Affective science

What it studies

Affective science is the scientific study of emotion and related phenomena, which the Society for Affective Science says include moods, stress, attitudes, valuation and motivation. Topics range from social perception and decision making to mental and physical health. The society's mission refers to affective phenomena in humans and non-human animals.

History and people

The sources opened give no single start for affective science. An article on the Association for Psychological Science site reported in 2013 that a new Society for Affective Science had been organized, with James Gross as president and Lisa Feldman Barrett and Wendy Berry Mendes on its executive committee. Its inaugural conference was scheduled for April 2014 in Bethesda, Maryland. This is institution building, not the start of research on emotion.

People and documented roles

• James Gross. President on the 2013 executive committee of the Society for Affective Science; listed among its founders
  • Named as president of the newly organized Society for Affective Science. [3]
• Lisa Feldman Barrett. Executive committee member of the Society for Affective Science and listed among its founders; lead author of a 2019 review of facial expression evidence
  • Named on the executive committee of the newly organized society. [3]
  • Lead author of a review arguing that emotion cannot be readily inferred from facial movements. [4]
• Wendy Berry Mendes. Executive committee member of the Society for Affective Science
  • Named on the executive committee of the newly organized society. [3]

The sources opened document only the organizers of one society and the authors of one review. They do not trace earlier emotion research or earlier contributors, and they do not establish a founder of the area.

Dated milestones

• August 19, 2013Publication. Exact date.Date shown in the page metadata of an article reporting that the Society for Affective Science had been organized; the society's actual founding date is not given in the sources opened. [3]
• April 23-26, 2014Event. Exact date.Scheduled inaugural conference of the Society for Affective Science, as announced in 2013; whether it took place as scheduled was not checked. [3]

Methods

A 2019 review by Barrett and colleagues describes laboratory experiments that induce emotion, field observation, and studies of posed expressions across several countries. It also describes ways of measuring facial movement: electromyography, human coding with the Facial Action Coding System, and automated computer-vision coding, which the authors note is less accurate in real-world conditions.

Training and applications

The society's 2013 announcement says it hopes that teachers, journalists and the public will benefit from affective science, and the society lists mental and physical health among research topics. The society's mission statement says collaborations across disciplinary and national boundaries will accelerate scientific discoveries, and that the journal Affective Science has been launched in service of these aims. The sources opened describe no training route or credential specific to affective science.

Evidence behind the claims

• The Society for Affective Science defines affective science as the scientific study of emotion and related phenomena, including moods, stress, attitudes, valuation and motivation.

  What it studiesThe organization's own descriptionSource: [1]Where: Section describing what affective science is

• The society lists research topics ranging from social perception and decision making to mental and physical health, and its mission speaks of human and non-human affective phenomena.

  What it studiesThe organization's own descriptionSources: [1] [2]Where: About page topics list; mission statement premise

• A 2013 article reported that a new Society for Affective Science had been organized, with James Gross as president and Lisa Feldman Barrett and Wendy Berry Mendes on the executive committee, and an inaugural conference scheduled for April 23-26, 2014, in Bethesda, Maryland.

  History and peopleDocumented in the sourceSource: [3]Where: Body of the announcement

• The society's leadership archive lists Lisa Feldman Barrett and James Gross under Founders and lists past presidents starting in 2014.

  History and peopleThe organization's own descriptionSource: [1]Where: Leadership Archive section of the About page

• The 2013 announcement says the society hopes consumers of affective science, such as teachers, journalists and the public, will benefit from its work.

  Training and applicationsThe organization's own descriptionSource: [3]Where: Purpose paragraph of the announcement

• Barrett and colleagues' 2019 review describes laboratory emotion-induction experiments, naturalistic field studies, posed-expression studies in several countries, and facial measurement by electromyography, human coding with the Facial Action Coding System, and automated computer-vision coding, which the authors note is less accurate in real-world conditions.

  MethodsDocumented in the sourceSource: [4]Where: Early sections on methods reviewed

• Barrett and colleagues argue in 2019 that the common view that emotions can be readily read from facial movements is not well supported: people vary substantially in the facial movements they make for a given emotion, and a given facial configuration often communicates something other than an emotional state.

  Boundaries and limitsDocumented in the sourceSource: [4]Where: Abstract and evaluation criteria discussion

• The society's mission statement says collaborations across disciplinary and national boundaries will accelerate scientific discoveries, and that the journal Affective Science has been launched in service of these aims.

  Training and applicationsThe organization's own descriptionSource: [2]Where: Mission statement

Where it appears

University examples

• Northeastern University: Psychology, PhD (Boston) (degree program)
• Princeton University: Graduate Program (degree program)
• Stanford University: Affective Science (research area or group)
• Stanford University: Department of Psychology (department)
• Uppsala University: Department of Psychology (department)

Examples show documented structures. They are not a ranking, a census, or a statement about admission or licensing.

In the Psy101 course

• OpenStax Psychology 2e, section 10.4: EmotionChapter 10, Emotion and Motivation. Topic reading. The section discusses this topic.Covers emotion theories including Barrett's constructed emotion, limbic system physiology, and facial expression and culture.

This is course relevance only. It is not evidence for the historical or practice claims on this page.See the full course map.

Sources and inspection

4 of 4 sources were opened and read at the level shown. A source marked as not verified supports no claim on this page by itself.

1. [1]
   About (Society for Affective Science)Society for Affective Science, undated. Professional association. Supports the definition of the area.Selected text readRead the mission, definition of affective science, vision and leadership archive as returned by the fetch tool; the page gives no founding date.
2. [2]
   Mission StatementSociety for Affective Science, undated. Professional association. Supports the definition of the area.Selected text readRead the mission text as returned by the fetch tool; it mentions the society's journal Affective Science.
3. [3]
   New Society Aims to Support Affective ScienceAssociation for Psychological Science, 2013. Society history. Supports the history.Selected text readRead the announcement as returned by the fetch tool; the page metadata gives August 19, 2013 and no byline is shown.
4. [4]
   Emotional Expressions Reconsidered: Challenges to Inferring Emotion From Human Facial MovementsPsychological Science in the Public Interest (PubMed Central copy), 2019. Review article. Supports the description of methods.Selected text readRead the abstract and the first part of a very long page (first 100,000 of about 560,000 characters); the rest was not read. Authors: Barrett, Adolphs, Marsella, Martinez and Pollak.

Independent source review: Claude Code reviewer agent, separate from the writer, 2026-10-21. Verdict: Admitted after corrections. Of 8 claims checked, 6 were supported as written, 2 were reworded and 0 were removed.

Related fields and elsewhere on Psy101

• Cognitive neuroscience
• Psychophysiology
• Personality psychology
• Social psychology
• Cross-cultural psychology

• Psy101 People: Lisa Feldman Barrett