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EMOTION AFFECT AND FEELINGThese three words are closely associated and frequently used within the same context. When we are affected by something we experience an emotion as a result. Affect is a biological pattern of events, triggered by a stimulus. Affects are innate, each one having its own exact programme. A more precise meaning of the word affect has been introduced by the work of Silvan Tomkins, the American psychologist, whose Affect Theory appeared in the first two volumes of his book Affect Imagery Consciousness in 1962 and 1963. Later Script Theory was added and his work was concluded by volumes 3 and 4 published in 1991 and 1992. Feeling is about the awareness of an affect and is an ability to appreciate and comprehend. The ability to feel a particular affect may be switched off by a distraction or denied by a cultural upbringing. The familiar 'stiff upper lip' attitude is a learned and practiced device to avoid acknowledgement and a display of feeling. Emotion adds another dimension to this established pattern. Every time an individual experiences an affect it is logged and filed away in the memory. The memory of previous experiences is added to the feeling, amplifying the awareness, to create the emotion. To summarise an affect is a biological, innate, instinctive response to a stimulus and is fleeting, very brief. It becomes a feeling through awareness and knowledge and an emotion by the additional recall of previous experience from memory. Donald Nathanson, in his book ‘Shame and Pride’, (1992: 50), succinctly summarises the impact of these three words.
Books to read and referred to by AFFECTIVETHERAPYThe following books and authors are the key texts for further reading. Tomkins works is not currently readily available in the UK /Europe but obtainable in US. Tomkins writing is dense and complex. Nathanson's book is very readable and clear.
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