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Lectura 28 de Mayo
Lectura 28 de Mayo
To cite this article: Rodolfo Bächler & Juan-Ignacio Pozo (2016) I feel, therefore I teach?
Teachers’ conceptions of the relationships between emotions and teaching/learning
processes / ¿Siento, luego enseño? Concepciones docentes sobre las relaciones entre las
emociones y los procesos de enseñanza/aprendizaje, Infancia y Aprendizaje, 39:2, 312-348,
DOI: 10.1080/02103702.2015.1133088
Download by: [Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile] Date: 11 May 2016, At: 10:50
Infancia y Aprendizaje / Journal for the Study of Education and Development, 2016
Vol. 39, No. 2, 312–348, http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02103702.2015.1133088
a
Universidad de Playa Ancha Chile; bUniversidad Autónoma de Madrid
(Received 27 September 2014; accepted 30 June 2015)
Abstract: During recent decades a shift in focus has been occurring that
questions the historical cognitive-emotional dualism present in our culture
and revalues the role of emotions in education. With this situation in mind,
we wanted to discover what conceptions teachers have of the relationships
existing between those emotions and the teaching-learning process. Given
our cultural tradition, we depart from the assumption that it may be
possible to differentiate the conceptions according to more or less inte-
grated perspectives regarding the affective and cognitive functions in
educational context. With the aim of identifying conception profiles and
describing their specific characteristics, we interviewed 32 teachers whose
discourses were categorized and statistically analysed using clustering and
X2. The results are interpreted to account for a progression shaped by four
types of conceptions ranging from perspectives that are not concerned with
emotions, to others believing inseparability exists between affective and
cognitive functions. Implications for future studies are then analysed from
the obtained results.
Keywords: teacher conceptions; emotion; teaching-learning; dualism
Among the elements associated with the existing crisis in our school systems, those
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blocks’ enables the understanding that basic elements are found in the centre of
many of our mental states. Core affect, of a qualitative and subjective nature, is
very important among these. It is a continuous flow of somatic-visceral altera-
tions that an organism experiences internally and that are found in correlation
with changes occurring in the environment, implicitly guiding our behaviour.
They correspond to qualitative states since they present an emotional valance, or
in other words, the characteristic of constantly varying between pleasure and
displeasure. Moreover, they are subjective events, given that they are internally
experienced in a private way and are inaccessible from an external observer’s
point of view (Searle, 1998). These core affective states are categorized through
cognitive-intentional tools giving origin to different discrete mental phenomena
that popular psychology identifies as such (Barrett, Mesquita, Ochsner, & Gross,
2007). Thus, even when we recognize different classes of mental states in
individual and private experience, some of which are characterized as cognitive
(e.g., perception or learning) and others as affective (emotions or feelings),
primordial building blocks are found inside of each one of these. These elements
integrate and give rise to the emergence of a mental experience in its phenom-
enological, qualitative and subjective form, as is consciously experienced
(Barrett, 2011).
To what extent have these new concepts permeated the mentality of educa-
tion professionals? The answer to this question remains unknown for now. In
spite of the increasing importance that understanding the role of feelings in the
educational process has acquired (Pekrun & Linnenbrick-García, 2014), the
study of teachers’ conceptions has thus far focused on other topics barely
linked to emotion-cognition relationships. This shortage notwithstanding, the
reviewed literature suggested the existence of approaches that could be con-
trary to the most current scientific knowledge on the issue. Researching this
problem is relevant since the knowledge that may be produced regarding this
matter could facilitate future understanding of pedagogical practices related to
the management of emotions in the classroom, as well as their influence on
students’ learning processes. A similar situation occurred with the progress
experienced through studies related to teachers’ conceptions of learning.
Certain previous studies in this respect are analysed in the following section.
I feel, therefore I teach? / ¿Siento, luego enseño? 315
the past century may be observed even in psychology itself in the emergence of
the computational metaphor. This conception assimilated the central properties of
mental states with the characteristics of a computer program, conceptualizing
cognition as manipulation of symbols based on logical rules (Searle, 1992).
Under this perspective, knowing was considered to be an aseptic and cold process,
which was performed in the ‘head’, and over which the body, as support to the
experience, did not play a relevant role (Varela, 2000). It is likely that this
approach, of great importance in the development of the cognitive sciences
(Clark, 1998), as well as the historical denial of the body present in our culture,
are aspects that mutually reinforce the configuration of beliefs in popular psychol-
ogy that view emotions as mere accompaniments to ‘genuine’ cognitive processes
such as thought or learning. For example, in a study carried out in the United
States, it was found that the principal characteristic that the interviewees identified
‘being emotional’ with was irrationality, understood as the inability to think
clearly (Parrot, 1995). This study illustrates the dichotomy present in our culture
in relation to affective and cognitive processes, a type of dualism that reflects the
beliefs present in our educational systems over the teaching-learning process.
Although there are no studies on teachers’ conceptions regarding the existing
relationships between emotions and the teaching-learning process, some related
previous studies (analysed below) may help us form a hypothesis in this regard.
In studies performed on children’s learning conceptions, the existence of a
developmental trajectory shaped by three conceptions was seen, two of which
were underpinned by an epistemological dualism (Pozo et al., 2006; Scheuer, De
La Cruz, & Pozo, 2010). First, a very basic conception called direct theory was
revealed, in which learning was understood as the realization of mental copies
over the perceived world, much like the ideas held by behaviourism. This was a
dualist perspective given that it strictly separated the subject from the world,
conceiving learning as a mechanical and objective process. A second conception,
named interpretive theory, was more cognitive than the first but also of a dualist
nature. It held the idea of learning as reproduction but nevertheless believed that
knowledge acquisition required management of mediating mental processes,
which was an aspect absent in the first theory. Finally, on a third level of
complexity that left dualism behind, a reflective type of conception was found,
with a nature closer to perspectivism, conceiving learning as a building process on
the part of the learner (López-Íñiguez & Pozo, 2014).
316 R. Bächler and J.-I. Pozo
Another line of research that shed light upon the existence of a progression
from these dualist perspectives towards more integrated approaches was found in
studies performed on the development of emotion comprehension. In this context,
Pons, Harris, and Rosnay (2004) and Albanese, De Stasio, Di Chiacchio, Fiorilli,
and Pons (2010) used the Test of Emotion Comprehension to study how children
between the ages of three and 11 understand emotions, roughly differentiating
three evolutionary moments. First, emotions were conceived of as states that were
external to the mind, which equated them with their observable behavioural
components. During this stage, children acted as small behaviourists, reducing
emotions down to their associated behaviours and not recognizing their mental
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It’s a very bad age [. . .] it’s an age that is a bit complicated [. . .], you have to be
more on top of it, they have more problems [. . .], sometimes they fight.
The second approach believed that teaching and learning occurred in the
whole body through experiencing sensations, emotions and, in general, a wide
range of qualitative states that fulfilled a role as processes directly aimed at
knowledge creation. As we analysed in the preceding theoretical framework, it
was an outlook that connected with contemporary studies showing that reason-
ing was not a purely symbolic phenomenon, but that it was initiated by
qualitative states (Damasio, 1994). From this approach, learning was conceived
as an affective-cognitive process given that from its beginning it was config-
ured as a state emerging from the integration of both types of processes. It was
a perspective which, although it was not part of the theoretical establishment on
teaching-learning, was present in some less traditional educational approaches
that placed experience at the centre of the process (Atkinson, 2002; Honey &
Mumford, 2006). Unlike that which occurred with dichotomous approaches,
this conception understood that emotions, in addition to playing a role as
teaching-learning context, could also fulfill a function as the centre of the
process, constituting the commencement of teaching and learning. The follow-
ing excerpt from the discourse of a philosophy teacher from our pilot study,
318 R. Bächler and J.-I. Pozo
first there is a denial, because you are stating something that is contrary to what they
believe and therefore there is rejection [. . .] resistance is a natural phenomenon and
has to be, and it is undesirable to not have it, because it forms part of learning [. . .] it
is a desirable moment when resistance is offered -the student- is now actively
participating in what he/she is learning.
Given the cultural context discussed, which separated emotions from those
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Aims
(1) To evaluate the relevance of the degree of separation or cognitive-emo-
tional integration as appropriate criterion for the differentiation of
conceptions.
(2) To identify different types of conceptions and to describe their specific
characteristics in terms of clarity over emotions, the type of learning with
which they relate and the consideration of affective valence in the teach-
ing-learning process.
I feel, therefore I teach? / ¿Siento, luego enseño? 319
Method
The research took place in two stages. The first corresponded to a pilot study
consisting of the realization and analysis of interviews with a group of Spanish
teachers. This enabled the refinement of a pattern of semi-structured interviews
composed of 17 questions that were used in the second stage of the research
where definitive interviews were carried out with a group of Chilean teachers.
Participants
A non-probabilistic sample was formed with 32 elementary education (primary)
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teachers, belonging to the municipal education system (public) from the La Calera
province in the V Region Coast of Chile. All the teachers participated voluntarily
in the study.
Results
K-means cluster analysis
Three profiles were initially obtained as a result of the cluster analysis. In
addition, the statistical method shed light on a group of discourses with hetero-
geneous characteristics, which increased the total number of profiles that were
evaluated in the study to four. The first profile consisted of five discourses and
was the most basic of all those encountered. Three increasingly complex profiles
of 13, six and eight discourses each were then obtained.
320 R. Bächler and J.-I. Pozo
qualitative properties
4 = High: recognizes the subjective and
qualitative character of emotions
Relationships with learning: evaluates the 1 = Not possible to categorize this indicator
ability to establish links between 2 = Does not establish relationship
emotions and distinct types of learning 3 = Relates only to personal training
4 = Relates to curricular contents
Role of students’ negative valence 1 = Completely obstructive negative
emotions: evaluates the ability to emotions
discriminate between internal experience 2 = Considers the facilitation of negative
of displeasure and its effect on teaching- emotions 1 time
learning 3 = Considers the facilitation of negative
Role of teachers’ negative valence emotions 2 times
emotions: evaluates the ability to 4 = Considers the facilitation of negative
discriminate between internal experience emotions 3 times
of displeasure and its effect on teaching- 5 = Completely facilitating negative
learning emotions
Role of students’ positive valence 1 = Completely facilitating positive
emotions: evaluates the ability to emotions
discriminate between internal experience 2 = Considers the obstruction of positive
of displeasure and its effect on teaching- emotions
learning 3 = Completely obstructing positive
Role of teachers’ positive valence emotions
emotions: evaluates the ability to
discriminate between internal experience
of displeasure and its effect on teaching-
learning
X2 analysis
In order to determine the concepts that best differentiated the different profiles, an
X2 analysis was performed that examined the existence of possible relationships
between inclusion in the profiles and the results obtained for each conceptual
criterion. In the case of the ‘role of negative and positive emotional valence’,
discourses that presented low emotional clarity were excluded. It was thought that
in order to establish relationships between both processes, a minimum compre-
hension of emotions as mental states was required. The following table shows the
results obtained from this process (Table 2).
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Table 2. Relationships between inclusion in the profiles and the concepts used in the analysis.
CONCEPT CONCEPT CONCEPT CONCEPT No 4 CONCEPT No 5 CONCEPT No 6 CONCEPT No 7
No 1 No 2 No 3 Role of the students’ Role of the teachers’ Role of the students’ Role of the teachers’
Location of the Emotional Relationships negative valence negative valence positive valence positive valence
emotions clarity with learning emotions emotions emotions emotions
X2 = 17.822, X2 = 28.627, X2 = 29.312, X2 = 24.700, df = 9, X2 = 19.652, gl = 9, X2 = 13.416, df = 6, X2 = 7.901, df = 6,
df = 3, df = 6, df = 6, p < .003 p < .020 p < .037 p < .245
p < .001 p < .001 p < .001
I feel, therefore I teach? / ¿Siento, luego enseño?
321
322 R. Bächler and J.-I. Pozo
As can be deduced from the table, the only concept that did not significantly
relate to inclusion in the profiles was number 7, ‘role of the teachers’ positive
emotional valence’.
Profile 1
Behavioural reductionism: the absence of emotions in teaching-learning
This profile corresponded to the most rudimentary conception of all, a perspective
that recalled the naive behaviourism of the above-mentioned young children.
I feel, therefore I teach? / ¿Siento, luego enseño? 323
Table 3. Corrected typified residuals resulting from relating inclusion in the profiles with
the concepts used in the analysis.
Profile Profile Profile Profile
1 2 3 4
Location of the Considers emotions 1.3 1.6 1.4 −4.2
emotions exclusively as context
Considers emotions as centre −1.3 −1.6 −1.4 4.2
and as context
Emotional clarity Low global clarity of emotions 2.6 0.5 −1.3 −1.6
Average global clarity of −1.2 3.1 0.3 −2.9
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emotions
High global clarity of emotions −0.9 −3.6 0.7 4.2
Relationships with Does not relate emotional 1.4 3.4 −2.3 −2.8
learning learning
Relates emotions with personal −0.7 2.1 −0.9 −1.1
training
Relates emotions with −1.0 −4.6 2.8 3.4
curricular content
Negative valence Completely obstructive 1.2 1.5 2.2 −4.3
role — students negative emotions students
Considers the facilitation of −0.5 1.1 −1.0 0.1
students’ negative emotions
1 time
Considers the facilitation of −0.6 −1.7 −1.2 3.3
students’ negative emotions
2 times
Considers the facilitation of −0.5 −1.5 −1.0 2.8
students’ negative emotions
3 times
Negative valence Completely obstructive 1.3 1.8 1.4 −4.0
role — teachers negative emotions teachers
Considers the facilitation of −0.8 −1.3 −1.5 3.2
teachers’ negative emotions
1 time
Considers the facilitation of −0.5 −0.2 0.4 0.1
teachers’ negative emotions
2 times
Considers the facilitation of −0.4 −1.2 −0.8 2.2
teachers’ negative emotions
3 times
Positive valence role Completely facilitating −0.0 1.6 0.9 −2.5
— students students’ positive emotions
Considers the obstruction of 0.5 −2.9 −0.1 2.9
students’ positive emotions
Completely obstructive −6 1.6 −1.2 −0.3
negative emotions students
324 R. Bächler and J.-I. Pozo
Emotions were reduced to behaviours under this approach, in such a way that to
be happy was to laugh and to be unhappy was to cry (for example). The following
statement from a teacher who was asked about the most commonly produced
emotions in the classroom illustrated this characteristic:
I would say that it is laughter. Suddenly there’s a cracking of jokes and the students
laugh and there is a lot of talk between them and the lessons are delayed and
sometimes no one manages to complete them.
When the teachers that participated in this perspective used emotional terms,
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they were in fact referring to the behaviours associated with them, thus not
recognizing their subject and qualitative character, which are two properties
distinguishing emotions as mental states. Consequently, it could be said that
within this approach the existence of feelings was not fully acknowledged, nor
were relationships between these and the teaching-learning process established.
Because of this, emotions were absent under this perspective; in other words, they
did not form part of those variables that the teachers internally managed to explain
the educational process to themselves.
Profile 2
Emotional-cognitive dualism: emotions as accompaniments to the teaching-
learning process
This was a step up from the first profile in that the teachers who held this
conception distinguished between emotions as internal states of the mind and
those behaviours that were associated with them. This was the reason why we
used the term ‘dualism’ to refer to this conception. Nevertheless, the understand-
ing of emotions as subjective states did not necessarily imply a distinction
regarding other types of mental states. Emotional clarity was still incomplete in
this conception since even though the subjective character of feelings was under-
stood, their specific qualitative properties were lost sight of, confusing them with
other kinds of psychological phenomena. The following statement from a teacher
who was asked about recurring emotions in her class illustrated this point:
showing respect by listening and if they do not learn to listen, no, even though you
give them the best class they are not going to listen, so values are the first thing.
process’ because although emotions were present here, they were not directly
related to the learning of curricular content.
Profile 3
Influence of emotions on cognition: emotions as context of the teaching-learning
process
This conception presented three characteristics that enabled it to be considered
as the most sophisticated when compared with the two profiles described
above, and perhaps constituted a transition point between dualism and the
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Facilitate? I don’t believe so, because if the child is engaged in negative behaviour
he does not want to do anything, it’s like depression; so if the child is sad or
discouraged, I think that the negativity always works against you.
Profile 4
Emotional-cognitive integration: teaching and learning as affective processes
As we discussed in the study’s introduction, emotions were considered as the
centre of the teaching-learning process from this perspective. This corre-
sponded to an approach that was related to some extent to other theoretical
models granting a leading role to emotions over all types of learning, including
those that dealt with ‘harder’ content such as mathematics (Op, De Corte, &
Verschaffel, 2007) or sciences (Sinatra, Brougthon, & Lombardi, 2014). In our
case, it was a perspective from which teaching and learning were understood to
be processes beginning in emotions and other types of similar experienced
326 R. Bächler and J.-I. Pozo
The other day we were looking at the problem of species extinction and they
watched with sorrow the video of a Tasmanian tiger, a species that no longer exists
[. . .] I think it was achieved [. . .] because if you are moved you give a certain value
to what you are teaching [. . .] managing children’s emotions is very important, for
the benefit of their own learning.
Differences that have traditionally been considered for affective and cognitive
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processes became more tenuous under this approach. The study’s results showed
us that this perspective was also characterized by good comprehension of emo-
tions as mental states. In addition, the discourses that were placed within this
conception exhibited the ability to establish relationships between emotions and
different types of learning, even when the curricular contents had a greater level of
abstraction. Finally, the results showed us that a complex appreciation of emo-
tional valence and its influence over the teaching-learning process distinguished
this perspective from the approaches that have already been examined. This
implied an analysis of emotions that looked beyond their internally experienced
phenomenology as pleasant or unpleasant. Under this perspective, it was under-
stood that even when an emotion was experienced as an uncomfortable event, this
characteristic did not itself invalidate its cognitive possibilities. This more com-
plex look at emotional valence manifested in almost all of the concepts considered
in this study, except when the positive emotional valence of the teachers them-
selves was taken into account.
Conclusions
The general description of the conceptions found gives rise to new questions
surrounding them. We will address the main results in this respect below.
finding isolated discourses that understand that feeling good while teaching is not a
factor that is necessarily associated with an increase in the process’s efficiency, this is
not a clear trend of any of the profiles resulting from the study.
with male or female teachers? Given that substantive differences exist in the
development of emotional competences between men and women (Brody &
Hall, 2008; Fabes & Martin, 1991), it is likely that gender influences the type
of conception held in some way. Moreover, given that previous studies have
revealed relationships between conceptions on learning and variables such as
level of professional experience, teachers’ specialty or the level of education in
which they work (Pozo et al., 2006), it seems natural to expect differences among
these factors and the conception profiles that we have found.
statistically analyse the discourses’ contents and the internal relationships between its
components with a certain degree of quantification, even though the methodology is
qualitative in nature. We believe that this approximation was adequate insofar as it
has enabled the establishment of minimum bases, permitting a future, more detailed
qualitative analysis of the more specific characteristics of the conceptions found.
In the second place, and as can be read in the descriptions of the profiles
found, we have interpreted the organization of the conceptions as a progression
that advances from reduccionist and dichotomous perspectives towards the adop-
tion of increasingly sophisticated approaches regarding the comprehension of the
mental states of emotions and their integration with other cognitive processes.
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Nevertheless, we are aware that the data obtained in this study do not allow the
existence of this progression to be confirmed. Future studies should focus on
analysing the possibility of a larger and more diverse sample of teachers, allowing
the influence of different variables that modulate the eventual step from one
conception to the other to be evaluated.
I feel, therefore I teach? / ¿Siento, luego enseño? 329
Las concepciones docentes sobre las relaciones existentes entre las emociones y
el proceso de enseñanza-aprendizaje
En nuestra cultura occidental predomina una cosmovisión dualista que separa a la
mente del cuerpo (Claxton, 2005). Esta perspectiva hunde sus raíces en la
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Es que es una edad muy mala [. . .] es una edad un poco complicada, [. . .] hay que
estar más encima, tienen más problemas [. . .] hay veces que se pelean.
primero hay una negación, porque estás diciéndole algo contrario a lo que ellos
creen y por lo tanto hay rechazo [. . .] la resistencia es un fenómeno natural y que
tiene que estar, y que no es deseable que no esté, porque forma parte del aprendizaje
[. . .] es un momento deseable cuando ofrece resistencia - el alumno - ya está
participando activamente de lo que está aprendiendo.
Objetivos
(1) Evaluar la pertinencia del grado de separación o integración cognitivo-
emocional como criterio apropiado para la diferenciación de concepciones
(2) Identificar diferentes tipos de concepciones y describir sus características
específicas en términos de la claridad que se tiene sobre las emociones, el
tipo de aprendizaje con el cual se relacionan, y la consideración de la
valencia afectiva en el proceso de enseñanza-aprendizaje
Método
La investigación se llevó a cabo en dos etapas. La primera, correspondió a un
estudio piloto consistente en la realización y análisis de entrevistas a un grupo de
docentes españoles. Dicho trabajo permitió el refinamiento de una pauta de
entrevista semi-estructurada conformada por 17 preguntas de que se utilizó en la
segunda etapa de la investigación, consistente en la realización de las entrevistas
definitivas a un grupo de docentes chilenos.
Participantes
Se conformó una muestra no probabilística de 32 docentes de educación básica —
primaria — pertenecientes al sistema de educación municipal — pública — de la
provincia de La Calera, en la V Región Costa, Chile. Todos los docentes partici-
paron de forma voluntaria en el estudio.
Resultados
Análisis de conglomerados de K medias
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Análisis mediante X2
Con el fin de determinar los conceptos que mejor discriminaban entre los distintos
perfiles se realizó un análisis de X2 examinando la existencia de posibles rela-
ciones entre la pertenencia a los perfiles y los resultados alcanzados en cada
criterio conceptual. Para el caso de los conceptos ‘rol de la valencia emocional
negativa y positiva’, se excluyeron los discursos que presentaron baja claridad
emocional por considerarse que para establecer relaciones entre ambos procesos,
se requiere una mínima comprensión de los afectos como estados mentales. La
siguiente tabla muestra los resultados obtenidos de este proceso (Tabla 2).
Como se desprende de la observación de la tabla, el único concepto que no se
relaciona de forma significativa con la pertenencia a los perfiles es el Nº7, ‘rol de
las emociones de valencia positiva de los docentes’.
338
R. Bächler and J.-I. Pozo
Tabla 2. Relaciones entre la pertenencia a los perfiles y los conceptos utilizados en el análisis.
CONCEPTO Nº 4 CONCEPTO Nº 5 CONCEPTO Nº 6
CONCEPTO Rol de las Rol de las Rol de las CONCEPTO Nº 7
Nº 1 CONCEPTO Nº 3 emociones de emociones de emociones de Rol de las emociones de
Lugar de las CONCEPTO Nº 2 Relaciones con el valencia negativa valencia negativa valencia positiva valencia positiva de los
emociones Claridad emocional aprendizaje de los alumnos de los docentes de los alumnos docentes
X2 = 17.822, X2 = 28.627, X2 = 29.312, X2 = 24.700, X2 = 19.652, X2 = 13.416, X2 = 7.901, gl = 6,
gl = 3, gl = 6, gl = 6, gl = 9, gl = 9, gl = 6, p < .245
p < .001 p < .001 p < .001 p < .003 p < .020 p < .037
I feel, therefore I teach? / ¿Siento, luego enseño? 339
exhibe además, una alta claridad emocional, así como la capacidad de relacionar las
emociones con el aprendizaje de contenidos curriculares. Finalmente, se trata del
único de los cuatro, que presenta una predisposición a analizar de forma compleja la
valencia emocional y su papel en la enseñanza-aprendizaje.
Todo lo anterior, nos sugiere la posible existencia de una organización de
creciente complejidad entre las distintas concepciones identificadas tal y como se
describe a continuación.
Perfil 1
Reduccionismo conductual: la ausencia de las emociones en la enseñanza-
aprendizaje
Corresponde a la concepción más rudimentaria de todas, una perspectiva que
recuerda el conductismo ingenuo de los niños pequeños comentado previamente.
Bajo este enfoque se reducen las emociones a las conductas, de tal forma que, por
ejemplo, estar alegre es reír y tener pena es llorar. El siguiente extracto corres-
pondiente a una profesora consultada por las emociones que con mayor frecuencia
se producirían en el aula permite ilustrar esta característica:
yo diría que la risa. De repente salen chistes y los alumnos se ríen y se produce mucha
conversa entre ellos, y las tareas se retrasan y a veces no alcanza uno a hacer el cierre.
Perfil 2
Dualismo emocional-cognitivo: las emociones como acompañantes del proceso
de enseñanza-aprendizaje
Constituye un avance respecto de la perspectiva anterior ya que los docentes que
participan de esta concepción distinguen entre las emociones como estados inter-
nos de la mente, y aquellos comportamientos que se les asocian. Esta es la razón
por la cual utilizamos el término ‘dualismo’ para referirnos a esta concepción. No
obstante, la comprensión de los afectos como estados subjetivos, no conlleva
necesariamente su distinción respecto de otras variedades de estados mentales. La
claridad emocional continua siendo incompleta en esta concepción ya que si bien
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el respeto de escuchar y si ellos no aprenden a escuchar, no, aunque les des la mejor
clase no te van a escuchar, entonces lo primero están los valores.
Perfil 3
Influencia de las emociones en la cognición: las emociones como contexto del
proceso de enseñanza-aprendizaje
Esta concepción presenta tres características que permiten considerarla como más
sofisticada si se compara con las dos anteriormente descritas, y tal vez, constituya
un punto de transición entre el dualismo y la integración cognitivo-emocional que
describiremos más adelante. En primer lugar, se trata de una perspectiva que
presenta una mayor claridad respecto de las emociones, diferenciándolas no sólo
de las conductas — como en la segunda concepción — sino que también, respecto
de otros procesos psicológicos relacionados. Por otra parte, al interior de este
enfoque se entiende de mejor forma que los afectos juegan un rol en el proceso de
enseñanza-aprendizaje. Los docentes que adhieren a esta perspectiva, comprenden
que esta capacidad opera no sólo cuando se trata del desarrollo personal de los
342 R. Bächler and J.-I. Pozo
estudiantes, sino que incluso, cuando lo que se aprende son contenidos curricu-
lares como la física o las matemáticas. Finalmente, se trata del único perfil de los
hasta ahora analizados, bajo el cual se manifiesta una apreciación definida
respecto del rol de la valencia en el aprendizaje. Específicamente, cuando se
consideran las emociones de valencia negativa de los alumnos aparece una
predisposición a tener en cuenta dichos estados como un obstáculo, una tendencia
que no se presenta en los dos tipos anteriores. Este es el caso del siguiente
profesor, que responde a la consulta del entrevistador acerca de la posibilidad
de facilitar el aprendizaje a partir de emociones de valencia negativa:
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¿Facilitar? no creo, porque si el niño está en una conducta negativa no tiene ganas
de nada, es como depresivo; entonces si el niño está triste o está desanimado, yo
pienso que lo negativo siempre te juega en contra.
Perfil 4
Integración emocional-cognitiva: el aprendizaje como proceso afectivo
Como ya adelantáramos en la introducción de este trabajo, desde esta concepción
se considera a las emociones como centro del proceso de enseñanza-aprendizaje.
Corresponde a un enfoque que en alguna medida se relaciona con otros modelos
teóricos que otorgan un rol preponderante a los afectos sobre todo tipo de
aprendizajes, incluidos aquellos que versan sobre contenidos más ‘duros’ como
las matemáticas (Op, De Corte, & Verschaffel, 2007) o las ciencias (Sinatra,
Brougthon, & Lombardi, 2014). En nuestro caso, se trata de una perspectiva
desde la cual se entiende que enseñar y aprender son procesos que tienen su
inicio en emociones y otro tipo de estados similares cualitativamente experimen-
tados. El siguiente extracto correspondiente al discurso de un profesor de biología
consultado por el rol de las emociones en el proceso de enseñanza-aprendizaje, tal
vez pueda ilustrar este punto:
Bajo este enfoque las diferencias tradicionalmente consideradas para los lla-
mados procesos afectivos y cognitivos se hacen más tenues. Por otra parte, los
resultados de la investigación nos muestran que esta perspectiva se caracteriza
también por una buena comprensión de las emociones como estados mentales.
Además, los discursos que se insertan dentro de esta concepción exhiben la
capacidad para establecer relaciones entre los afectos y diferentes tipos de
I feel, therefore I teach? / ¿Siento, luego enseño? 343
Conclusiones
La descripción general de las concepciones encontradas abre nuevas preguntas
acerca de las mismas. Dedicamos a continuación algunas líneas a tratar las
principales proyecciones en este sentido.
emocionales entre hombres y mujeres (Brody & Hall, 2008; Fabes & Martin,
1991), es probable que el género influya de alguna forma en el tipo de concepción
que se mantiene. Por otra parte, dado que existen antecedentes que dan cuenta de
relaciones entre las concepciones sobre el aprendizaje y variables tales como el
grado de experiencia profesional, el tipo de especialidad de los docentes, o el nivel
educativo en el cual se trabaja (Pozo et al., 2006) parece natural esperar dife-
rencias entre estos factores y los perfiles de concepciones que nosotros hemos
encontrado.
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Acknowledgements / Agradecimientos
This article was written during Rodolfo Bächler’s research stay at the Universidad
Autónoma de Madrid, funded by Becas Chile Convocatoria 2012 de CONICYT. The
study was possible in part thanks to the Proyecto EDU2013-47593-C2-1-P granted by
the Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad de España, with Juan Ignacio Pozo as
the lead researcher. We would like to thank Lilian Díaz, Richard Guajardo, Natalia
Carrasco and Exel Morales Godoy for their collaboration in conducting the interviews,
and María José de Dios for her advice on the data analysis. / Este artículo se ha escrito
durante la estancia de investigación de Rodolfo Bächler en la Universidad Autónoma
de Madrid financiada por Becas Chile Convocatoria 2012 de CONICYT. La
investigación ha sido en parte posible gracias al Proyecto EDU2013-47593-C2-1-P
concedido por el Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad de España, del que Juan
Ignacio Pozo es Investigador principal. Agradecemos a Lilian Díaz, Richard
Guajardo, Natalia Carrasco y Exel Morales Godoy por la colaboración en la
realización de las entrevistas, así como a María José de Dios por su asesoramiento
en el análisis de los datos.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors. / Los autores no han referido
ningún potencial conflicto de interés en relación con este artículo.
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