Goals:
- Be able to describe each affect, how it is activated, how it can be recognized, and its function.
- Be able to give a personal or clinical example of each affect. Can you recognize the abstract patterns of stimulus density or gradient that triggered the affect?
Readings:
EA, “The Role of the Specific Affects,” pp. 68-85.
Nathanson S&P, “Feeling Good: The Positive Affects,” Chapter 3, pp. 73-91.
Nathanson S&P, “Surprise-Startle: The Neutral Affect,” Chapter 5, pp. 88-91.
Nathanson S&P, “Feeling Bad: The Negative Affects,” Chapter 6, pp. 92-106.
SAT, James Duffy, “Surprise-Startle, The Macho Script and Nothing,” October 12, 1997.
Bulletin, v4, #1-2-3, 1997, Jeanette Wright, “The Drawn Image: Can the Minding System Be Made Visible,” pp. 16-17.
Bulletin, v3, #1-2, 1996, Melvyn A. Hill, “Survivor Rage,” pp. 9-11.
TT, Melvyn A. Hill, “Negative Therapeutic Reaction II,” September 26, 1997.
Discussion Questions:
- What distinguishes startle, fear, and interest?
- What accounts for the unstable equilibrium among these three affects?
- What is the function of the startle affect?
- What is necessary for fear to be magnified? How can drugs affect the fear threshold?
- How does interest improve the quality of life?
- Why is distress a fundamental human affect?
- What factors differentiate distress from fear?
- What are the functions of crying for infants?
- What factors in adults mask the experience of distress?
- Describe three ways a smile can be activated.
- What is the general biological significance of social responsiveness?
- Why is joy a “luxury response.”
Share your reflection here:
Session 1: Positive Affects, Negative Affects, Surprise-Startle