Effects of negative media reports on pre-service teachers' course value

Abstract

Numerous studies have demonstrated the malleability of utility values. Additionally, the expectancy value theory model does include the influence of emotions. However, emotional influence on utility values has been understudied. The purpose of this study was to assess the potential effects of emotion on utility value. The population of education majors (preservice teachers) was chosen and recent teacher strikes were used as the background for salient emotional event. In an experimental design, one group read a positively valenced emotional prompt and the second group read a negatively valenced prompt both with distractor prompts. Paired t-tests were conducted for both groups and did not find significant differences in utility values of either group. Study limitations and implications of results are discussed.