The affective domain involves our feelings, emotions, and

attitudes, and includes the manner in which we deal with things

emotionally (feelings, values, appreciation, enthusiasm,
motivations, and attitudes). Affective Domain is part of a system
that was published in 1965 for identifying, understanding, and
addressing how people learn. It describes learning objectives
that emphasize a feeling tone, an emotion, or a degree of
acceptance or rejection.

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 1. The Taxonomy in
the Affective Domain

• The taxonomy in the affective domain contains a large

number of objectives in the literature expressed as
interests, attitudes, appreciations, values, and emotional
sets or biases. (Krathwohl et al, 1964). The description of
each step in the taxonomy culled from Krathwohl’s
taxonomy of the Affective Domain (1964) is given as
follows.

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 Taxonomy in the Affective Domain
Is being aware of or sensitive to the existence of certain ideas, material, or
Receiving phenomena and being willing to tolerate them. Examples include: to
differentiate, to accept, to listen (for), to respond to.
Is committed in some small measure to the ideas, material, or phenomena
Responding involved by actively responding to them. Examples are: to comply with, to
follow, to comment, to volunteer, to spend leisure time in, to acclaim.
Is willing to be perceived by others as attaching importance to certain ideas,
Valuing materials, or phenomena. Examples include: to increase measured
proficiency in, to relinquish, to subsidize, to support, and to debate.
Is relating the value to those already held and bring it into a harmonious and
Organization internally consistent philosophy. Examples are: to discuss, to theorize, to
formulate, to balance, to examine.
By value or value set is to act consistently in accordance with the values he or
Characterization she has internalized. Examples include: to revise, to require, to be rated high
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in the value, to avoid, to resist, to manage, to resolve.
https://mason.gmu.edu/~ndabbagh/cehdcl
ass/Resources/IDKB/krathstax.htm 5
Affective desired learning competencies are often stated in the form of
instructional objectives:
• Instructional objectives are specific, measurable, short-term,
observable student behaviors.
• Objectives are the foundation upon which you can build lessons and
assessments that you can prove meet your overall course or lesson
goals.
• Think of objectives as tools you use to make sure you reach your goals.
They are the arrows you shoot toward your target goal.

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• The purpose of objectives is not to restrict spontaneity or constraint the
vision of education in the discipline; but to ensure that learning is
focused clearly enough that both students and teacher know what is
going on, and so learning can be objectively measured. Different
archers have different styles, so different teachers. Thus, you can shoot
your arrows (objectives) in many ways. The important thing is that they
reach your target (goals) and score that bullseye!

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Each level of the affective domain is given a description in an
example of an appropriate objective or learning competency is
provided. Notice that it is far more difficult to state an objective in
the affective domain because they often refer to feelings and
internal processes of the mind and body that cannot be tested and
measured using traditional methods.

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 LEVEL DEFINITION EXAMPLE

Receiving Being aware of or attending to Individual would read a book

something in the environment passage about civil rights.
Responding Showing some new behaviors Individual would answer questions about
as a result of experience the book, read another book by the
same author, another book, about civil
rights, etc.

Valuing Showing some definite The individual might demonstrate this by

involvement or commitment voluntarily attending a lecture on civil
rights.

Organization Integrating a new value into
one’s general set of values,
giving it some ranking among
one’s general priorities.
Characterization Acting consistently with the
by value new value
The individual might arrange a civil
rights rally.
The individual is firmly committed to the
value, perhaps becoming a civil rights
leader.

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The Taxonomy in Affective Domain
Provided below are some examples of verbs or
behavioral terms that can be used to express
learning competencies or objectives in the
affective domain. Behavioral terms tend to
simplify the assessment and measurement
methodologies that are suggested in this lesson.
Behavioral objectives focus on observable
behaviors which can then be easily translated in
quantitative terms.
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 Receiving Responding Valuing Organization Characterization

• Accept • Complete • Accept • Codify • Internalize

• Attend • Comply • Defend • Discriminate • Verify

• Cooperate • Display
• Develop • Devote
• Discuss • Order
• Recognize • Pursue
• Examine • Organize
• Seek
• Obey • Systematize

• Respond • Weigh
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Figure 2- Behavioral Verbs Appropriate for the Affective Domain
In the affective domain, and in particular, when we consider learning
competencies, we also consider the following focal concepts:

Attitudes
Attitudes are defined as a mental predisposition to act that is expressed by
evaluating a particular entity with some degree of favor or disfavor. Individuals
generally have attitudes that focus on objects, people or institutions. Attitudes are
also attached to mental categories. Mental orientations towards concepts are
generally referred to as values. Attitudes are comprised of four components:

A. Cognitions – Cognitions are our beliefs, theories, expectancies, cause-

and-effect beliefs, and perceptions relative to the focal object. This concept is not
the same as “feelings” but just a statement of beliefs and expectations which vary
from one individual to the next.
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B. Affect- the affective component refers to our feeling with respect to the focal
object such as fear, liking, or anger. For instance, the color “blue” evokes different
feelings for different individuals: some like the color blue but others do not. Some
associate the color blue with “loneliness” while others associate it with “calm and
peace”.
C. Behavioral Intentions- Behavioral intentions are our goals, aspirations, and our
expected responses to the attitude object.
D. Evaluation- Evaluations are often considered the central component of attitudes.
Evaluations consist of the imputation of some degree of goodness or badness to an
attitude object. When we speak positive or negative attitude toward an object, we are
referring to the evaluative component. Evaluations are a function of cognitive, affect
and behavioral intentions of the object. It is most often the evaluation that is stored in
memory, often without the corresponding cognitions and affect that were responsible
for its formation (Robert Scholl, University of Rhode Island , 2002).
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 Why study Attitudes?

Attitudes can influence the way we act and think in the social communities we
belong. They can function as frameworks and references performing conclusions and
interpreting or acting for or against an individual; Individuals, a concept or an idea.
For instance, think about your attitudes toward “drinking alcoholic beverages” or
“gambling” or “going on an all-night bar hopping spree every night. Or, perhaps,
think about your attitude towards mathematics and mathematical equations. Do
these attitudes shape the way you think and correspondingly act? What is your
response? How is your response informed by each of these attitudes?
Several studies in the past, for instance concluded that poor performance in school
mathematics cannot be strictly attributable to differential mental abilities but to the
students attitudes toward the subject. When mathematics classes are recited,
students with negative attitude towards mathematics tend to pay less attention and
occupy their minds with something else. Thus, attitudes may influence behavior.
People will behave in ways consistent with their attitudes.
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To be continued…

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