Skip to main content
Log in

Unleashing the Power of Positivity: How Positive Instructors Benefit Learning from Instructional Videos — A Meta-analytic Review

  • REVIEW ARTICLE
  • Published:
Educational Psychology Review Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

This meta-analysis explores the impact of positive instructors on learning from instructional videos. Both the contagion theory and the cognitive-affective theory of learning with media suggest that positive instructors can facilitate learning. This review analyzed 37 studies reporting various outcomes, including positive emotion, motivation, attention, cognitive load, learning experience, learning satisfaction, self-efficacy, and learning achievement. The overall findings revealed that positive instructors in instructional videos significantly enhanced learners’ positive emotion, motivation, learning experience, learning satisfaction, and learning achievement, and encouraged student attention to the instructor. However, no significant effect was found regarding attention paid to visual materials, cognitive load, and self-efficacy. A series of moderating effect analyses were also conducted. The results indicated that the impact of positive instructors is influenced by instructor characteristics and emotional expressions, as well as other factors independent of the instructors. These findings provide systematic evidence and practical insights for the design of effective instructional videos.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3

Similar content being viewed by others

Data Availability

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

References

* Articles were included in the current meta-analysis.

Download references

Funding

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China under Grant [62007023, 62177027]; the Social Science Foundation of Shaanxi Province under Grant [2020P021].

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Contributions

The authors of this research paper have made the following contributions to the study:

Author 1: Fangfang Zhu.

Conceptualization of the research project.

Data collection and analysis.

Interpretation of results.

Manuscript writing and revision.

Author 2: Zhongling Pi.

Literature review.

Theoretical framework development.

Data collection and analysis.

Manuscript writing and revision.

Author 3: Jiumin Yang.

Design and implementation of research methodology.

Data collection and analysis.

Manuscript writing and revision.

All authors have actively participated in the review and approval of the final manuscript. Each author has contributed significantly to the intellectual content and interpretation of the findings. The authors declare that they have no competing interests and have appropriately acknowledged all sources used in this study.

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Zhongling Pi or Jiumin Yang.

Ethics declarations

Conflicts of interest

There is no conflict of interest, as we conducted this study only as part of our research program.

Additional information

Publisher's Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Zhu, F., Pi, Z. & Yang, J. Unleashing the Power of Positivity: How Positive Instructors Benefit Learning from Instructional Videos — A Meta-analytic Review. Educ Psychol Rev 36, 47 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10648-024-09859-0

Download citation

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10648-024-09859-0

Keywords

Navigation