Registration does not begin until 02.10.2026 at 08:00. It ends on 12.10.2026 at 23:59.

The registration is restricted to the following fields or courses of study:

• Leuphana Bachelor / Major Psychology / nur ab Semester 5
• Leuphana Bachelor / Major Studium Individuale / nur ab Semester 3
• Leuphana Bachelor / Minor Studium Individuale / nur ab Semester 3

Emotion and Motivation: From Feelings to Action

What are emotions, how do they arise, and which functions do they serve? What motivates people to pursue certain goals, invest effort, or disengage—and how do emotions shape these processes?

Throughout the seminar, we will connect fundamental theories and models of emotion and motivation with recent empirical research from general psychology and social cognition. We will examine how emotions guide attention, goal pursuit, and behavior, and how goals, feedback, and self-regulatory processes, in turn, shape emotional experiences. Social comparison will serve as one central example of this interplay: How do comparisons with others provide information about goal progress, and when do they motivate people to increase effort, reduce effort, or disengage?

In a practical session, students will also learn about different methods of measuring emotions and explore the possibilities and limitations of automated facial-expression analysis.

The seminar combines theoretical input with student presentations of selected research articles, discussions, and applied exercises.

By the end of the seminar, students will be able to:
- describe and compare fundamental theories and models of emotion and motivation;
- explain how emotions, goals, feedback, and self-regulatory processes interact in shaping behavior;
- apply theories of emotion and motivation to social comparisons and other everyday situations;
- understand and critically evaluate current empirical research, including its theoretical assumptions, methods, and conclusions;
- distinguish between different approaches to measuring emotions

Further information on teaching evaluation: https://www.leuphana.de/en/teaching/quality-management/evaluation/course-evaluation.html