Development of achievement emotions

Children and adolescents frequently experience emotions such as enjoyment, hope, pride, anger, anxiety, shame, or boredom in school. Similarly, achievement situations at work or in sports during adulthood can evoke intense emotions. Using Pekrun’s (2006, 2021) control-value theory of achievement emotions as a theoretical framework, this chapter reviews developmental research on these emotions. The findings show that achievement emotions develop early and continue to unfold during childhood and adolescence. This development is shaped by success and failure on achievement tasks, related cognitive appraisals, and social environments in school, at work, and in the family. Achievement emotions, in turn, influence individuals’ attention, motivation, use of strategies, self-regulation when performing tasks, and long-term achievement outcomes. The chapter also discusses how achievement emotions, their outcomes, and their antecedents are linked by reciprocal causation over time, how they can be regulated, and to what extent they are universal. In closing, directions for future research are outlined.

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