THE AFFECTIVE SYSTEM

Citation: Huitt, W. (2003). The affective system. Educational Psychology Interactive. Valdosta, GA: Valdosta State University. Retrieved [date], from http://www.edpsycinteractive.org/topics/affect/affsys.html

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Overview

Emotion is important in personal and social life (Izard, Kagan, & Zajonc, 1984), is very complex (Young, 1996), and has been an important topic of study throughout most of the history of psychology (Lazarus, 1993). Reiman and his associates (1997) demonstrated that particular parts of the brain are associated with different aspects of emotion. The term "emotional intelligence" has been coined to describe attributes and skills related to this concept (Koonce, 1996).

 Dictionary definitions of some important terms associated with the affective system demonstrate how difficult it is to clearly articulate what is meant by emotion:

• Affect--a feeling or emotion as distinguished from cognition, thought, or action.
• Emotion--an intense feeling; a complex and usually strong subjective response, as love or fear; a state of agitation or disturbance.
• Feeling--sensation perceived by the sense of touch; an indefinite state of mind; an affective state of consciousness, such as that resulting from emotions, sentiments, or desires; an emotional state or disposition; nonintellectual or subjective human response.
• Subjective--proceeding from or taking place within an individual's mind.

As is evident, many of the definitions refer to one of the other terms, resulting in a somewhat circular process of understanding the various aspects of emotions.

Similarly, definitions from psychology show how the concept of emotion requires reference to other faculties of mind as well as internal and overt behavior:

• Emotion--the application of mental processes to the world of feelings, interpersonal relationships, and inanimate objects to which the person is attached
• Emotions --complex, subjective experiences that have many components including physical, cognitive, organizing, and expressive, as well as highly personal, subjective meanings.

There are a number of classification systems of basic emotions compiled by a wide variety of researchers (e.g., Orony & Turner, 1990).  Krathwohl, Bloom, & Masia (1956) attempted to develop a taxonomy of the affective domain, similar to what Bloom and his colleagues (1956) developed for the cognitive domain, but it is really more a taxonomy of involvement and valuing than it is a taxonomy of emotions and emotional development. However, the study of values is an important topic for educators. Values, though an important component of moral character development, relate only to preferences or possible interests.  This is not the same as moral character, which is demonstrated in actual behavior.

Several other topics related to affective development include Erikson's (1950) theory of socioemotional development, Bandura's (1997) theory of self-efficacy, and important specific emotions such as optimism, enthusiasm, and empathy.

References:

• Bandura, A. (1997). Self-efficacy: The exercise of self-control. New York: W. H. Freeman & Co.
• Bloom, B., Englehart, M. Furst, E., Hill, W., & Krathwohl, D. (1956). Taxonomy of educational objectives: The classification of educational goals. Handbook I: Cognitive domain. New York, Toronto: Longmans, Green.
• Erikson, E. (1950). Childhood and society. New York: Norton.
• Izard, C. (1977). Human emotions. New York: Plenum.
• Izard, C., Kagan, J., & & Zajonc, R. (1984). Emotions, cognition, and behavior. New York: Cambridge University Press.
• Koonce, R. (1996). Emotional IQ, a new secret of success? Training & Development, 50(2), 19.
• Krathwohl, D., Bloom, B., & Masia, B. (1956). Taxonomy of educational objectives. Handbook II: Affective domain. New York: David McKay.
• Lazarus, R S. (1993). From psychological stress to the emotions: A history of changing outlooks. Annual Review of Psychology, 44, 1-21.
• Ortony, A., & Turner, T. J. (1990). What's basic about basic emotions? Psychological Review, 97, 315-331.
• Plutchik, R. (1980). Emotion: A psychoevolutionary analysis. New York: Harper & Row.
• Reiman, E., Lane, R., Ahern, G., Schwartz, G. and others. (1997). Neuroanatomical correlates of externally and internally generated human emotion. American Journal of Psychiatry, 154(7), 918-925. Retrieved April 1999, from http://earth4.galib.uga.edu:4000/QUERY:fcl=1::sessionid=23676:19:entityChkscreen=20:bad=html/Errormsg.html&term-an:=03319017?&tdbname=PARE:entityNewArticle=1:next=html/Article.html
• Young, C. (1996). Emotions and emotional intelligence. Cornell University. Retrieved April 1999, from http://trochim.human.cornell.edu/gallery/young/emotion.htm

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