In this essay, I intend to study the building process of a reader, and writer in which process the

subjects are surrounded by one another, and the context they are found in. Since it is impossible to
separate all the aspects involved in the learning process, it is essential to address the roles emotion
and affection may play in it. This is a not an easy task due to the relative newness of this approach in
education; besides, even my keen educator eye still cannot detect all the complexity of this path.
Since an individual is a synthesis of several variables built separately, and at the same time, lives
within a social context, it is vital to understand the history behind such individual, and the dialectic
relationship created by it. In this regard, the theory of emotion proclaimed by Wallon (1995) brings
some points to reflect upon. Emotion was perceived in a paradoxical way; sometimes as a disunited
element of action, and sometimes as a catalytic unifying element of action. Instead of taken one side
or another on the argument, Wallon suggested that this same paradoxical aspect of the emotion is
essentially the key which promotes the unifying element of action in an individual’s behavior.
According to Wallon, emotion cannot be seem as an isolated part of personality but as an integral
part to the functioning of intelligence, motricity and social aspects of the personality. Consequently,
emotion is fundamental to the survival of the human species since it creates basic interpersonal
connections, and at the same time, it establishes the union and separation among the individuals in
the learning process of reality. Wallon, as stated before, does not perceive a child in a fragmented
manner. Thus when analyzing affective aspects, one cannot ignore other foundations of an
individual character: the biological, the social, and the cognitive. A complete individual in his/her
dialectic unity compiles these four aspects making it difficult to analyze any of them separately. In
other words, motion alternates between two aspects of human beings build up within an
environment. The first, called emotional motricity, allows reactions to external situations by using
appropriate movements and also by 1 Text taken from Master Degree dissertation “Emotion and
writing: threads that weave the same plot”, by Marlene Coelho Alexandroff 2 helping a child with
his/hers interactions with the physical and the social setting they are in. The second, called
emotional sensibility, allows a child to conceptualize the physical world internally through his
experiences and changing it according to his/her needs, or to the needs of the group they live in.
Therefore, says Wallon (1968 page 148) “it is the emotion which creates the different nuances of
reality. Yet it is the external events that most likely produce the power to unleash such emotions”. In
order to better understand the complete scope of the emotion theory in accordance with Wallon’s
perspective, it is important to distinguish the difference between affection and emotion. (Wallon,
1995). Affection is more comprehensive than emotion, and it can be expressed it in many ways,
especially after language acquisition. In a baby, affection is expressed through emotion in order to
get its basic needs satisfied – Wallon says that emotion is the language used before speech
development happens. Humans stay dependent on the care others for a long time. A language based
on emotion is established between mother and child, and little by little the child develops an
awareness of oneself and the world around it. In this light, language is built through awareness and
cognition. As time goes by, affection starts to grow independently of bodily functions or needs;
therefore, emotion can be expressed through speech and other manifestations without the need for
visible corporal changes. The emotion phase is the most archaic one in the development stages.
When leaving the purely organic state, one is an emotional being. Slowly, the rational side emerges.
In the first years of life, emotion and intelligence are combined and yet affection is still predominant.
In fact, both emotion and intelligence alternate roles and they mutually influence different aspects
of a child’s development – affection will flow back to make space for cognition and vice versa. As a
result, in each period or stage of development there will be the outweighin