Affect is an abstract response

• Affect- thought type connections by DWH, 6/19/98
  
  

The only thing we know for sure when someone experiences affect over the range from fear to terror (fear-terror) is that some stimulus has entered the central nervous system at a gradient that is higher than optimal.

The only thing we know for sure when someone experiences affect over the range from shame to humiliation is that an impediment to positive affect has taken place.

The only thing we know for sure when someone experiences affect over the range from anger to rage is that the triggering stimulus is both higher than optimal and steady state.

The six basic innate affects are triggered only by such variations in the density and gradient of stimulation; nothing more, nothing less. Although it is true that injustice can trigger shame affect to which anyone may respond angrily by the scripts stored in the libraries I've called The Compass of Shame, an equal amount of anger may be triggered at the attack other pole of the compass when shame has been triggered by betrayal, intentional humiliation by another, chance revelation of information one thought was secret, failure in love, or any of a myriad of possible impediments to positive affect.

When Tomkins described the basic qualities of the innate affects as abstract, he meant specifically to reject the idea that any affect may be locked to any form of cognition. The affect is first, foremost, and always an abstract response; never never locked in any causal manner to specific triggering thoughts.

I hope you will be able to attend the October conference of the Tomkins Institute (held in the grand auditorium of the Philadelphia Museum of Art 16-18 October) at which we will take up a wide range of issues related to many aspects of affect and script theory.

• Empirical foundation of affect theory by MSc Katja Claesson, Uppsala University, Sweden, 10/16/98
  • Exploring Affect by Jim Duffy, 10/21/98