Epistemic emotions and creativity : a motor for learning ?

Abstract

Usually investigated in the field of philosophy, epistemic emotions have been neglected in the field of psychology and in educational science. The word « epistemic » refers to knowledge. Epistemic emotions are affective states related to knowledge (Scheffler, 2010, Silvia, 2010) and the generation of knowledge (Pekrun et al., 2017). Thus, epistemic emotions are intrinsically linked with learning process (Valdesolo, Shtulman, & Baron, 2017). More specifically, they emerge when learners focus on knowledge and knowing (Pekrun & Linnenbrink-Garcia, 2012), or during cognitive analysis of information in a given task (Muis, Psaradellis, Lajoie, Di Leo, & Chevrier, 2015). Because of these qualities, epistemic emotions can therefore be considered important in self-regulation of learning (Muis, Pekrun, et al., 2015). While the importance of epistemic emotions has already been highlighted in the context of learning (Kang et al., 2009), to the best of our knowledge, there was no previous research focusing on the impact of epistemic emotions on creativity. Creativity is defined as a "new en attendant de décider.. abstract colloque US and adapted production" (Lubart, 2010, p. 3) in the context in which it manifests itself. While many researchers have highlighted the link between emotions and creativity (Amabile, Barsade, Mueller, & Staw, 2005; Averill, 1999; Capron Puozzo, 2015; Puozzo Capron, 2013,2014; Zenasni & Lubart, 2002), none of them have looked at the link between the latter and epistemic emotions in a learning process. In this research, we hypothesize that epistemic emotions can also be involved in creativity. To analyse this hypothesis, an exploratory research is being carried out within the framework of action research (Capron Puozzo, 2016; Cros, 2002). Two types of data will be analysed. First, data gathered in the laboratory from about 100 students at a Swiss University. Second, data obtained during a creativity marathon, in which students were asked to assess their epistemic emotions with a questionnaire filled out several times during the marathon. In both contexts, students perform creative tasks during which their epistemic emotions were measured by means of a questionnaire in an authentic training context. Our research questions are: 1) are epistemic emotions felt during creative tasks and if so, 2) what are these epistemic emotions? Data capture is currently underway.