Affect
In psychology, affect is an umbrella term used to refer to emotion or mood, or the involvement or influence of such processes in a psychological system or theory.
For example, a mood disorder (such as clinical depression) may be referred to as an 'affective disorder'. Similarly, seasonal affective disorder describes an disorder where seasonal changes (particularly the length of the day) has an abnormally strong influence on mood.
Affective computing, an area of research in computer science aiming to simulate emotional processes, or make use of human emotion in human-computer interaction, derives its name from this word in the same way.
Although not the mainstream usage, psychologist Edward Titchener used the word 'affect' in more specific way, to refer to a pleasantness-unpleasantness dimension of feeling.
In everyday english usage and when used as a verb, affect concerns the influence of something on another person or object.
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