Emotions and Self-Regulation During Test Taking

Lifelong, self-regulated learning has been a topic of considerable interest in educational psychology. However, one area of self-regulation that has received less attention is the process of regulating emotions. The goal of this article is to explicate a model of self-regulation that incorporates recent theory and research on emotions and emotional regulation. From the perspective presented, emotions and our regulation of them are directly involved in self-regulation and, therefore, need to play a more important role in current research and theory on the nature of goal-directed, lifelong, self-regulated learning. A general model of self-regulation is described, followed by a discussion of current views about the nature of emotional regulation during test taking. This is followed by a discussion of research during the phases of test taking. Finally, conclusions and areas for future research are discussed.