Emotion and Cognition: Impact on Education

Education has long been a field marked by a clear separation of cognition from emotion. Much of this stems from behaviorist learning theories in learning is broken down into discreet tasks. The behaviorist tradition did not take into consideration the affective domain. "As behaviorism became more dominant in the field, affect was discounted; indeed, there were those who wished to exclude affect from scientific study altogether" (Brown and Farber, as quoted in McLeod, 1991). More recently, educators have adopted a more cognitive learning theory that accounts for individuals constructing their own meaning in the course of their learning. The cognitivists brought the affective domain to learning situations, but have not given it the emphasis that it is due in terms of playing a part in assisting learning. "Schools continue to operate on the theory that 'cognitive' & 'academic' are synonymous and both are apart from [emotions]" (Coles, 1999).

Today schools continue to focus on measurable, rational qualities as evidenced by most grade reporting practices and the pervasiveness of standardized testing. This emphasis on the cognitive to the exclusion of emotion is seen too often in schools that choose to cut out arts programs when budgets get tight as these expressive subjects are difficult to quantify (Sylwester 1994). "While goal statements [of schools today] may include concern for such concepts as self-esteem, social relations, and cultural awareness, the fact remains that curricular plans are nearly always based on the learning of skills and content within various disciplines of knowledge" (Coles, 1999). According to Chester Finn, longtime advocate for standards-based education, emotional growth will come through academic progress. He believes that teachers should provide vigorous academic instruction and that the confidence and self-esteem of students will automatically follow their success in the classroom (Coles, 1999).

The fact that schools have chosen to recognize a false supremacy of cognition over emotion has strongly impacted the instruction and classroom management that occurs on a daily basis. In 1984, John Goodland completed a survey of contemporary schools. Goodland's impression was that "classes generally tend not to be strongly positive or strongly negative places. Enthusiasm and joy and anger are kept under control" (Coles 1999). Even today considerable time is spent controlling or getting rid of students' emotions. "Because we don't fully understand our emotional system, we don't know exactly how to regulate it in school, beyond defining too much or too little emotion as misbehavior" (Sylvester, 1994).

"Schools, traditionally, cater to those who have the affective behaviors required to succeed. If students do not buy into the standards set for appropriate behavior, they are disciplined or relegated to alternative programs which have perhaps more freedom but lower expectations that these students will actually move back into the mainstream" (Wager, 1998, p. 16). Wager (1998, p.16) goes on to caution that this inattention to the emotional influence on learning leads not only to learning problems in students, but also to larger social problems facing the United States. "Learning problems in children are early warning signs that social intervention is going to be necessary if these students are going to develop in a positive direction." He proposes that the first steps to be taken in correcting this problem in schools is to recognize the complexity of the affective / cognitive connection so that educators and instructional designers can build learning environments which are supportive of knowledge and also which teach students about success and recognition (Wager 1998).

Many educators and instructional designers, like Wager, are bucking the current thought collective which separates cognition and emotion in schools and are calling for curriculum that recognizes that these concepts are linked. "Education must be affective and cannot be otherwise. Affect enters the curriculum in any experience that influences (or attempts to influence) how young people see themselves, the world around them, and their place in the world" (Beane, 1990, as quoted in Coles, 1999).

The integration of emotion into traditional cognitively focused classrooms can improve student learning. Much of this integration began to spread among schools under the title of brain-based research. For example, students are aware how they and others experience emotions and some teachers use this in their instruction. "The simple use of 'why' in a question turns the discussion away from bare facts & toward motivations and emotions" (Sylwester, 1994).

This research points to activities that emphasize social interaction and engage the whole body as providing emotional support for students as they learn. Such activities might look like games, cooperative learning, or field trips. Yet, while educators know that such activities enhance learning, "we tend to think of them as special rewards, and so withdraw them when students misbehave, or when budgets are tight" (Sylwester, 1994). Typically this withdrawal of reward-type activities is the result of students expressing too much emotion in the classroom and thus being deemed "unruly." Educators also recognize that activities that draw out emotions may provide important contextual prompts to assist learning. "We tend to practice fire drills in an announced, emotionally charged setting: in the event of a real fire, students will have to perform in that kind of setting." These emotionally charged activities must be carefully examined so as not to provide an overwhelming emotionally stressed school environment, which reduces students' abilities to learn (Sylwester, 1994).

Overall, education is beginning to make strides to link emotion and cognition in schools. In doing so, educators and decision makers must work hard to overcome the years of hegemony built into our current traditional school system. As the use of emotion to enhance learning becomes more widespread, perhaps educators can begin to look at the next hurdles: emotion and cognition existing solely in the individual head.