Interest Theory

Interest consists of being in a state of attention and affect (usually positive responses) towards a certain subject, topic, or object. The psychological process can be defined in four phases that build upon each other to increase interest and establish developed personal interests. There are two types of interest which include individual interests and situational interests. Situational interest is an increase in attention and engagement based on stimuli while individual interests are explained as having a tendency to engage with something over time. Interest is important within the classroom and can greatly affect student learning engagement and motivation to learn (Harackiewicz et al., 2016) .