Affect

Affect refers to observable behavior or self-reports that express a subjectively experienced feeling or emotion. Affect and attitude are sometimes used interchangeably. Whether affect is independent of cognition is a debated topic. On the one hand is the assertion that people can have a purely emotional reaction to something without having processed any information about it. On the other hand is the assertion that at least some cognitive (albeit not always conscious) processing is necessary to evoke an emotional response. Affective measures are used in evaluation. Self-reports of affect provide information on preferences, although indirect measures of affect are sometimes considered more robust; that is, there is likely tobe more stability shown in what people are observed to do than in what they say they ...