AFFECTIVE LEARNING

Better definition of affect and related terms like emotion, motivation, caring, and so forth. Modern research of the last century, when Charles Darwin (1965) and William James (1992) devoted seminal works to describing emotion, anchoring its description in measurable bodily change and expressions. In the last century many cognitive scientists and psychologists have advanced theories and definition of emotion, motivation and other affective phenomena, nearly are hundred definition of emotion had been categorized as of 1981, when Don Norman (1981) wrote his now classic essay naming emotion is one of the twelve major challenges for cognitive science.

An assumption unusual in psychology today is that the subjective human being has an important value which is basic, that no matter how he may be labeled and evaluated he is a human person first of all and most deeply. There was are reaction against ‘scientific’ reduction, people being treated as object and rationalism. Instead the affective and subjective world was to be reaffirmed. Personal freedom, choice, motivation and feelings had to have their place. Affective learning is a part of humanistic psychology (Carl Rogers, 1962).

Affective Learning is in many ways a highly personal effort for each participant, the result is often a greater sense of belonging in relationship with other. As learner, we may reflect personally, but we validate our reflections socially, thereby creating lasting meaning. Cochrane (1981), demonstrate this principle in a study about the meaning derived from personal withdrawal experiences. Taylor (1998), concluded its in and through the disclosure one’s self to another than meaning develops and is enhanced. As Taylor indicates, if Cochrane’s conclusion are true, the transformation learning process does not lead to autonomy, but rather a deeper sense of connectedness to one another and to society.

Affective Learning reaches the emotional and belief system aspects of those who facilitate and participate in it. As an area of study, affective learning has been defined both by the types of educational objectives required in planning educational experiences, and through conceptual models show the range of impact possible.

Practitioners attempt to reach the affective domain when they write objectives which highlight a feeling tone, an emotion or a degree of acceptance or rejection, expressed as interests attitudes, appreciations, values and emotional sets or biases (Krathwohl et. al. 1964). These types of objectives are typically oriented toward participant feelings and they are often difficult to measure in proven terms. However, many teachers seem to possess an intuitive sense that these types of results are important, we simply want our students to appreciate what they are learning or feel good about themselves while in our classrooms.

In fact, teachers know through their own empirical practice that learning occur more often and to greater degree, when participants are involved emotionally and research in neuron-biology supports this connection (Davidson & Cacioppon, 1992). Without the emotive stimuli in the affective dimension, learners become bored, and may abdicate from sustained learning activities. Recognizing that a definition based only on non-measurable educational objectives resulted in a “meaningless” contribution to the field of learning theorists have expanded the consideration of affective learning to include conceptual models of this approach. One of the first of these models Krathwohl et.al. (1967).

This model propose a complex, multi-dimensional range which works its way from a simple awareness of a value to a highly integrated internalization of value systems or in Kelman (1958) terms form compliance to identification and internalization. Next to this general range the model propose a complimentary range of participant emotional involvement progressing from neutrality through mild emotion to strong emotion.

Finally, as the range climbs to higher levels, the participant transitions from lack of consciousness of the value to conscious awareness to an unconscious incorporation into one life and actions. Teachers see this model in action when during their teaching they see the ‘light bulb’ illuminate over their previously apathetic learning head. When that occurs he/she has moved a step further along the affective learning range.