affektiv

Affektiv is a cross-lertilized term used in several Germanic languages, notably Swedish, Norwegian and Danish, to describe something related to affect, emotion or mood. The root is the Latin affectus, meaning a disposed state or feeling, which entered European languages through French affectif and English affective. In these languages the form affektiv (or affektive in some variants) functions as an adjective that labels emotional or mood-related phenomena.

In psychology and psychiatry, the concept of affect refers to the observable expression of emotion; affective phenomena include mood, emotional tone, and emotional reactivity. Affective disorders are mood-related conditions such as depression and bipolar disorder, and affective neuroscience examines the neural mechanisms underlying emotion. The term affective computing or affective design describes efforts to recognize, interpret, or simulate human emotions in technology and user interfaces.

In linguistics and discourse analysis, affective meaning or affect expresses a speaker’s attitudes, evaluative stance, or emotional involvement toward a topic or interlocutor. Affective language can convey sympathy, irony, approval or disapproval, shaping how information is received.

In art, aesthetics and cultural studies, affective responses refer to the emotional impact of works of art and media on audiences. While related, the use of affektive or affective is context-dependent, and nuances can differ between languages and disciplines. Overall, affektiv centers on emotion, mood and the experiential side of human states.