Enhancing Learner Self-Esteem for Learning Improvements

In this paper, we propose to integrate the self esteem component within learning process. The goal was to introduce a new strategy to enhance learner self esteem while interacting with a tutoring system. This approach is based on a subliminal, non consciously perceived, self esteem conditioning priming method. We conducted an experimental study to measure the effect of this strategy on participant self esteem and analyze its impact on learning performance. We have also monitored participants’ physiological activity to analyze the effects of our approach on learner affective state. In recent years, Intelligent Tutoring System researchers have accorded an increasing interest to learner affect. Several works focused on affective student modeling using a variety of physical cues to recognize affective state (Picard, 1997) including observable changes like face expressions, body postures, vocal tones, and physiological signal changes such as heart rate, skin conductivity, temperature, and brain electrical activity. Ultimately, the goal is to properly adapt tutorial interventions to improve learner performance. On the other side, many educators and pedagogues advocate the benefits of self-esteem on learner self-confidence and academic achievement and success (Hansford and Hattie, 1982). Literature differentiates between explicit self-esteem and implicit self-esteem (Dijksterhuis, 2004). The former is based on conscious mode of thinking and can be measured by means of questionnaires, whereas the latter is the result of automatic self-evaluative process and can be assessed with indirect measures. Unlike explicit measures which are based on generally biased self-report, implicit measures are based on unconscious attitude toward the self (Dijksterhuis, 2004). These latter are mostly used in unconscious process based researches. Their basic assumption lies on the existence of a threshold-line of conscious perception. The idea is that a stimulus below this threshold of awareness, also called subliminal stimulus cannot be consciously perceived but can yield affective reactions without awareness (Del Cul, Baillet and Dehaene, 2007). This technique is known as subliminal priming. It has been applied in different contexts (Hassin, Uleman and Bargh, 2005) including self-esteem conditioning (Dijksterhuis, 2004) and learning improvement (Chalfoun and Frasson, 2008). In this paper, we propose to integrate the implicit selfesteem component within learning process. More precisely, the aim is to enhance learner self-esteem while interacting with a tutoring system, using a subliminal priming strategy. The hypothesis we establish is that this method can improve learner performance. We propose to build an experiment with a subliminal self-esteem conditioning priming strategy. Our questions are the following: can subliminal priming enhance participants’ measured implicit self-esteem? Can this strategy produce a positive effect on learning performance? Is there any effect on learners’ affective states?