In psychology, affect is a feeling or an emotion and part of a common triad of an attitude known as CAB for Cognition, Affect, and Behavior. In this usage, affect is a noun.
Two dimensions of affect are common: positive affect and negative affect.
Positive affect may include feelings of joy, contentment, engagement, and pride. Positive affect may be experienced when a goal is attained.
Negative affect may include anger, fear, anxiety, sadness, and depression. Negative affect may be experienced when people fail to achieve a goal.
In applied psychology, clinicians may also use the term, flat affect, to describe the lack of obvious emotion on a person's face or evident in their voice during a clinical interview especially in the context of a patient reporting a positive or negative emotional state.
Positive and Negative affect have been operationally defined in the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS).
In the SCOPES model, affect is part of the emotional dimension (E).
Pronunciation: When used as a feeling state, affect is pronounced like AFF-fect. In contrast to the common meaning of affect as influence, which sounds like ah-fect.
Concept Confusion: Sometimes people confuse affect with effect. In psychology, affect may be used as a verb meaning to influence someone or something. An effect is the result of a cause but may also be used to produce change.
Cite this source
Sutton, G. W. (2021, September 22). Affect, positive affect, negative affect. Psychology Concepts and Theories. Retrieved from https://suttonpsychology.blogspot.com/2021/09/affect-positive-affect-negative-affect.html
