Affects

The American scholar Silvan Tomkins is regarded as one of the great writers on affect. He approached the subject through cybernetics and systems theory. He thought the following were the human affects:

Interest-Excitement
Enjoyment-Joy
Surprise-Startle
Distress-Anguish
Shame-Humiliation
Contempt-Disgust
Anger
Fear-Terror

Some quotes from "What Are Affects?" in the book Shame and Its Sisters.

"All animals 'want' but only man concerns himself with the nature of his own wants. He wants to know what he is really concerned about, why he is concerned, and even what should concern him" (33).

"Man is neither as free as he feels nor as bound as he fears" (33). (In other words, we only have some much control over our emotional responses, but neither are we computers that cannot change or manage our feelings.)

--I found the topic interesting here because I think people are more attuned to their affective responses in Taiwan than they are in America. People (particularly young people) act out their feelings in Taiwan, whereas Americans hide how they feel. Perhaps some of that comes from the "stiff upper lip" tradition of the West (a British tradition of heroism whereby a man does not draw attention to the pain of his experience--e.g. "Oh dear. It appears my arm has been chopped off" as opposed to "Ahhhh! My arm!!!")