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341). However, the term
has entered educational discourse in
relation to the work on the cognitive domain, whilst the companion work on the
affective domain (Krathwohl, Bloom, & Masia,
1968
) is generally less well known
or cited.
We might suspect that, in part, educators were less receptive to consider educa-
tional objectives in the affective domain when Bloom and colleagues
Bloom
s taxonomy
'
'
'
work was
first published. However, it is also possible that the taxonomy on the affective
domain was considered less useful or applicable for other reasons. Its authors
acknowledge both (1) that at the lowest levels of the taxonomy, it is difficult to
distinguish affective from cognitive factors and (2) that in places, the arrangement
of discrete categories within the affective domain typology into a hierarchy was
somewhat arbitrary.
It is especially relevant in the context of the present chapter to acknowledge, as
Bloom and colleagues realised, that it is difficult to think about the affective domain
in isolation from the cognitive. There is an obvious parallel, for example, between
the ideal of a consistent system of values (considered to be attained at the highest
level of the affective domain) and of a coherent conceptual framework, as both rely
upon the integrative function of human cognition (Wiltgen, Brown, Talton, & Silva,
2004
). If the taxonomy for the affective domain is seen as reflecting the develop-
ment of a coherent value system, then it seems strongly related to ethical and moral
development (Kohlberg & Hersh,
1977
), which are closely linked with other
aspects of intellectual development (Perry,
1970
). It is also possible to suggest a
tentative link between the higher levels of the typology of educational objectives in
the affective domain and the later version of Maslow
'
s hierarchy of needs (Maslow,
'
1943
) which posited a stage of transcendental
as a source of
human motivation (Koltko-Rivera,
2006
; Maslow,
1970
) beyond the need for self-
actualisation—i.e.
peak experiences
'
'
being highly engaged in what one does and having a sense of
meaning and purpose in one
'
'
slife
'
(Peterson and Park
2010
: 322). Whilst this
extension to Maslow
s theory has perhaps not received the attention it might have
deserved (Koltko-Rivera,
2006
), the notion that people may experience a state
called
'
flow
'
(Csikszentmihalyi,
1997
) when they engage in highly motivating
activities has become widely discussed.
'
2.1 Learners in Flow
It has been suggested that student learning experience can be characterised in terms
of how task demand matches student skill level (Nakamura,
1988
). Trivial tasks
lead to apathy: the tasks may get completed at some level, but without any care.
However, if students are set high-demand tasks, for which they lack the requisite
skills, then they get frustrated and experience anxiety (see Fig.
1
). Conversely, if
students with high skill levels are set tasks that make very limited demands on those
skills, they are likely to be bored. However, when a task makes high demands that
are matched by high levels of skill, students can potentially engage productively,
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