Affect or Effect
"Affect" is a verb that means to influence or produce a change in something. It is often used in psychology and linguistics to describe the emotional or attitudinal state of a person. "Effect," on the other hand, is a noun that refers to the result or outcome of an action. In linguistics, these terms are important for understanding how language can influence emotions and behavior.
3 Key excerpts on "Affect or Effect"
eBook - ePubReligion in 50 Words
A Critical Vocabulary
- Aaron W. Hughes, Russell T. McCutcheon(Authors)
- 2021(Publication Date)
- Routledge(Publisher)
...1 Affect DOI: 10.4324/9781003140184-2 In recent years, the term “affect”—as opposed to saying that something has an effect, i.e., consequence or practical implications—has received considerable attention in the Humanities in general, and the study of religion in particular. This is on account of the late-twentieth century rise of “affect theory”—an approach in culture studies and social theory that is seen by some as indebted to the French philosophers Gilles Deleuze (1925–1995) and Pierre-Félix Guattari (1930–1992) and their collaborative reading of the work of the earlier Dutch philosopher Baruch Spinoza (1632–1677). The latter understood “affect” to name a body’s capacity for action and as a site on which action is exerted. This approach (one that critiques the once widely held position that saw mind and body as unrelated domains, with mind taking the more prominent role, or the so-called mind-body problem) draws attention to and thereby understands a broad range of what at least some might describe as the possibly subconscious feelings that people— and perhaps even entire social groups—experience. These can include such dispositions as emotions and moods, which, in turn, are presumed to impel us toward action, thought, and ever-changing forms of social relation with others. The propensity for theoretical overdetermination, and the problem of researchers sometimes relying uncritically on texts and participant self-reports to mediate between such overdetermination on the one hand and the presumably active, inner lives of social actors (whether living or long dead), on the other, however, may raise as many questions for the critical scholar as a focus on affect attempts to solve. That scholars in other fields approach these issues differently, must be noted of course...
eBook - ePubAffected
On Becoming Undone and Potentiation
- Rick Iedema(Author)
- 2020(Publication Date)
- Palgrave Macmillan(Publisher)
...Here, affect is autonomous, until, that is, it is qualified by being named and appropriated, subjecting affect to closure and constraint: Affect is autonomous to the degree to which it escapes confinement in the particular body whose vitality, or potential for interaction, it is. Formed, qualified, situated perceptions and cognitions fulfilling functions of actual connection or blockage are the capture and closure of affect. (Massumi, 2002 : 35) Once named and qualified, affect yields its energetic potential to structure or “the place where nothing ever happens”. Massumi saw structure (meaning, language, representation) as taming affect, and he accused analysts of restricting their understanding of affect to “that explanatory heaven in which all eventual permutations are prefigured in a self-consistent set of invariant generative rules” (Massumi, 2002 : 27). With this, the dichotomisation of affect and meaning/language became total: meaning-making domesticates and technologises a prior, purer affectivity. Unfortunately, this dichotomisation presents two problems. First, it downplays the phylogenic reality that meaning and languaging are contingent on and therefore permeated by affect. This is because they arise in and from affect as it constitutes an ontogenic space of interpersonal immediacy and intimacy (Thibault, 2004). As I will discuss in Chapter 4, this space opens up what Halliday referred to as an ‘ interpersonal gateway ’ into meaning-making (Halliday, 1975). For individuals to be able to learn how to mean, they need nurturing through close interpersonal connections and affective relations. In short, meaning is contingent on and inseparable from ontogenically prior affect. Second, divorcing affect from meaning as is suggested by original affect theory risks complicating our accounts about the here-and-now dynamics and tensions that permeate the becoming of meaning (or its becoming undone) in the present...
eBook - ePubIndividual Differences in Language Learning
A Complex Systems Theory Perspective
- Carol Griffiths, Adem Soruç(Authors)
- 2020(Publication Date)
- Palgrave Macmillan(Publisher)
...© The Author(s) 2020 C. Griffiths, A. Soruç Individual Differences in Language Learning https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-52900-0_11 Begin Abstract 11. Affect Carol Griffiths 1 and Adem Soruç 2 (1) Girne American University, Girne/Kyrenia, North Cyprus (2) Department of Education, University of Bath, Bath, UK Keywords Anxiety Attribution Self-efficacy End Abstract To Get You Thinking Before You Read 1. Do you think that our emotions affect the way we learn language? 2. Why do you think affect has tended to be a neglected factor in language learning? 3. Which of our emotions do you think has most effect on language development? 4. How do you think students can control their emotions in order to study most effectively? 5. Can you think of any examples where a change in affective state has affected your own or someone else’s ability to learn effectively? Background The role of affect (feelings or emotions) in language learning has long been recognized. A well-known case study conducted by Schumann (1975) investigated the factors which led to the slow progress made by his subject, a 33-year-old Puerto Rican immigrant to the USA; since Schumann (ibid.) concluded that neither age not lack of cognitive ability could account for the slow progress made by his subject, he ascribed his observations to affective difficulties, including social distance (Schumann, 1976). Lozanov (1978) developed a special teaching method (Suggestopedia, which aims to use a pleasant, colourful, relaxed environment to promote positive emotions) around the idea that emotional reactions play a key role in language development. Krashen (1982) introduced the Affective Filter Hypothesis, explaining that the higher the affective filter (that is, the more negative the emotions), the more difficulty the learner will experience...
