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affect

n. any experience of feeling or emotion, ranging from suffering to elation, from the simplest to the most complex sensations of feeling, and from the most normal to the most pathological emotional reactions. Often described in terms of positive affect or negative affect, both mood and emotion are considered affective states. Along with cognition and conation, affect is one of the three traditionally identified components of the mind.

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Psychology term of the day

February 23rd 2025

pseudomemory

pseudomemory

n. a fake memory, such as a spurious recollection of events that never took place, as opposed to a memory that is merely inaccurate. Pseudomemory is a cause of particular concern when using hypnosis to help eyewitnesses retrieve memories (see hypermnesia). It was formerly called pseudomnesia. See also confabulation; false memory; recovered memory.