Affect (psychology)
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"Affective" redirects here. For other uses, see Affect (disambiguation).
Affect refers to the experience of feeling or emotion.[unreliable source?][1] Affect is a key part of the process of an organism's interaction with stimuli. The word also refers sometimes to affect display, which is "a facial, vocal, or gestural behavior that serves as an indicator of affect" (APA 2006).
The affective domain represents one of the three divisions described in modern psychology: the cognitive, the conative, and the affective. Classically, these divisions have also been referred to as the "ABC of psychology",[citation needed] in that case using the terms "affect", "behavior", and "cognition". In certain views, the conative may be considered as a part of the affective,[citation needed] or the affective as a part of the cognitive.[citation needed]
Contents |
Theoretical perspective
The term "affect" can be taken to indicate an instinctual reaction to
stimulation occurring before the typical cognitive processes considered
necessary for the formation of a more complex emotion. Robert B. Zajonc
asserts this reaction to stimuli is primary for human beings, and that
it is the dominant reaction for lower organisms. Zajonc suggests
affective reactions can occur without extensive perceptual and cognitive
encoding, and can be made sooner and with greater confidence than
cognitive judgments (Zajonc, 1980).
Many theorists (e.g., Lazarus, 1982) consider affect to be
post-cognitive. That is, affect is thought to be elicited only after a
certain amount of cognitive processing of information has been
accomplished. In this view, an affective reaction, such as liking,
disliking, evaluation, or the experience of pleasure or displeasure,
is based on a prior cognitive process in which a variety of content
discriminations are made and features are identified, examined for their
value, and weighted for their contributions (Brewin, 1989). Some
scholars (e.g., Lerner and Keltner 2000) argue that affect can be both
pre- and post-cognitive, with thoughts being produced by initial
emotional responses, and further affect being produced by the thoughts.
In a further iteration, some scholars argue that affect is necessary to
enable more rational modes of cognition (e.g., Damasio 1994).
A divergence from a narrow reinforcement model for emotion allows for
other perspectives on how affect influences emotional development.
Thus, temperament, cognitive development, socialization patterns, and the idiosyncrasies
of one's family or subculture are mutually interactive in non-linear
ways. As an example, the temperament of a highly reactive/low
self-soothing infant may "disproportionately" affect the process of
emotion regulation in the early months of life (Griffiths, 1997).
In the last decade, the concept has been adopted in some other disciplines in the social sciences such as Geography and Anthropology. Building largely on the work of Deleuze,
the focus on affect has brought emotional and visceral concerns into
conventional discourses of geopolitics, urban life and material culture,
for example. Affect has also challenged methodologies of the social
sciences, emphasizing somatic power over the idea of a removed
objectivity, and therefore has strong ties with the contemporary non-representational theory.[citation needed]
History
A number of experiments have been conducted in the study of social
and psychological affective preferences (i.e., what people like or
dislike). Specific research has been done on preferences, attitudes, impression formation, and decision making. This research contrasts findings with recognition memory (old-new judgments), allowing researchers to demonstrate reliable distinctions between the two. Affect-based judgments and cognitive
processes have been examined with noted differences indicated, and some
argue affect and cognition are under the control of separate and
partially independent systems that can influence each other in a variety
of ways (Zajonc,
1980). Both affect and cognition may constitute independent sources of
effects within systems of information processing. Others suggest emotion
is a result of an anticipated, experienced, or imagined outcome of an
adaptational transaction between organism and environment, therefore
cognitive appraisal processes are keys to the development and expression
of an emotion (Lazarus, 1982).
Psychometric measurement of affect
Main article: Affect measures
Affect has been found across cultures to comprise both positive and
negative dimensions. The most commonly used measure of positive and
negative affect in scholarly research is the Positive and Negative
Affect Schedule (PANAS).[2] The PANAS is a lexical measure developed in a North American setting and consisting of 20 single-word items, for instance excited, alert, determined for positive affect, and upset, guilty, and jittery
for negative affect. However, some of the PANAS items have been found
either to be redundant or to have ambiguous meanings to English speakers
from non-North American cultures. As a result an internationally
reliable short-form, the I-PANAS-SF, has been developed and validated
comprising two 5-item scales with internal reliability, cross-sample and
cross-cultural factorial invariance, temporal stability, convergent and
criterion-related validities.[3]
Non-conscious affect and perception
Main articles: Unconscious mind and Perception
In relation to perception, a type of non-conscious affect may be
separate from the cognitive processing of environmental stimuli. A
monohierarchy of perception, affect and cognition considers the roles of
arousal, attention tendencies, affective primacy (Zajonc, 1980), evolutionary constraints
(Shepard, 1984; 1994), and covert perception (Weiskrantz, 1997) within
the sensing and processing of preferences and discriminations. Emotions
are complex chains of events triggered by certain stimuli. There is no
way to completely describe an emotion by knowing only some of its
components. Verbal reports of feelings are often inaccurate because
people may not know exactly what they feel, or they may feel several
different emotions at the same time. There are also situations that
arise in which individuals attempt to hide their feelings, and there are
some who believe that public and private events seldom coincide
exactly, and that words for feelings are generally more ambiguous than
are words for objects or events. Therefore, non-conscious emotions need
to be measured by measures circumventing self-report such as the
Implicit Positive and Negative Affect Test (IPANAT; Quirin, Kazén, &
Kuhl, 2009).
Affective responses, on the other hand, are more basic and may be
less problematical in terms of assessment. Brewin has proposed two
experiential processes that frame non-cognitive relations between
various affective experiences: those that are prewired dispositions
(i.e., non-conscious processes), able to "select from the total stimulus
array those stimuli that are causally relevant, using such criteria as
perceptual salience, spatiotemporal cues, and predictive value in
relation to data stored in memory" (Brewin, 1989, p. 381), and those
that are automatic (i.e., subconscious processes), characterized as
"rapid, relatively inflexible and difficult to modify... (requiring)
minimal attention to occur and... (capable of being) activated without
intention or awareness" (1989 p. 381). But a note should be considered
on the differences between affect and emotion.
Arousal
Main article: Arousal
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It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with arousal. (Discuss) Proposed since December 2012. |
Arousal is a basic physiological
response to the presentation of stimuli. When this occurs, a
non-conscious affective process takes the form of two control
mechanisms; one mobilizing and the other immobilizing. Within the human
brain, the amygdala regulates an instinctual reaction initiating this arousal process, either freezing the individual or accelerating mobilization.
The arousal response is illustrated in studies focused on reward
systems that control food-seeking behavior (Balleine, 2005). Researchers
have focused on learning processes and modulatory processes that are
present while encoding and retrieving goal values. When an organism
seeks food, the anticipation of reward based on environmental events
becomes another influence on food seeking that is separate from the
reward of food itself. Therefore, earning the reward and anticipating
the reward are separate processes and both create an excitatory
influence of reward-related cues. Both processes are dissociated at the
level of the amygdala and are functionally integrated within larger
neural systems.
Affect and mood
Main article: Mood (psychology)
Mood,
like emotion, is an affective state. However, an emotion tends to have a
clear focus (i.e., its cause is self-evident), while mood tends to be
more unfocused and diffused.[4]
Mood, according to Batson, Shaw, and Oleson (1992), involves tone and
intensity and a structured set of beliefs about general expectations of a
future experience of pleasure or pain, or of positive or negative
affect in the future. Unlike instant reactions that produce affect or
emotion, and that change with expectations of future pleasure or pain,
moods, being diffused and unfocused, and thus harder to cope with, can
last for days, weeks, months, or even years (Schucman, 1975). Moods are
hypothetical constructs depicting an individual's emotional state.
Researchers typically infer the existence of moods from a variety of
behavioral referents (Blechman, 1990).
Positive affect and negative affect (PANAS)
represent independent domains of emotion in the general population, and
positive affect is strongly linked to social interaction. Positive and
negative daily events show independent relationships to subjective
well-being, and positive affect is strongly linked to social activity.
Recent research suggests that high functional support is related to
higher levels of positive affect. In his work on negative affect arousal
and white noise, Seidner found support for the existence of a negative
affect arousal mechanism regarding the devaluation of speakers from
other ethnic origins.[5]
The exact process through which social support is linked to positive
affect remains unclear. The process could derive from predictable,
regularized social interaction, from leisure activities where the focus
is on relaxation and positive mood, or from the enjoyment of shared
activities. The techniques used to shift a negative mood to a positive
one are called mood repair strategies.
Social interaction
Affect display is a critical facet of interpersonal communication. Evolutionary psychologists have advanced the hypothesis that hominids have evolved with sophisticated capability of reading affect displays.[6]
Emotions are portrayed as dynamic processes that mediate the individual's relation to a continually changing social environment.[7]
In other words, emotions are considered to be processes of
establishing, maintaining, or disrupting the relation between the
organism and the environment on matters of significance to the person.[8]
Most social and psychological phenomena occur as the result of
repeated interactions between multiple individuals over time. These
interactions should be seen as a multiagent system—a system that
contains multiple agents interacting with each other and/or with their
environments over time. The outcomes of individual agents' behaviors are
interdependent: Each agent’s ability to achieve its goals depends on
not only what it does but also what other agents do.[9]
Emotions are one of the main sources for the interaction. Emotions of
an individual influence the emotions, thoughts and behaviors of others;
others' reactions can then influence their future interactions with the
individual expressing the original emotion, as well as that
individual's future emotions and behaviors. Emotion operates in cycles
that can involve multiple people in a process of reciprocal influence.[10]
Affect, emotion, or feeling is displayed to others through facial expressions, hand gestures, posture, voice characteristics, and other physical manifestation. These affect displays vary between and within cultures and are displayed in various forms ranging from the most discrete of facial expressions to the most dramatic and prolific gestures.[11]
Observers are sensitive to agents' emotions, and are capable of
recognizing the messages these emotions convey. They react to and draw
inferences from an agent's emotions. It should be noted that the emotion
an agent displays may not be an authentic reflection of his or her
actual state (See also Emotional labor).
Agents' emotions can have effects on four broad sets of factors:
- Emotions of other persons
- Inferences of other persons
- Behaviors of other persons
- Interactions and relationships between the agent and other persons.
Emotions may affect not only the person at whom the emotion was
directed, but also third parties who observe an agent's emotion.
Moreover, emotions can affect larger social entities such as a group or a
team. Emotions are a kind of message and therefore can influence the
emotions, attributions and ensuing behaviors of others, potentially
evoking a feedback process to the original agent.
Agents' feelings evoke feelings in others by two suggested distinct mechanisms:
- Emotion Contagion – people tend to automatically and unconsciously mimic non-verbal expressions.[12] Mimicking occurs also in interactions involving verbal exchanges alone.[13]
- Emotion Interpretation – an individual may perceive an agent as feeling a particular emotion and react with complementary or situationally appropriate emotions of their own. The feelings of the others diverge from and in some way compliment the feelings of the original agent.
People may not only react emotionally, but may also draw inferences
about emotive agents such as the social status or power of an emotive
agent, his competence and his credibility.[14] For example, an agent presumed to be angry may also be presumed to have high power.[15]
See also
- Affect theory
- Affect consciousness
- Affect heuristic
- Affect infusion model
- Affect measures
- Affective science
- Affective neuroscience
- Affective spectrum
- Core affect
- Emotion
- Feeling
- Negative affectivity
- Silvan Tomkins
- Social neuroscience
References
Bibliography
- APA (2006). VandenBos, Gary R., ed. APA Dictionary of Psychology Washington, DC: American Psychological Association, page 26.
- Balliene, B. W. (2005). Dietary Influences on Obesity: Environment, Behavior and Biology. Physiology & Behavior, 86 (5), pp. 717–730
- Batson, C.D., Shaw, L. L., Oleson, K. C. (1992). Differentiating Affect, Mood and Emotion: Toward Functionally based Conceptual Distinctions. Emotion. Newbury Park, CA: Sage
- Blechman, E. A. (1990). Moods, Affect, and Emotions. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates: Hillsdale, NJ
- Brewin, C. R. (1989). Cognitive Change Processes in Psychotherapy. Psychological Review, 96(45), pp. 379–394
- Damasio, A., (1994). *Descartes' Error: Emotion, Reason, and the Human Brain, Putnam Publishing
- Griffiths, P. E. (1997). What Emotions Really Are: The Problem of Psychological Categories. The University of Chicago Press: Chicago
- Lazarus, R. S. (1982). Thoughts on the Relations between Emotions and Cognition. American Physiologist, 37(10), pp. 1019–1024
- Lerner, J.S., and D. Keltner. (2000) Beyond valence: Toward a model of emotion-specific influences on judgement and choice. "Cognition and Emotion", 14(4), pp. 473–493
- Nathanson, Donald L. Shame and Pride: Affect, Sex, and the Birth of the Self. London: W.W. Norton, 1992
- Quirin, M., Kazén, M., & Kuhl, J. (2009). When nonsense sounds happy or helpless: The Implicit Positive and Negative Affect Test (IPANAT). Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 97(3), pp. 500–516
- Schucman, H., Thetford, C. (1975). A Course in Miracle. New York: Viking Penguin
- Shepard, R. N. (1984). Ecological Constraints on Internal Representation. Psychological Review, 91, pp. 417–447
- Shepard, R. N. (1994). Perceptual-cognitive Universals as Reflections of the World. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 1, pp. 2–28.
- Tolle, E. (1999). The Power of Now. Vancouver: Namaste Publishing.
- Tolle, E. (2003). Stillness Speaks. Vancouver: Namaste Publishing
- Weiskrantz, L. (1997). Consciousness Lost and Found. Oxford: Oxford Univ. Press.
- Zajonc, R. B. (1980). Feelings and Thinking: Preferences Need No Inferences. American Psychologist, 35(2), pp. 151–175
Notes
- ^ See The Affective System: a webpage by Dr. William Huitt.
- ^ Watson, D., Clark, L. A., & Tellegen, A. (1988). Development and validation of brief measures of positive and negative affect: the PANAS scales. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 54, 1063-1070
- ^ Thompson, E. R. (2007). Development and validation of an internationally reliable short-form of the positive and negative affect schedule (PANAS), Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 38(2), 227-242
- ^ Martin, Brett A. S. (2003), "The Influence of Gender on Mood Effects in Advertising", Psychology and Marketing,20 (3), 249-273.
- ^ Seidner, Stanley S. (1991). Negative Affect Arousal Reactions from Mexican and Puerto Rican Respondents. Washington, D.C.: ERIC. ISBN ED346711 http://www.eric.ed.gov/ERICWebPortal/custom/portlets/recordDetails/detailmini.jsp?_nfpb=true&_&ERICExtSearch_SearchValue_0=ED346711&ERICExtSearch_SearchType_0=no&accno=ED346711
- ^ Nesse RM (1990) - Human Nature ,Vol 1 (3)261-289
- ^ Keltner D. & Haidt J. (1999) Social Functions of Emotions at Four Levels of Analysis ;COGNITION AND EMOTION,13(5),505-521
- ^ Campos J. ,Campos R. G., Barrett, K. (1989) Emergent themes in the study of emotional development and emotion regulation, Developmental Psychology. Vol 25(3) 394-402
- ^ Smith R. & Conrey F.R. (2007) Agent-Based Modeling: A New Approach for Theory Building in Social Psychology; Personality and Social Psychology Review, 11: 87-104
- ^ Rafaeli A. & Hareli S. (2007) Emotion cycles: On the social influence of emotion in organizations; Research in Organizational Behavior
- ^ Ekman, P. (1992). An argument for basic emotion. Cognition and Emotion, 6(3/4): 169-200
- ^ Hatfield, E., Cacioppo, J. T., & Rapson, R. L. 1994. Emotional contagion. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
- ^ Rafaeli, A., Cheshin, A., & Israeli, R. (2007). Anger contagion and team performance. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the Academy of Management, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
- ^ Frijda, N.H. (1986). The emotions. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
- ^ Tiedens, L. (2001). Anger and advancement versus sadness and subjugation: The effect of negative emotion expression on social status conferral. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 80(1): 86-94.
External links
Look up Affect in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. |
- Personality and the Structure of Affective Responses
- Lynch, Brian. "Affect and Script Theory - Silvan S. Tomkins". Archived from the original on 15 September 2008. Retrieved 2008-09-26.
- Circumplex Model of Affect
- Affect and Memory
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