The Affective Domain

The Affective Domain

" The affective domain includes objectives which describe changes in interest, attitudes and values, and the development of appreciations and adequate adjustment. This domain has a pattern of development similar to the cognitive domain. At the lowest level, the child is merely aware of the fact that other people have particular attitudes and values. As children progress through personal experience, they slowly develop affective ideas which are uniquely their own. Again, it is felt that teaching should be directed towards this end rather than merely indoctrinating the child with the attitudes and values held by the teacher. Although some people would hold that there are some values which must be indoctrinated - respect for others' rights, honesty etc. - there is a school of thought which would seek to have these attitudes and values achieved by the child without this approach, through a process of development and clarification. This domain relates to objectives concerned with interest, attitudes and values. The five levels of the affective domain from the simplest to the most complex are as follows: Receiving: Sensitivity to certain stimuli and a willingness to receive or attend to them. Responding: Involvement in a subject or activity or event to the extent of seeking it out, working with it or engaging in it. Valuing: Commitment to or conviction in certain goals, ideas or beliefs. Organisation: Organisation of values into a system, awareness of relevance of and relations between appropriate values and the establishment of dominant personal values. Characterisation by a Value Complex: Integration of beliefs, ideas and attitudes into a total philosophy of world view."