Editorial

The self has been regarded as a central topic of scientific psychology since the early stages of the discipline at the end of the nineteenth century. James (1890) considered the self as the sum total of all what a person can call his: from beliefs about physical and mental powers to thoughts about all one’s possessions. He differentiated between (1) the constituents of the self, (2) the feelings and emotions they aroused and (3) the actions to which they prompt. In this issue of Educational Psychology, the spirit of James (1890) can still be recognised as current research papers are presented that fit into the classical frame of the self.

An important constituent of the self is the passion with which tasks are pursued to achieve academic success. Schellenberg and Bailis (2017) distinguish between harmonious passion, when the activity is self-determined and in line with one’s own identity, and obsessive passion, when the activity serves the desire for social recognition or self-esteem. People with passion achieve higher academic outcomes than those without passion, and harmonious passion is the most favourable form. Dinsmore (2017) devotes himself to metacognition and self-regulation, as two other components of the self, and investigates the metatheoretical assumptions applied to the study of these constructs. He inspects and compares theories, models and methods for examining metacognition, self-regulation and self-regulated learning and comes to remarkable conclusions.

Feelings and emotions belonging to the self can be influenced by appropriate intervention. Musset and Topping (2017) decided for the intervention of video interaction guidance to raise the awareness of teachers for the best possible promotion of all students in collaborative work phases. The analysis of the film excerpts had a positive effect on students’ group work and increased the self-esteem, especially of the younger students. Corkin, Horn, and Pattison (2017) implemented an innovative, active learning intervention in biology classes, thereby improving students’ perception of the motivational classroom climate, perceived value of the biology course and students’ feelings of self-efficacy.

The self is a valuable basis for learning and can prompt actions that lead to knowledge. Cheng (2017) found in his study – basing on an extended theory of planned behaviour – that students’ attitudes and past experiences were the best predictors of the intention to collaborate in online learning. Englert and Bertrams (2017) went the opposite way and documented that persons with a temporarily exhausted self, so-called ego-depletion, can remember less information from a memory task than persons with unaffected self-control strength. Thus, the self can promote and hinder learning and has to be regarded as a key concept for reaching academic success.

Finally, this issue is presenting studies that combine all three aspects mentioned by James (1890). Constituents of the self impact connecting variables which, in turn, support learning behaviours and learning outcomes. Engelschalk, Steuer, and Dresel (2017) demonstrate that the relationship between habitual use of motivation regulation strategies and academic performance is mediated by regulatory effectiveness and effort. Khong, Liem, and Klaasen (2017) found in their study a moderating instead of a mediating effect. Positive effects of collective efficacy on task performance were altered by the strength of individual members’ self-efficacy.

I would like to wish all readers lots of pleasure with the current research studies, whose roots can already be found in the reflections of James (1890). The contributions gathered here, with their diverse theoretical, methodological and interpretative finesse, keep his intellectual heritage alive. They document the role of the self as a central psychological object of knowledge, which will continue to be a cutting-edge topic even in the future.

Detlef Urhahne
[email protected]