Emotions as motivators for information seeking: A conceptual analysis

1) IntroductionIn information seeking studies so far, affective factors have occupied a residual role.As Fisher and Landry (2007) aptly put it, "affect as a lens for understanding information behavior has always lurked predominantly in the field´s theoretical shadows" (p.211).Nevertheless, there are some prominent contributions to this area.Wilson (1981) was one of the first to identify affective needs as important motivators for information-seeking behavior.Similarly, Dervin´s (1983) sense-making theory mandated attention not only to the cognitive embodiment of information seeking, but to the emotional framings of knowing as well.Kuhlthau´s (1991) information search process (ISP) model is a landmark contribution demonstrating the constitutive role of affective factors such as feelings and mood.In recent years, there has been a growing interest in the theoretical elaboration of the affective factors in information seeking and use, as exemplified by Nahl´s (2007a;2007b) socialbiological information technology model.These studies share the assumption that affective factors can significantly motivate people´s ways of accessing, seeking and using information sources in diverse contexts such as work task performance and learning.The present study seeks to further elaborate the conceptual picture of affective factors as motivators for information seeking.More specifically, drawing on a conceptual analysis of major studies on affective factors in the context of information seeking research, this work specifies how positive and negative emotions and feelings such as joy, thrill, anxiety and fear give rise to information seeking or limit it.The research idea originates from a framework outlined by Dervin and Reinhard (2007).They introduced an insightful scheme by identifying eight major viewpoints on emotional factors in the fields of library and information science (LIS), and communication science.The viewpoints include, for example, task process => emotion, suggesting that emotions emerge out of the performance of task process, and emotion => activity, proposing that emotions give rise to activities such as information seeking.Since Dervin and Reinhard did not examine their assumptions in greater detail, their study opened the door to an opportunity for a deeper analysis. Problem statementThe present study concentrates on one of the viewpoints identified by Dervin and Reinhard (2007), that is, emotions => motivation (activating < = > inhibiting).This viewpoint was taken into closer consideration because it indicates in a nutshell how library and information scientists and communication researchers have approached the motivational roles of emotions.The study of this issue is important because the elaboration of the motivational aspects of emotions deepens our understanding about why people are willing to start, expand or stop information seeking and why they sometimes want to avoid information sources.