Psychology

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In the article, “Interest—The Curious Emotion,” researcher Paul J. Sylvia explains “interest,” and breaks down how this emotion functions in the average individual. Although not recognized by many theories, interest is indeed an emotion. Interest can be associated with happiness, yet the two are two distinct emotions. Components of interest include muscles of the forehead and eyes that express deep concentration. Sylvia states that other aspects of interest involve fast-paced speech and greater frequency in voice (Sylvia 2008). Emotions allow orientation of goals; interest’s motives are to stimulate learning and exploration.
Sylvia acknowledges that during infancy, exploring, play and experience correlate to developing motor and continuous learning. When interested in something people are drawn to be motivated in learning. People are fascinated with complexity, while simplicity will draw people to boredom. In the article it states, “Interest attracts people to new, unfamiliar things, and many of these things will turn out to be trivial, capricious, dangerous, or disturbing” (Sylvia, 2008). It is no wonder that people are more interested in what is dangerous and or disturbing because it allows for exploration of body and mind. Researchers explain that interest towards the dangerous or disturbing arises from the need of people to try new things. Interest in the new and dangerous is not always the case because interest differs between individuals.
Appraisal is one of the main causes of interest, and could help researchers understand why interest fluctuates amongst people. Sylvia’s work has found that the two main appraisals linked to understanding interest are novelty and comprehensibility (2008). Novelty is correlated wi...

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...also enhance the interest of the student. Using computers to do work will interest students because it is not the typical textbook and a tool used widely by students nationwide. As mentioned by Sylvia implementing group based projects or assignment increases the interest level of students. Collaboration allows students to interact with peers and creates a thriving atmosphere; social interaction is interesting. Group work encourages students to explore and decipher projects or assignments together. Rather than setting low expectations for students, a teacher could utilize tools that increased level of interest by understanding that interest is based on complexity and comprehensibility as shown by Sylvia, not simplicity and repetitiveness.

Works Cited

Silvia, P. J. (2008). Interest—the curious emotion. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 17, 57-60.

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