affirmation

Affirmation is the act of declaring something to be true or the assertion that a given proposition is the case. In common usage, an affirmative statement or positive affirmation is a self-help or motivational utterance intended to reinforce desired attitudes, beliefs, or behaviors.

Etymology and scope: The term derives from Latin affirmare, meaning to strengthen or confirm, and has been used across legal, religious, philosophical, and everyday contexts to denote verification, endorsement, or support.

Contexts and forms:

- Personal and therapeutic use: Many people practice daily affirmations, repeating present-tense statements about goals or self-worth. In psychology, self-affirmation theory suggests that people defend core values when threatened, by affirming valued aspects of themselves; this has inspired interventions in health and education, with mixed empirical results.

- Legal and civic use: An affirmation is a solemn declaration, made in lieu of an oath, that the signer will tell the truth or perform duties faithfully, commonly used in courts or administrative proceedings.

- Religion and philosophy: Affirmation can refer to a formal profession of faith, or to the act of asserting a proposition within a debate, argument, or system of belief.

- Linguistic and logical use: In logic, to affirm a proposition is to assert that it is true. In ordinary language, an affirmative sentence states that a proposition is the case, as opposed to a negative statement.

See also related concepts such as self-affirmation, affirmation bias, and affirmations in therapeutic contexts.