Affective Neuropedagogy: Enhancing the Role of Neuroscience in Emotional Literacy Programs

• In Event: Roundtable Session 31
  In Roundtable Session: Issues in Brain, Neuroscience, and Education

Abstract

The current application and practice of emotional literacy lacks a theoretical model to guide research and pedagogy. The Somatic Appraisal Model of Affect, based on Damasio’s Somatic Appraisal Theory and Lazarus’ Cognitive-Motivational-Relational Theory, provides a theoretical foundation on which to build and enhance curriculum that addresses the affective needs of students. SAMA relies on the findings of neuroscience and neuropsychology to explain how emotion and cognition interact; to delineate the types, terminology, and neural components of affect; as well as to create a framework for the cognitive understanding and management of emotion, the goal of emotional literacy programs. Affective neuropedagogy refers to the practice of learning and teaching about affect with brain-body function in mind.

Author

• Kathryn Elizabeth Patten, Simon Fraser University