In everyday communication, affect is often understood as excessive manifestation of aggression for no apparent reason. It is often used as an excuse for a crime, but only a specialist can determine whether a person was truly in a state of altered consciousness. Affect in psychology is a specific decrease in the functioning of mental functions, characterized by a complete loss of self-control; it can be imitated, but it cannot be accurately reproduced at will.
What is affect
A state of affect is an acute emotional experience that arises in response to a dangerous situation. Affect is manifested by various reactions: facial expressions, motor activity and others. Being in this state, a person experiences strong emotional stress, his mental processes responsible for controlling behavior are slowed down. Behavioral responses to situations can be unpredictable and dangerous. During affect, a person’s volitional processes are limited, he is not aware of his behavior and is not able to control himself.
The main reason for the emergence of affective behavior is a potentially dangerous situation. The threat to life can be real or far-fetched, it doesn’t matter. A reaction will occur in any case if a person considers the threat to be real. An acute emotional experience is most often short-term: its duration does not exceed a few minutes. In the presence of mental disorders, it can last up to several hours. All this time the person is not aware of his actions. When mental processes are normalized, a person, as a rule, does not remember his actions.
All people are susceptible to affective reactions. For those whose volitional and moral qualities are sufficiently developed, reactions are short-term and occur easily, without going beyond the boundaries of normal behavior. In aggressive people, sudden attacks of destructive behavior occur much more often and can lead to devastating consequences.
The concept of affect.
Affect (Latin affectus - passion, emotional excitement) is an emotional process of an explosive nature, characterized by short duration and high intensity, accompanied by pronounced motor manifestations and changes in the functioning of internal organs. Affects are distinguished from emotions, feelings and moods[1]. Thus, affect in its structure is a complex mental process, which can be characterized as “a rapidly and violently occurring emotional process of an explosive nature, which can give unsubordinated conscious volitional control a release in action”[2].
According to its psychological structure, affect is a complex mental process of an explosive nature, which proceeds very quickly and violently, and which can give an uncontrolled and not subordinated will to the conscious release into action.
Types of affect
Short-term affect is a psychological process that can be either a normal reaction to a stressor or a pathological one. The following types of affect are distinguished:
- Physiological. Is a normal response to a stress factor. Appears in situations of emotional stress. Manifestations are moderate and do not go beyond social norms. It occurs quickly and progresses very quickly. Mental activity remains unchanged. Often a person does not attach importance to the change in his condition and does not experience any inconvenience.
- Pathological. A painful mental state that occurs in a healthy person in response to a traumatic situation. It develops rapidly, quickly moving from the preparatory phase to the explosion phase. The activity of mental manifestations depends on the characteristics of a person’s personality. People with disorders of the central nervous system, an unbalanced cycle of excitation and inhibition processes, are prone to pathological affect. The main form of pathological affect is verbal and physical aggression.
- Affect of inadequacy. It differs from other types in its duration - the affect of inadequacy is a stable experience. It arises from the inability of the individual to carry out the desired action. It is a normal reaction of children of primary preschool age, whose volitional processes have not yet been formed. If a child cannot get his needs met, he will become anxious, panicked, angry, or upset. As he gets older, he gradually learns to manage his emotional reactions. But if this does not happen, affective behavior is reinforced as the only emotional response. Children whose upbringing is not given due attention become aggressive, touchy, and prone to negativism.
The formation and consolidation of negative character traits in a person is the main condition for the manifestation of pathological affective reactions. Thus, awareness of one’s negative traits and subsequent therapy can reduce the intensity of the pathological reaction. And denying your responsibility for your own emotional state makes the situation worse.
Kinds
There are 7 types of affect in psychology. Each of them has its own characteristics:
- Physiological affect. Usually doesn't last long. It represents a release of the psyche through a strong manifestation of feelings and emotions. Most often, what happens remains within reasonable limits. A person, of course, cannot control himself. But it will not harm others. He still remains sane.
- Pathological affect. It develops in 3 stages: preparation, explosion and conclusion. Emotions are bright and sharp, but consciousness is clouded. An affective state of this type is observed even in those people who do not have mental problems. It can be a reaction to either stress or psychological trauma. At risk are people with an imbalance in the processes of inhibition and excitation. A good example is choleric people.
- Cumulative affect. A condition that arises as a result of prolonged exposure to an irritating factor on the psyche or a protracted stressful situation or conflict. One can say it more clearly: a person is silent, silent and explodes.
- Interrupted. The state of affect is interrupted by something from the external environment.
- Negative affect. With this type of affect, a person falls into a stupor. His mental and behavioral activity decreases.
- Positive. This is the name for a state when an individual is unable to assess the situation, so he acts relying on instincts or stereotypes.
- Affect of inadequacy. The main distinguishing feature of this species is that it almost always develops in children. Not getting what they want, they begin to be capricious, irritated, and throw tantrums.
Functions and phases
Each affect goes through 3 stages of development:
- Preparatory. This stage can develop rapidly, or it can last quite a long time. It occurs immediately after a situation of irritation in the form of an emotional reaction. The person practically loses self-control, but is still able to recognize reality. At this stage, he can still cope with his emotions and not go into an attack situation. But if a person does not have time or does not even try to stop, the emotional reaction moves to the second stage.
- Emotional explosion. The stage of immediate uncontrollable outburst of emotions. At this stage, a person can no longer be aware of his actions and is capable of extremely destructive acts, including assault and murder.
- Final. At this stage, the person feels intense devastation caused by the previous emotional outburst. What happened is erased from memory or replaced by false memories, the person is not yet aware of his actions, his psyche needs rest and a “reboot.”
A state of affect can manifest itself even in a person who is not prone to aggression and negativism. It all depends on the degree of danger of the situation and additional factors, for example, the need to protect not only your life, but also the lives of other people. In this case, the course of physiological processes changes so much that the person becomes capable of extraordinary actions. For example, the mother of a child who has been run over by a car can lift it with her bare hands and hold it until the child can get the necessary help.
General characteristics of affect.
The main characteristics of affect are narrowing and clouding of consciousness, which leads to a weakening of a person’s ability to be aware of his actions, self-control decreases and it becomes difficult to manage his actions. Therefore, in a state of passion, a person can perform actions that he would not be able to perform in a state of rest.
However, it must be remembered that in a state of passion a person is not completely unconscious, but one must take into account the fact that he does not have a clear understanding of the purpose of the action being performed and at the same time it is difficult for him to control his behavior.
In a state of passion, strong vegetative changes occur in the human body: breathing rate, cardiovascular activity, pulse, blood pressure change, the level of adrenaline in the blood increases, etc.
External signs may also be observed, such as a sharp pallor or redness of the facial skin, a change in the timbre of the voice, tremors and disordered movements of the hands, trembling lips, intermittent voice, etc.
Psychological consideration of affect includes an analysis of the conditions and factors that contributed to the emergence of affect. Both the personal and age characteristics of the subject, the properties of his nervous system, and the affectogenic situation are taken into account.
Signs of a state of passion
You can identify a person in a pre-affective state by his facial expressions and physical activity. His body does not seem to obey him, and moves on its own. The facial expression becomes distant, the gaze becomes glassy and empty. When the psyche is restored, a person cannot remember and describe what happened to him. He feels as if he was acting under someone's external direction.
Affect is a state of extreme excitement. It is possible to distinguish an adequate emotional reaction from a pathological one by individual signs. In psychiatry, there are three levels of development of emotional reactions, at each of which certain changes in well-being and behavior occur:
- Clinical feeling reactions that depend on the satisfaction or unsatisfaction of needs.
- Neurobiological manifestations: hormonal, somatic and autonomic reactions.
- Mental manifestations associated with instinctive reactions that do not receive timely release.
The ability to recognize and timely identify a person close to an emotional outburst can help prevent the commission of a crime. Since emotional reactions cannot be controlled, the best thing people who are around a potentially dangerous person can do is try to stop all communication and provide timely psychological help.
Causes
The term affectivity in psychology has a clear definition. Based on it, it is possible to determine the reasons that cause changes in psycho-emotional reactions. Such reasons include:
- a conflict that is significant for a particular person;
- direct or indirect threat to life;
- excessive demands or unjustified expectations;
- inability to achieve what you want;
- threat to a person's self-determination, doubt in value, affecting self-esteem.
For each person, the intensity of the manifestation of emotions will be individual. In the same situation, some people are able to control themselves, while others lose self-control in the first minutes. Their anger cannot be tamed: in their normal state such people are benevolent, but passion removes all moral principles and turns them into monsters. When they return to normal, they cannot believe that they were capable of such behavior. The less developed the structure of a person’s nervous system, the faster he succumbs to the influence of the situation.
Understanding in Psychology
To understand the structure of affect and the reasons for its occurrence, you should have a clear understanding of the characteristics of mental processes, in particular emotions.
Emotions are a person’s response to an external or internal stimulus and the result of the actions of the stimulus. The action can be long-term and regular, or one-time and fleeting. An emotional response normally does not cause destructive consequences. A mentally healthy person is able to distinguish between his emotions and prevent their occurrence or sublimate them in a socially acceptable form.
In psychology, affect is a short-term emotional experience that differs from the normal expression of emotions. A person is aware of his emotional manifestations and perceives them as an integral part of his personality. The affective state is alien, it occurs against the will. Arising unexpectedly, it disrupts the functioning of consciousness and can lead to pathological consequences for the psyche.
The affective state is one of the mental abilities to cope with a stressful situation. The main task of consciousness is to preserve human life and health. In a situation that is assessed as dangerous, it turns on “emergency mode” and mobilizes psychological and physical resources. Therefore, after the end of the affective reaction, a person feels devastated and often cannot understand what happened to him. Partial amnesia is a way for the psyche to protect consciousness from processing traumatic information.
A decrease in the functioning of higher mental functions leads to maladjusted behavior: if a person commits a crime while under the influence of passion, he is not able to take responsibility for his actions. The court considers the emotional state as a mitigating circumstance.
In criminal law
For criminal law, a state of passion is regarded as a partial atrophy of the lability of thinking, a weakening of the thought process. A person is unable to control his actions because all his attention is focused on the trigger. In this state, he is capable of committing any illogical act. If a forensic examination can prove that a person was truly unable to take responsibility for his actions, the court will recognize this as a mitigating circumstance.
In criminal law, the reasons leading to inappropriate manifestations are clearly regulated. These include:
- bullying and insults directed at third parties;
- prolonged stay in a traumatic situation;
- emotional or physical abuse;
- immoral behavior of the victim.
Affect cannot be predicted. The person himself and other people who unwittingly become provocateurs may suffer from its manifestation. Since the victim is not able to predict in advance what may lead to an emotional outburst, and the offender is not able to predict his reaction, an affective state is a one-time reaction to a specific action and cannot be regarded as an intentional action.
Laws and punishment for murder that was committed in the heat of passion
Let's see how much they give for murder in the heat of passion:
- if one person was killed, then by imprisonment or restriction of freedom for a term of up to three years;
- two or more persons - the preventive measure is similar, but the term is increased to five years.
The difference between murder and murder committed in a state of passion lies in the awareness of the criminal himself of the actions committed. Being in an affective state, he does not mean that he is committing anything illegal.
This does not cancel the fact of the crime, but it allows you to reduce the penalty . According to the provisions of Article 107 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, in order to mitigate the sentence, the crime must not contain aggravating circumstances.
