The positivity principle: do positive instructors improve learning from video lectures?

The positivity principle states that people learn better from instructors who display positive emotions rather than negative emotions. In two experiments, students viewed a short video lecture on a statistics topic in which an instructor stood next to a series of slides as she lectured and then they took either an immediate test (Experiment 1) or a delayed test (Experiment 2). In a between-subjects design, students saw an instructor who used her voice, body movement, gesture, facial expression, and eye gaze to display one of four emotions while lecturing: happy (positive/active), content (positive/passive), frustrated (negative/active), or bored (negative/passive). First, learners were able to recognize the emotional tone of the instructor in an instructional video lecture, particularly by more strongly rating a positive instructor as displaying positive emotions and a negative instructor as displaying negative emotions (in Experiments 1 and 2). Second, concerning building a social connection during learning, learners rated a positive instructor as more likely to facilitate learning, more credible, and more engaging than a negative instructor (in Experiments 1 and 2). Third, concerning cognitive engagement during learning, learners reported paying more attention during learning for a positive instructor than a negative instructor (in Experiments 1 and 2). Finally, concerning learning outcome, learners who had a positive instructor scored higher than learners who had a negative instructor on a delayed posttest (Experiment 2) but not an immediate posttest (Experiment 1). Overall, there is evidence for the positivity principle and the cognitive-affective model of e-learning from which it is derived.