Browsing by Author "Pihlainen, Jepa"

Goals: This Master's thesis described emotion and mood regulation during university studies. It used models both from emotion regulation and learning related emotions literature. It is established in literature that different study goals are connected to different emotions. However, this theme has not been linked with questions of emotion regulation strategies: How the choice between them affects experienced learning related emotions, and how strategies and goals of emotion regulation are linked to study goals. This thesis addressed those questions. Research questions were: Which affects and strategies of affect regulation did Finnish university students from Faculty of Arts describe when talking about their university studies? Were there differing affect regulation profiles? Which affect regulation strategies were preferred in different profiles? What were affect regulation goals of different profiles? How did preferred regulation strategies and regulation goals interact with study goals? Methods: These questions were addressed by a qualitative inductive content analysis. The data consisted of eight semi-structured individual interview texts in which students of Faculty of Arts told about their paths as university students. These interviews were selected from a bigger interview database, using the results of a questionnaire on learning related emotions. Results and conclusions: The main results were the affect regulation profiles that were extracted from the data. Students of each profile had similar affect regulation goals and preferences and similar study goals. Following earlier studies, cognitive change was adaptive emotion regulation strategy and rumination was maladaptive emotion regulation strategy. However, many other emotion regulation strategies were used both in adaptive and maladaptive ways. The students whose affect regulation strategies did combine both a goal to feel good and a study goal of acquiring needed knowledge and skills, were the ones who experienced studying to be more pleasant and recovered more quickly from adverse events. When affect regulation goals and study goals are aligned, affects get regulated well and the studies proceed even in the face of adversities. When a student's affect regulation goals and study goals are incompatible, affect regulation is more difficult and the studies might not progress as smoothly. Therefore, affect regulation goals might be more important than regulation strategies in making regulation adaptive.