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I know you are all thinking, how can there be math in emotions? Well there isn't much because it is an actual topic that is still being looked into and discussed by the participants in the Conference on Affective Issues in Mathematical Problem Solving. They were concerned with mathematics and emotion because they have recognized that learning is not all cognitive, that cognition and emotion are intertwined. what is known however is that many students have emotional reactions, often negative ones, to mathematics as we all have probably experienced.
George Mandler- a name to remember, he was one of the pioneers of the cognitive revolution in psychology.
-was also a major proponent of the dual-process theory of recognition memory, in which general feelings of familiarity are distinguished from the context-rich experience of recollection. He brought the study of emotion into prominence, suggesting how emotion and cognition are related.
Mandler's Theory
A central theme of Mandler's theory of emotion is that the interruption of a cognitive activity sets the stage for emotion. Mandler's theory is particularly applicable to mathematical problem-solving experiences. Mandler's linking of emotion to perception also makes emotion during problem solving an excellent candidate to be modeled with catastrophe theory. This hypothesis was tested using data collected during actual problem-solving experiences from 14 students in a graduate problem-solving class. Results showed that 74% of the variance in frustration level of the students was explained by the catastrophe model whereas only 46% was explained by the linear model.
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