Affective sciences

Affective sciences represent the scientific study of emotion.

In parallel with massive changes in social values and life styles, as well as a major scientific paradigm shift away from exclusively rational models of man, an "affective revolution" has taken place in the behavioral, life, and social sciences, in the humanities and in neuroscience. Research over the last two decades shows conclusively that many phenomena, ranging from individual cognitive processing to social and collective behavior, cannot be understood without taking into account affective determinants, in other words, motives, attitudes, moods, and emotions. Just as the "cognitive revolution" of the 60ies has spawned the "cognitive sciences", linking the disciplines studying cognitive functioning from different vantage points, the emerging field of the Affective Sciences promises to bring together the disciplines which study the biological, psychological, and social dimensions of affect, in particular psychology, philosophy, economics, political science, law, criminology, psychiatry, neuroscience, education, sociology, ethology, literature, history, and anthropology. The major challenge for this interdisciplinary domain is to integrate research focusing on the same phenomenon, emotion and similar affective processes, starting from different perspectives, theoretical backgrounds, and levels of analysis

Institution/ Research Center

 * Swiss Centre for Affective Sciences