Three Domains of Learning

Cognitive, Affective, Psychomotor

Leslie Owen Wilson

There are three main domains of learning and all teachers should know about them and use them to construct
lessons. These domains are COGNITIVE (thinking), AFFECTIVE (emotion/feeling), and PSYCHOMOTOR
(physical/kinesthetic).

The COGNITIVE DOMAIN includes content knowledge and the development of intellectual skills. This
includes the recall or recognition of specific facts and concepts that serve developing intellectual abilities
and skills. Commonly known as Bloom’s Taxonomy, the domain of cognition was originally described by
Benjamin Bloom, who described cognitive activity as falling within a hierarchy:

Knowledge → Comprehension → Application → Analysis → Synthesis → Evaluation

The taxonomy was revised in 2001:

Remembering → Understanding → Applying → Analyzing → Evaluating → Creating

The AFFECTIVE DOMAIN is concerned with feelings or emotions. The taxonomy is arranged from simpler
feelings to those that are more complex:

1. Receiving – referring to sensitivity to stimuli

2. Responding – the active response to stimuli
3. Valuing – acceptance, preference, belief, or respect for concepts, individuals
4. Organization – personal prioritizing of beliefs or understandings
5. Characterization – acting upon internalized beliefs

PSYCHOMOTOR DOMAIN objectives are those specific to discreet physical functions, reflex actions and
interpretive movements. These types of objectives are concerned with physically encoding information,
with movement and/or with activities where the gross and fine muscles are used for expressing or
interpreting information or concepts. This area also refers to natural, autonomic responses or reflexes:
• Reflex movements – involuntary movement; subconscious actions
• Fundamental movements – movements related to walking, running, jumping, manipulating
• Perceptual abilities – visual, auditory, tactile, or coordination abilities as they are related to the
ability to receive information
• Physical abilities – related to endurance, flexibility, agility, strength, dexterity
• Skilled movements – skills and movements for sports, dances, performances, or the arts
• Non-discursive communications – expressive movements like those in mime or ballet