Abstract:

A potentially important but relatively unexplored factor in explaining human capital accumulation during college is mental state (health) problems. Recent empirical findings reveal the impact of mental state, i.e. positive mood, on the performance of the students in processing information. This kind of mental state facilitates cognitive process that leads to better learning performance and satisfaction. Positive mood facilitates complex cognitive functions requiring flexibility, integration, and utilization of cognitive material such as memory, categorization, creative problem solving, decision-making and learning. Little empirical research on students’ emotions and their effect on learning and academic performance is available that could guide the design of learning environments. This study extends the literature that has been done mostly in western societies by proposing a further linkage between positive and negative mood to students’ learning and the impact of that learning on student’s academic performance in Indonesian universities, which is rarely investigated in non-western societies. The data were collected by using questionnaires and a sample of 106 students who have mid-term examination (assessment) in their active academic semester. The result, based on analysis using structural equation modeling, indicates that the tested model has an acceptable fit. The findings also indicate that (1) positive mood has no influence on learning, (2) negative mood has negative influence on learning, and (3) learning has positive influence on student’s academic performance.