Emotional positioning as a cognitive resource for arguing

Abstract

This paper consists of a detailed analysis of how the participants in a debate build their emotional position during the interaction and how such a position is strongly related to the conclusion they defend. In this case study, teenage Mexican, students, arguing about access to drinking water, display extensive discursive work on the emotional tonality given to the issue. Plantin’s (2011) methodological tools are adopted to follow two alternative emotional framings produced by disagreeing students, starting from a common, highly negative, thymic tonality. Through the analysis of four parameters (distance to the problem; causality/agentivity; possibility of control and conformity to the norms) we describe how the emotional dimension of schematization (Grize 1997) is argumentatively relevant. In authentic discourse, it is impossible to separate emotion from reason. The conclusion section discusses the implications for the design of argumentation-based pedagogical activities.

Argumentation Competence: Students’ Argumentation Knowledge, Behavior and Attitude and their Relationships with Domain-Specific Knowledge Acquisition

“…Contrary to our expectations, students' knowledge, behavior and attitude toward argumentation did not present significant relationships at pretest or post-test. It is striking that attitude toward argumentation was not related to knowledge and behavior, as previous research indicates that students' attitude (e.g., psychological, emotional, motivational, and social barriers) may affect argumentative discourse activities (Baumeister & Scher, 1988;Gilbert, 2004;Leith & Baumeister, 1996;Polo et al, 2016Polo et al, , 2017Rourke & Kanuka, 2007). Similarly, the (lack of) compensation participants receive for their participation may play a role.…”

“…In addition, if students are emotionally attached to the topic under discussion (e.g., controversial issues like genetically modified food, animal testing or politics), argumentation may prove unfruitful, complicated, or even impossible (Baumeister & Scher, 1988;Leith & Baumeister, 1996). In contrast, emotions may also result in successful and fruitful argumentation as students use their emotions as a resource to argue (Polo et al, 2016;Polo, Plantin, Lund, & Niccolai, 2017) or operate on the reasoning of their learning partners to highlight or make more salient socio-cognitive conflicts related to their individual positions regarding the controversial issue at stake (Fischer, Bruhn, Gr€ asel, & Mandl, 2002;Weinberger, Ertl, Fischer, & Mandl, 2005).…”

Los aportes de Christian Plantin al estudio de las emociones y su relevancia para el análisis de los medios

“…En otro texto en colaboración con Polo, Lund y Nicolai (2017) especifica que algunos estudios empíricos recientes basados en el discurso genuino describen una fuerte presencia de emociones en la argumentación, lo que lleva a un análisis más complejo de sus funciones argumentativas. Por lo que, desde una perspectiva descriptiva, esta línea de investigación no pretende ni juzgar la validez de los argumentos, ni la descripción del estado emocional de la gente, lo que más bien se pretende es entender cómo es que los interactuantes utilizan las emociones para argumentar su discurso (Polo, et al 2017).…”

L’exploration de controverses comme argumentation socio-cognitivo-émotionelle : débattre de la gestion de l’eau potable de façon constructive

“…Longtemps, les émotions ont été reléguées, dans une approche critique de l'argumentation, au statut d'indices de raisonnement potentiellement fallacieux. Cependant, les études empiriques, fondées sur des argumentations authentiques, ont mis au jour la prégnance des affects (Plantin, 2011, Polo et al, 2013, 2017. La logique affective procède ici par faisceaux d'indices, faisant souvent appel à l'inférence, et cadrant le débat.…”

“…Le premier s'est attaché à caractériser ce qui relève de l'exploration collective de CSS de façon constructive, sur l'ensemble du corpus international (Polo, 2020). La seconde a procédé par monographies pour chaque corpus national, portant sur les échanges à l'échelle de la classe entière, se développant sur une durée plus longue davantage propice pour rendre compte du co-développement de positions émotionnelles et argumentatives (Polo et al, 2013(Polo et al, , 2017. Cependant, une réflexion sur les fonctions sociales et cognitives des émotions en groupe a vite émergé (Polo et al, 2016b).…”