Individual Differences in Affective and Conative Functions

The human mind has long thought to have three aspects; cognition, conation, and affection (Hilgard, 1980). Although these aspects must ultimately be understood in combination, psychology has routinely divided attention among them. The division has limited progress in educational psychology, especially in work on individual differences in relation to learning and development, because it has encouraged research to focus exclusively on one or another aspect alone. Usually the focus has been on cognition. However, many important student aptitude and achievement differences are not strictly cognitive; many are affective or conative, and many may better be treated as blends. Important aspects of teacher and administrator functioning also go well beyond the cognitive.