THE AFFECTIVE REALM

A major difficulty in understanding emotions is the confusion concerni ng the differences between emotions and related affective phenomena su ch as feelings, moods, affective disorders, sentiments, and affective traits. In light of such confusion, in many disputes concerning affect ive phenomena each side is actually referring to a different set of ph enomena. This paper clarifies the differences between the various phen omena and thereby supplies a novel systematic description of the affec tive realm. The suggested classification is not arbitrary: it is done in light of the two basic characteristics of affective phenomena: the intentional nature of the evaluative stand, and the occurrent or dispo sitional nature of the feeling dimension. These characteristics expres s the two basic mental dimensions of intentionality and feeling. The s uggested classification has significant implications for understanding emotions and other related phenomena. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.