Methodologies of affective classification

Three methodologies to classify the affective domain are reviewed: phenetic, cladistic, and ontological. The merits and seeming deficiencies of these approaches are analyzed, and illustrative applications of these methodologies are presented. A systems analysis of the affective domain is proposed as most adequately performing the classification functions of grouping elements to emphasize their autonomy and homonomy, indicate their nature and degree of relatedness, and structurally represent abstract conceptualizations of this domain.