Browsing by Author "Sullanmaa, Jenni"

Previous studies have shown that cognitive and attributional strategies as well as academic emotions can be considered as central factors affecting studying but the interaction between them has been explored very little. The aim of this study was to explore what kind of cognitive and attributional strategies university students in the Faculty of Arts use and what kind of academic emotions they experience in their studies. The aim was also to examine what kind of cognitive-attributional-emotional profiles can be identified for students and how do these profiles differ from each other in study success. The study also addressed the differences between Bachelor's and Master's degree students. The data were collected in a previous research project in the Faculty of Arts in the University of Helsinki. The shortened version of the Strategy and Attribution Questionnaire was used as a measure of cognitive and attributional strategies. The measure of academic emotions was formed on the basis of the Academic Emotions Scale. The data was collected by an online questionnaire in the autumn of 2013 and the participants of the study were 244 students. Cluster analysis was used for clustering students into cognitive-attributional-emotional profiles based on the combinations of cognitive and attributional strategies and academic emotions. Differences between different groups were analyzed by the independent samples t-test and ANOVA. Four groups with different profiles were identified: optimistic and hopeful, optimistic and ashamed, optimistic and frustrated as well as avoidant and anxious. The optimistic and hopeful group did better in their studies than the avoidant and anxious as well as the optimistic and frustrated group. The Bachelor's degree students, as well as younger students, experienced more negative emotions and used the self-handicapping strategy more than the Master's degree students and older students. It is important to further examine the interaction between cognitive and attributional strategies and academic emotions to find out whether same kind of profiles can be identified in different contexts.