Psychological factors have been implicated in STEM persistence but remain poorly understood. In particular, the role of self-regulation--the cognitive, behavioral, and emotional skills that allow individuals to work efficiently toward their desired goals, especially when under stress--has received minimal attention. Psychological factors may be…

In this study, we investigated how various teaching behaviors influence student interest as a situational variable. Specifically, we studied how behaviors related to "catch" interest (i.e., ephemeral aspects of the learning environment such as instructor humor, nonverbal immediacy, intellectual stimulation) and "hold" interest…

Instructors' use of humor is generally a positive influence on student outcomes. However, examinations of humor have found that specific types of messages may not impact, or may even reverse, its positive effect. Instructional humor processing theory (IHPT) has been used to explain how humor impacts student learning. The current study sought to…