, it can dampen the effects of their negative mental state and create a better classroom experience- even on a bad day