Table 2 Differences between the terms... | Emerald Publishing

Table 2

Differences between the terms emotion, mood, feeling and affect

Terms	Definition	Duration	Intensity	Specificity	Key citations
Emotion	Emotion is a complex psychological state involving a subjective experience, a physiological response, and a behavioural or expressive component, typically triggered by a specific event or object	short-lived	intense	specific	Lazarus (1991)
Mood	A diffuse, prolonged affective state that is less intense than emotions, often lacking a clear object or cause, and that influences cognition, perception and behaviour over an extended period	long-lasting	low	non-specific, diffuse	Watson (2022)
Affect	A fundamental neurophysiological state that reflects the valence (pleasantness-unpleasantness) and arousal (activation-deactivation) dimensions of emotional experience, serving as a core component that shapes emotional responses and conscious feelings	unstable	unstable	general umbrella	Russell (2009)
Feeling	The conscious, subjective experience of emotion, encompassing the internal awareness of bodily states and psychological responses to stimuli. It is a central component of emotional experience, reflecting how individuals perceive and interpret their internal states	concurrent with emotion/affect	unstable	internal	LeDoux and Hofmann (2018)

Terms	Definition	Duration	Intensity	Specificity	Key citations
Emotion	Emotion is a complex psychological state involving a subjective experience, a physiological response, and a behavioural or expressive component, typically triggered by a specific event or object	short-lived	intense	specific	Lazarus (1991)
Mood	A diffuse, prolonged affective state that is less intense than emotions, often lacking a clear object or cause, and that influences cognition, perception and behaviour over an extended period	long-lasting	low	non-specific, diffuse	Watson (2022)
Affect	A fundamental neurophysiological state that reflects the valence (pleasantness-unpleasantness) and arousal (activation-deactivation) dimensions of emotional experience, serving as a core component that shapes emotional responses and conscious feelings	unstable	unstable	general umbrella	Russell (2009)
Feeling	The conscious, subjective experience of emotion, encompassing the internal awareness of bodily states and psychological responses to stimuli. It is a central component of emotional experience, reflecting how individuals perceive and interpret their internal states	concurrent with emotion/affect	unstable	internal	LeDoux and Hofmann (2018)

Source(s): The authors