The role of epistemic feelings in the context of skill and competence development

In this paper, a theoretical approach to intuitive processes of skillful performance is developed. It integrates cognitive and non-cognitive facets (specifically epistemic feelings) and provides a foundation for modeling the development of students’ situation-specific skills, such as decision-making, problem-solving, and critical thinking. As part of this framework, two forms of epistemic feelings are distinguished: prospect-based and confirmatory feelings. Their contributions to the process of skillful performance is explained in the context of intuitive decision-making. As a result, intuitive processes may become falsifiable and their investigation can be linked to human rationality. In this respect, epistemic feelings such as surprise, confidence, relief or regret can be considered part of competence facets that can be addressed through pedagogical instruction and fostered in the course of professional development. In this paper, a theoretical approach integrating cognitive and non-cognitive competence facets is developed. It provides a foundation for modeling the development of students’ skills such as (intuitive) decision-making, problem-solving or critical thinking. In this context, epistemic feelings play an important role as they are involved in the process of assessing the goodness of decisions or solutions that individuals make intuitively. As a result, such intuitive processes may become falsifiable, and their development can be linked to specific facets of models of student competence.