Silvan Tomkins
Introduction
An affect is an innate, automatic, physiological response to a stimulus. The response involves a change in the rate of neural firing, and this in turn results in changes in one’s facial muscles, voice, and autonomic nervous system. The response is experienced as rewarding, punishing, or neutral, and consequently, it motivates us to act in a certain way. The stimulus can be intrapsychic or extrapsychic, and the stimulus can enter into our conscious awareness or stay out of our conscious awareness.
Affects serve the vital function of enhancing our survival and well being. They primarily do this by communicating information (to ourselves and others) and by moving us to action.
An affect is an innate, automatic, physiological response to a stimulus. The response involves a change in the rate of neural firing, and this in turn results in changes in one’s facial muscles, voice, and autonomic nervous system. The response is experienced as rewarding, punishing, or neutral, and consequently, it motivates us to act in a certain way. The stimulus can be intrapsychic or extrapsychic, and the stimulus can enter into our conscious awareness or stay out of our conscious awareness.
A feeling is our awareness of a specific affect. An emotion is our awareness of a specific affect combined with our memory of other times we had that affect.
Affects
Tomkins listed affects by their weak and strong forms.He considered the first six affects to be primary affects and the last three auxiliary affects.
(1) Surprise/Startle
Trigger: the sudden appearance of an unexpected stimulus, which leads to a sudden increase in neural firing.
Physiological response of surprise: “a quick raising of the eyebrows and perhaps a jaw drop as well.” Physiological response of startle: “a sudden jerk of the body.”
Purpose: “to get you to stop what you are doing and pay attention to something new.”
More. After we’re surprised, any other affect may follow — e.g., if we’re tapped on the shoulder and look back to see a friend, we might feel interest, but if we look back to see a police officer, we might feel fear.
(2) Fear/Terror
Trigger: the perception of danger, which leads to an intense, rapid increase in neural firing
Physiological response: “an increase in heart rate; the skin can become white and cold with sweat, and one’s hair can stand on end; one’s muscles may tense, or freeze up, which can temporarily paralyze one’s ability to think straight or to defend oneself. The eyes widen, the lips tremble.”The fear program includes the viscera of a pounding heart, cold skin, the tensing of muscles.
Purpose: to ensure our survival in life-and-death situations, as “it recruits an intense biological response so as to guarantee that our attention goes entirely toward survival.”
More. Fear/tear “can also be activated by any rapid increase in one’s thought processing, either about an external event or the recovery of a disturbing memory, either when awake or asleep.”
(3) Interest/Excitement
Trigger: generally the appearance of a new stimulus, which leads to “a gradual, manageable increase in neural firing.”
Physiological response: “a quieting of the body, except in more active moments of excitement, and a focus of attention, which facilitates an exploration of whatever has evoked this state.”
Purpose: “to make learning rewarding” and thus possible.
(4) Distress/Anguish
Trigger: when you realize that something is wrong, which leads to “a persistent, too high level of neural firing.”
Physiological response: “the inner corners of the eyebrows go up, the corners of the mouth go down, the head lowers, the body goes into a slump and sobbing vocalizations may occur.”
Purpose: “to signal that all is not well.” When you experience distress/anguish, “you are alerting yourself and others that something is amiss and help is needed. Hunger, a pinching diaper, or a painful gassy tummy can all cause a distress cry that is designed to summon a caregiver who attempts to make crying stop, preferably by improving the conditions.”
More. Tomkins conjectured that distress evolved because fear is a toxic affect “that could have destroyed man if this were the only affect expressing suffering. What was called for was a less toxic, but still negative, affect which would motivate human beings to solve disagreeable problems without too great a physiological cost or too great a probability of running away from the many problems that confront the human being and which would permit anticipation of trouble at an optimal psychic and biological cost.”
(5) Anger/Rage
Trigger: when distress continues “without relief for any period of time,” which leads to a “persistent high-density neural firing.” “If distress is a signal that things are ‘too much,’ anger is a signal that things are ‘WAY too much.’”
Physiological response: “a squared mouth, lowered eyebrows, a tensing of the eyes into a focused, hard glare, a tensing of the skeletal muscles, as in the fist or the arching of the back, as in infancy, as well as autonomic responses involving a rise in blood pressure, producing a red face. Any accompanying vocalization will tend to be loud and forceful, as the vocal cords tighten and any action will tend to be forceful.”
Purpose: “to increase the urgency about whatever is creating the feeling of ‘too much.’” Anger “communicates this urgency both to the self and to others.”
More. Anger “often contains important information about serious problems. Thus the ability to tolerate it and develop the capacity to feel moral outrage at violations that hurt others, and express it in constructive protests” can “lead to fairness or necessary reforms. In its modulated form, throughout one’s own life, anger can be the catalyst providing the motivation for a needed change, for example in finally dealing with an ongoing serious problem, by taking action to improve the situation, as in naming and working through difficult problems with others, or if all else fails, in seeking a divorce, or by leaving an abusive employment or discriminatory situation.”
(6) Enjoyment/Joy
Trigger: “a decreasing stimulus” (e.g., “a reduction in hunger or loneliness, or relief of pain”), which leads to “a reduction of the density of neural firing.”
Physiological response: tThe face relaxes into a smile, and becomes warm with increasing blood flow; the skeletal muscles relax, as in a savoring response.
Purpose: to foster attachment and cooperation; this follows because enjoyment/joy is contagious; for example, when we smile, others smile and want to be near us and help us.
More. Given the different sources of the decrease in neural firing, there can be a variety of different kinds of smiles.” A smile of relief occurs where there’s a decrease of fear, distress, or shame. A smile of triumph occurs when there’s a decrease of in anger (e.g., when we remember how we triumphed over an adversary) or a decrease in frustration (e.g., when we suddenly find a solution to a difficult problem). A smile of pleasure follows a decrease in stimulation (e.g., after an orgasm). A smile of joy follows a decrease in excitement (e.g., “seeing a favorite person who has been away”).
(7) Shame
E. Virgina Demos, 2019, The Affect Theory of Silvan Tomkins for Psychoanalysis and Psychotherapy.
Tomkins listed affects by their weak and strong forms.He considered the first six affects to be primary affects and the last three auxiliary affects.
(1) Surprise/Startle
Trigger: the sudden appearance of an unexpected stimulus, which leads to a sudden increase in neural firing.
Physiological response of surprise: “a quick raising of the eyebrows and perhaps a jaw drop as well.” Physiological response of startle: “a sudden jerk of the body.”
Purpose: “to get you to stop what you are doing and pay attention to something new.”
More. After we’re surprised, any other affect may follow — e.g., if we’re tapped on the shoulder and look back to see a friend, we might feel interest, but if we look back to see a police officer, we might feel fear.
(2) Fear/Terror
Trigger: the perception of danger, which leads to an intense, rapid increase in neural firing
Physiological response: “an increase in heart rate; the skin can become white and cold with sweat, and one’s hair can stand on end; one’s muscles may tense, or freeze up, which can temporarily paralyze one’s ability to think straight or to defend oneself. The eyes widen, the lips tremble.”The fear program includes the viscera of a pounding heart, cold skin, the tensing of muscles.
Purpose: to ensure our survival in life-and-death situations, as “it recruits an intense biological response so as to guarantee that our attention goes entirely toward survival.”
More. Fear/tear “can also be activated by any rapid increase in one’s thought processing, either about an external event or the recovery of a disturbing memory, either when awake or asleep.”
(3) Interest/Excitement
Trigger: generally the appearance of a new stimulus, which leads to “a gradual, manageable increase in neural firing.”
Physiological response: “a quieting of the body, except in more active moments of excitement, and a focus of attention, which facilitates an exploration of whatever has evoked this state.”
Purpose: “to make learning rewarding” and thus possible.
(4) Distress/Anguish
Trigger: when you realize that something is wrong, which leads to “a persistent, too high level of neural firing.”
Physiological response: “the inner corners of the eyebrows go up, the corners of the mouth go down, the head lowers, the body goes into a slump and sobbing vocalizations may occur.”
Purpose: “to signal that all is not well.” When you experience distress/anguish, “you are alerting yourself and others that something is amiss and help is needed. Hunger, a pinching diaper, or a painful gassy tummy can all cause a distress cry that is designed to summon a caregiver who attempts to make crying stop, preferably by improving the conditions.”
More. Tomkins conjectured that distress evolved because fear is a toxic affect “that could have destroyed man if this were the only affect expressing suffering. What was called for was a less toxic, but still negative, affect which would motivate human beings to solve disagreeable problems without too great a physiological cost or too great a probability of running away from the many problems that confront the human being and which would permit anticipation of trouble at an optimal psychic and biological cost.”
(5) Anger/Rage
Trigger: when distress continues “without relief for any period of time,” which leads to a “persistent high-density neural firing.” “If distress is a signal that things are ‘too much,’ anger is a signal that things are ‘WAY too much.’”
Physiological response: “a squared mouth, lowered eyebrows, a tensing of the eyes into a focused, hard glare, a tensing of the skeletal muscles, as in the fist or the arching of the back, as in infancy, as well as autonomic responses involving a rise in blood pressure, producing a red face. Any accompanying vocalization will tend to be loud and forceful, as the vocal cords tighten and any action will tend to be forceful.”
Purpose: “to increase the urgency about whatever is creating the feeling of ‘too much.’” Anger “communicates this urgency both to the self and to others.”
More. Anger “often contains important information about serious problems. Thus the ability to tolerate it and develop the capacity to feel moral outrage at violations that hurt others, and express it in constructive protests” can “lead to fairness or necessary reforms. In its modulated form, throughout one’s own life, anger can be the catalyst providing the motivation for a needed change, for example in finally dealing with an ongoing serious problem, by taking action to improve the situation, as in naming and working through difficult problems with others, or if all else fails, in seeking a divorce, or by leaving an abusive employment or discriminatory situation.”
(6) Enjoyment/Joy
Trigger: “a decreasing stimulus” (e.g., “a reduction in hunger or loneliness, or relief of pain”), which leads to “a reduction of the density of neural firing.”
Physiological response: tThe face relaxes into a smile, and becomes warm with increasing blood flow; the skeletal muscles relax, as in a savoring response.
Purpose: to foster attachment and cooperation; this follows because enjoyment/joy is contagious; for example, when we smile, others smile and want to be near us and help us.
More. Given the different sources of the decrease in neural firing, there can be a variety of different kinds of smiles.” A smile of relief occurs where there’s a decrease of fear, distress, or shame. A smile of triumph occurs when there’s a decrease of in anger (e.g., when we remember how we triumphed over an adversary) or a decrease in frustration (e.g., when we suddenly find a solution to a difficult problem). A smile of pleasure follows a decrease in stimulation (e.g., after an orgasm). A smile of joy follows a decrease in excitement (e.g., “seeing a favorite person who has been away”).
(7) Shame
Shame is an auxiliary of interest/excitement, as shame is the “incomplete interruption” of excitement/joy.
Trigger: when we're experiencing enjoyment/joy and the feeling of enjoyment/joy is interrupted and we want to return to enjoyment/joy.
Physiological response: “The shame response includes lowering the head, lowering the eyelids, lowering the tonus of all facial muscles, and in children a protrusion of the lower lip, and a unilateral tilting of the head in one direction. If one is fearful of showing a shame response, or feels angry at being shamed, one is likely to push the chin up as defense against lowering the head in shame, or as a defiant anti-shame response.”
Purpose: “to bring attention to whatever might have caused the positive affect to be impeded, so that we can learn how to avoid the loss of the positive in that moment or in the future.” Moreover, shame moves us to “foster our sense of belonging and mastery by asking us to make sense of and overcome what might get in the way.”
More. Shame, guilt, and shyness are “identical as affects, even though the experience of them feels different.” “Shyness is about strangeness of the other,” guilt about “moral transgression,” and shame about inferiority. But “the core affect, namely the felt barrier to the continuation of interest/excitement, in all three is identical, though the coassembled perceptions, cognitions, and intentions may be vastly different.”
(8) Dissmell, (9) Disgust
These affects are auxiliaries of the hunger drive.
Trigger: when we are confronted with something that shouldn’t be ingested (dissmell) or when we are confronted with something that we shouldn’t have ingested (disgust).
Physiological response: we raise our upper lip and nose and pull our head back (dissmell); we experience nausea of vomit.
More. Disgust and dissmell are considered affects because they “also function as signals and motives to others as well as to the self of feelings of rejection and revulsion.” When through learning we combine disgust and dissmell with anger, the result is contempt, “which is manifested by a unilateral sneer.”
Physiological response: “The shame response includes lowering the head, lowering the eyelids, lowering the tonus of all facial muscles, and in children a protrusion of the lower lip, and a unilateral tilting of the head in one direction. If one is fearful of showing a shame response, or feels angry at being shamed, one is likely to push the chin up as defense against lowering the head in shame, or as a defiant anti-shame response.”
Purpose: “to bring attention to whatever might have caused the positive affect to be impeded, so that we can learn how to avoid the loss of the positive in that moment or in the future.” Moreover, shame moves us to “foster our sense of belonging and mastery by asking us to make sense of and overcome what might get in the way.”
More. Shame, guilt, and shyness are “identical as affects, even though the experience of them feels different.” “Shyness is about strangeness of the other,” guilt about “moral transgression,” and shame about inferiority. But “the core affect, namely the felt barrier to the continuation of interest/excitement, in all three is identical, though the coassembled perceptions, cognitions, and intentions may be vastly different.”
(8) Dissmell, (9) Disgust
These affects are auxiliaries of the hunger drive.
Trigger: when we are confronted with something that shouldn’t be ingested (dissmell) or when we are confronted with something that we shouldn’t have ingested (disgust).
Physiological response: we raise our upper lip and nose and pull our head back (dissmell); we experience nausea of vomit.
More. Disgust and dissmell are considered affects because they “also function as signals and motives to others as well as to the self of feelings of rejection and revulsion.” When through learning we combine disgust and dissmell with anger, the result is contempt, “which is manifested by a unilateral sneer.”
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E. Virgina Demos, 2019, The Affect Theory of Silvan Tomkins for Psychoanalysis and Psychotherapy.
The Tompkins Institute, n.d., Nine affects, present at birth, combine with life experience to form emotion and personality
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