Krathwohl’s

Taxonomy of the
Affective Domain
Krathwohl's Taxonomy of the Affective Domain is perhaps the
best known of any of the affective taxonomies.

“The taxonomy is ordered according to the principle

of internalization. Internalization refers to the
process whereby a person's affect toward an object
passes from a general awareness level to a point
where the affect is “internalized” and consistently
guides or controls the person’s behaviour.”

Seels and Glasgow (1990). Exercises in instructional design. Columbus OH: Merrill Publishing Company.
Krathwohl, D.R., Bloom, B.S., and Masia, B.B. (1964). Taxonomy of educational
objectives: Handbook II: Affective domain. New York: David McKay Co.
Receiving is being aware of, or sensitive to, the
existence of certain ideas, material, or
phenomena and being willing to tolerate them.
Examples include: to differentiate, to accept, to
listen (for), to respond to.
Responding is committing in some small
measure to the ideas, materials, or phenomena
involved by actively responding to them.
Examples are: to comply with, to follow, to
commend, to volunteer, to spend leisure time in,
to acclaim.
Valuing is willing to be perceived by others as
valuing certain ideas, materials, or phenomena.
Examples include: to increase measured
proficiency in, to relinquish, to subsidize, to
support, to debate.
Organisation is to relate the value to those
already held and bring it into a harmonious and
internally consistent philosophy. Examples are: to
discuss, to theorise, to formulate, to balance, to
examine.
Characterisation by value or value set is to
act consistently in accordance with the values he
or she has internalised. Examples include: to
revise, to require, to be rated high in the value, to
avoid, to resist, to manage, to resolve.
Programing with Krathwhol
The
ory

Once a knowledge of the taxonomy is developed the

transition from theory to practice can be made. Pra
c ti ce

The process of using nominated verbs when writing outcomes, where a

specific level of Bloom’s Taxonomy is developed, is already familiar.

The following slides list some verbs which could be used in learning outcomes
at each level in Krathwhol’s Taxonomy and show some product evidence
which demonstrates student achievement.
 Receiving
Learning Outcomes Product Evidence
feel, attend, listen, ask listening, note-taking,
concentrate, retain, participation, attendance
read, watch, experience,
focus
 Responding
Learning Outcomes
perform, react, interpret
seek to clarify, provide,
question, cite, experiment,
write
Product Evidence
forum-posts, discussion,
engagement, questions,
contributions,
interpretations, join-in,
active participation
 Valuing
Learning Outcomes Product Evidence

justify, persuade, refute, negotiation, decisions,

argue, challenge, study acceptance, compromise,
debate, criticise, confront, position-taking
differentiate, initiate,
choose, show respect for
 Organisation
Learning Outcomes
contrast, prioritise, build,
defend, adhere to,
formulate, reconcile,
develop, relate, modify,
arrange, synthesise, order
Product Evidence
personal view,
quantification, self-
evaluation, qualification of
beliefs, justification
Characterisation by Value Set

Learning Outcomes Product Evidence

influence, solve, serve, value-set, self-reliance,

discriminate, practise, consistency, journal, web-
display, verify, revise, act portfolio
 Comparison of Taxonomies
Krathwohl’s Affective Bloom’s Cognitive
Domain Domain
Receiving Remembering
Responding Understanding
Valuing Applying
Organisation Analysing, Evaluating
Characterisation Creating
Anderson, Krathwohl, Airasian, Cruikshank, Mayer, Pintrich, Raths, Wittrock, 2000; Pohl, 2000). See more
at:http://www.nwlink.com/~donclark/about/about.html
❖ In the comparison of Krathwohl’s Affective Domain with Bloom’s Cognitive
Domain:

● What similarities can you perceive?

● What differences do you observe in the taxonomies?

❖ The CEO document Catholic Social Teaching talks about faith in

action having three parts: see, judge, and act.

● How does this align with Krathwohl’s Taxonomy?