Abstract
Emotions have traditionally been characterized as inner, subjective, and physiological experiences, usually of an irrational nature. Against this subjectivist and physiological position, drawing on cultural psychology and anthropological research, in this article I advocate for a cultural conception of emotions and their role in thinking in general and mathematical thinking in particular. I argue that, rather than momentarily subjective phenomena, emotions (for instance, anger, frustration, love) are historically constituted. Emotions, I contend, are not opposed to thinking, but are an integral part of it. Emotions are as ubiquitous as breathing. I illustrate these ideas through the analysis of Grade 4 students working on a mathematical problem.
Like all other mental functions, emotions do not remain in the connection in which they are given initially by virtue of the biological organization of the mind. In the process of social life, feelings develop and former connections disintegrate; emotions appear in new relations with other elements of mental life. (Vygotsky 1999, p. 244)
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Notes
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The same can be said about guilt. Murphy’s studies suggest that spread of guilt in Africa during the first half of twentieth century was often associated with a new concept of self as promoted by Protestantism and proto-capitalist forms of production. Within this societal transformation led by new entrepreneurial activities, individuals came to conceive of themselves as planners and masters of their own actions. Unfolding under the presence of an “omniscient God who can read one’s thoughts” (Murphy 1978, p. 237), individuals conceptualized themselves as responsible for their actions, as opposed to a former worldview where actions were understood more in collective terms and events attributed to the collective, chance, bad luck, or witchcraft.
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This doesn’t mean, however, as one of my reviewers notes, “that emotions have to be seen only as the end of a (cultural) process.” Emotions are already there, with us; they evolve as we evolve into cultural subjects through subjectification processes, appearing—as Vygotsky suggested—in new relations with other elements of our whole life.
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Acknowledgments
This article is a result of a research programs funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC/CRSH). I wish to thank the reviewers of this article for their generous comments, help, and advice.
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Radford, L. (2015). Of Love, Frustration, and Mathematics: A Cultural-Historical Approach to Emotions in Mathematics Teaching and Learning. In: Pepin, B., Roesken-Winter, B. (eds) From beliefs to dynamic affect systems in mathematics education. Advances in Mathematics Education. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-06808-4_2
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