We might have heard a lot about affect and emotion. Mostly, it is common for both to be considered as one and the same. But what do they mean? Are affect and emotion different, or the same? Well, this post will give you an overview of both affect and emotion.

Are affect and emotion the same?

Actually, as was said before, affect and emotion are broadly accepted as one thing. Meaning, they both have the same interpretation. On the other hand, some researchers and theorists managed to explain and distinguish both. While fully aware of the existence of some contrary, this post considered both to be a separate thing. Affect and emotion have their own meaning, and this post would discuss it briefly.

Affect

According to some research, affect is a term used to describe a broader concept of emotions and moods. It might indicate an evaluation of one’s emotions. Besides that, the term “affect” is heavily used in psychology theories and research. Psychology theories often use affect to describe areas related to psychology. For research in psychology, affect is recognized as an aspect in subjective well-being (meaning, how someone evaluates their life subjectively). With those explanations, it is consistently found that affect is related to evaluation.

Emotion

Emotion is a word to describe reaction towards particular stimulus consciously. This also include sensations. Emotion is how one feels about their own experience without further processing. It is their pure reaction related to some stimulus. The stimulus could be either physical sensations, words, or thoughts. Emotion can be categorized as basic and complex emotions. Basic emotions include anger, joy, sadness, and fear. Complex emotions are some emotions mixed as one, such as jealousy and empathy. Emotion is closely related to reaction.

Conclusion

Based on the concise explanation above, underlined are key to distinguish affect and emotion. Affect can be considered as a form of evaluation of one’s emotion or experience. On the other hand, emotion is a reaction to the experience. On that note, affect takes more cognitive process and longer time. Affect is when we evaluate, judge, and conclude our emotion. Also include when we categorize it as pleasant or unpleasant, positive or negative, etc. For example, we are reviewing some emotion in a timeframe. Another example is when we conclude on whether or not last week is pleasant. Contrary to that, emotion is a pure reaction based on stimulus. For example, someone just got slapped and feel pain.

So, what do you think?

References

Diener, E., Suh, E. M., Lucas, R. E., & Smith, H. L. (1999). Subjective well-being: Three decades of progress. Psychological Bulletin, 125(2), 276–302. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909.125.2.276

Hart, R. (2021). Positive Psychology: The Basics. New York: Routledge.

Lopez, S. J. (2009). The Encyclopedia of Positive Psychology. West Sussex: Blackwell Publishing Ltd.