allaffect

Allaffect is a term used in some discussions of emotion theory and affective computing to denote the comprehensive space of affective states that a system or agent can experience or express. It is not a widely recognized standard term, and its meaning varies across sources. The coinage appears to combine all- with affect, drawing on affect from psychology and philosophy to denote mood, emotion, or predisposition.

In practice, allaffect is described as an umbrella concept for modeling affect, intended to encompass valence (positive to negative), arousal or activation level, discrete affective states, and higher-order social or reflexive affects. Some theorists present it as a theoretical construct to guide the design of emotion models and evaluation metrics that aim to cover the full range of affective behavior rather than a single emotion category.

Critiques emphasize that affect is culturally and contextually mediated, so attempts to define a complete allaffect space risk overgeneralization. Measurement, annotation, and interoperability across systems remain challenging, and the lack of a canonical definition limits comparability across studies.

See also: affect, emotion, mood, affective computing, sentiment analysis, appraisal theory.