A first step in teaching students to cope with inward involvement in a value conflict

This dissertation investigated the design characteristics of affective learning experiences that prepare college students for professional situations involving a conflict of values. The affective learning experiences – in which affect has both an inner, private aspect and an outer, public aspect – encourage students to focus on their own personal feelings and their personal values, as well as to participate in affective interactions in which they share with others what they feel. College curricula currently offer affective learning experiences about value conflicts from a primarily cognitivist perspective, where feelings are discussed objectively and externally in relation to the value conflict itself, rather than subjectively from within the person. As a result, students often experience inner distance when faced with a value conflict, which allows their unconscious feelings to influence their value-driven professional positions. Having students become aware of their own feelings regarding a value conflict enables them to be consciously affectively involved in value conflicts they may later encounter in their professional practice.