affect
1af·fect
noun \ˈa-ˌfekt\Definition of AFFECT
2
: the conscious subjective aspect of an emotion considered apart from bodily changes; also : a set of observable manifestations of a subjectively experienced emotion <patients … showed perfectly normal reactions and affects — Oliver Sacks>
See Usage Discussion at effect
Examples of AFFECT
- There's a good plot and good writing here, but Mallory's gender neutrality, conspicuous in her lack of affect, makes her seem like a comic-book character. —Cynthia Crossen, Wall Street Journal, 5 Oct. 1994
- Many of these young killers display an absence of what psychiatrists call affect. They show no discernible emotional reaction to what they have done. —Richard Stengel, Time, 16 Sept. 1985
- The way people respond to this is sometimes called “depressed affect”—a sort of mental shifting into neutral that psychologists say also happens to prisoners of war, submarine crews, and other people in confined situations with little stimulus. —Susan West, Science 84, January/February 1984
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Origin of AFFECT
Middle English, from Anglo-French, from Latin affectus, from afficere (see 2affect)
First Known Use: 14th century
Other Psychology Terms
Rhymes with AFFECT
abject, advect, aspect, bisect, cathect, collect, confect, connect, convect, correct, cowl-necked, defect, deflect, deject, detect, direct, Dordrecht, effect, eject, elect, erect, ewe-necked, expect, goosenecked, infect, inflect, inject, insect, inspect, neglect, object, pandect, porrect, prefect, prelect, project, prospect, protect, refect, reflect, reject, resect, respect, ring-necked, roll-necked, select, stiff-necked, subject, suspect, traject, transect, trisect, Utrecht, V-necked
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