Mood is the underlying feelings that an individual has while affect is the collection of outward expressions that help to interpret mood. A person’s affect is the collection of behaviors that describe their emotional state. Within the context of psychology, affect refers to the feelings that humans have. They are used to qualify and describe moods. This can range from normal, everyday feelings to harmful or unregulated feelings. Affect is our body’s emotional indicator as to whether everything is going okay or if there is something wrong. Research on affect tends to analyze feelings that are intense, difficult to perceive, or highly visceral in order to gain a better understanding of their function and purpose within the brain and body system. Affect is typically judged by emotional responses such as facial expressions, vocal expressions (such as tone of voice or laughing), energy levels, eye contact, and body movements.
There are several types of affect in psychological research: broad, restricted, blunted, flat, and liable. Although these are not the only types of affect, these are the most commonly studied in psychological research.
Broad affect describes emotional expression that matches the feelings of that expression.
Inappropriate affect occurs when the content of an individual’s speech does not reflect their emotional presentation. Any form of affect that is not broad or full affect may be considered inappropriate. There are several things that can cause inappropriate affect, such as:
• Brain damage
• Neurological dysfunction
• Mental illness
• Medications used to treat mental illness
• Other psychological factors
Restricted affect is a term used to describe a mild constriction in a client’s physical affect: range and/or intensity of emotion or display of feelings. This is less severe manifestation than what would be described as blunted affect. In the case of depression this restricted affect can be a constant state until the depressive symptoms are alleviated. In some ways it can be likened to a physical and emotional numbing which restricts a person’s ability to react normally to life events.
Blunted affect is a decreased ability to express emotion through your facial expressions, tone of voice, and physical movements. Certain diseases and disorders are all linked to this condition.
Flat (or flattened) affect is when a person does not display or experience emotions with the same intensity that he or she did before an injury so that the affect (mood) of the individual in question appears to be unchanging (flat). This symptom is most common in right-sided brain injuries. A survivor with a flat affect may be told that a friend has died and blandly state, “That is too bad.” The same survivor could be told that he or she has won a huge contest and simply say, “That is nice.” Instead of being distraught and tearful in the first example or excited and elated in the second, everything ends up feeling to the survivor similarly ordinary. This is not to say that the person does not understand the importance of each situation. It is simply that the person’s brain is no longer capable of experiencing the strong emotions we generally associate with having encountered such a situation. It is characterized by a relatively consistent blank expression. People with flat affect do not react to emotional triggers, show emotions, or produce facial expressions in the same ways most people do. Flat affect is not itself a mental health condition.
Labile affect is a condition and a person with this condition might display or show inappropriate emotions in specific situations. For instance, you might find them laughing or smiling at a funeral or during a sad occasion. Labile affect is also characterized by sudden and noticeable mood swings. Labile affect is usually a symptom of an underlying condition.