<p><strong>Affect</strong> is a fundamental feature of consciousness and is a mental representation of input from the body to the brain.  Affect corresponds to feelings of (un)pleasantness and activation (arousal). </p>

<p><strong>Emotions</strong> are conceptualizations (interpretations) of your affect in a given context.  You might feel pleasant and highly aroused (an affective feeling) on a roller coaster, and your conceptualization of that affect in that context would be "excitement" (an emotional feeling).  In this sense, emotions are what we would traditionally consider to be "cognitive."</p>

<p><a href="http://www.nature.com/nrn/journal/v16/n7/abs/nrn3950.html" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Source</a></p>

<p>Under this scheme, <strong>intuition</strong> doesn't really have a direct, formal relationship to affect or emotion, although intuitions are often affective (well, pretty much everything is affective).  But <a href="https://www.dshs-koeln.de/fileadmin/redaktion/Institute/Kognitions-_und_Sportspielforschung/Publikationen/Paper/Pretz_Brookings_Carlson_Humbert_Roy_Jones___Memmert_2014.pdf" rel="nofollow noreferrer">see here</a> for a more informed discussion of the literature.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-04-29T05:19:40.940Z
2017-04-29T05:19:40.940Z
mrt
<p><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intuition" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><h2>Intuition</h2></a> is</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>the ability to acquire knowledge without proof, evidence, or conscious reasoning, or without understanding how the knowledge was acquired (<a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/intuition" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Miriam Webster Dictionary</a>; <a href="https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/intuition" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Oxford English Dictionary</a>)</p>
</blockquote>

<p><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Affect_(psychology)" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><h2>Affect</h2></a> is</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>the experience of feeling or emotion. (Hogg, et al. 2010)</p>
</blockquote>

<p><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emotion" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><h2>Emotion</h2></a> is</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>any relatively brief conscious experience characterized by intense mental activity and a high degree of pleasure or displeasure (Cabanac, 2002; Schacter, 2011). Scientific discourse has drifted to other meanings and there is no consensus on a definition.</p>
</blockquote>

<p>An <strong>emotion</strong> can be an <strong>affect</strong> as a result of <strong>intuition</strong></p>

<hr>

<h2>References</h2>

<p>Cabanac, M. (2002). <em>What is emotion?</em> In: Behavioural Processes 60(2): 69-83<br>DOI: <a href="http://doi.org/10.1016/S0376-6357(02)00078-5" rel="nofollow noreferrer">10.1016/S0376-6357(02)00078-5</a> PMID: <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12426062" rel="nofollow noreferrer">12426062</a><br><strong>Free PDF Available</strong> from <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/11040893_What_is_emotion" rel="nofollow noreferrer">ResearchGate</a></p>

<p>Hogg, M.A., Abrams, D., &amp; Martin, G.N. (2010). <em>Social cognition and attitudes</em>. In: Martin, G.N., Carlson, N.R., Buskist, W., (Ed.), Psychology (pp 646-677). Harlow:Pearson Education Limited.</p>

<p>Schacter, D. L., Gilbert, D.T., Wegner, D.M. (2011). Psychology Second Edition. New York, NY:Worth Publishers. p. 310. ISBN 978-1-4292-3719-2.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-04-26T20:06:21.383Z
2017-04-26T20:06:21.383Z
Chris Rogers
<p><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intuition" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Intuition</a> is unrelated to the other two, because it is an aspect of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cognition" rel="nofollow noreferrer">cognition</a>. Meanwhile <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Affect_(psychology)" rel="nofollow noreferrer">affect</a> is "the experience... of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emotion" rel="nofollow noreferrer">emotion</a>", meaning that these terms are more or less synonymous.    </p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-04-26T19:35:45.163Z
"Intuition is unrelated to the other two" - What about the issues of emotion caused by the outcomes of intuition?
Chris Rogers
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-04-26T20:03:20.047Z
By "unrelated" I mean that there is a clear conceptual distinction between affect and cognition. Of course cognition (including intuition) can impact affect, and also vice versa.
Brian Z
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-04-26T19:25:23.717Z
2017-04-26T19:25:23.717Z
Brian Z
<p>Intuition: my environment is totally uncorrelated with anything I am aware of but it still leads me to believe something is about to happen.</p>
<p>Emotion: a state of mind evoked by physical sensations, particular memories, and expectations of the future.</p>
<p>Affect: the outward manifestation of my emotions which may or may not be deliberate.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-03-05T12:26:00.420Z
Welcome - can you add sources to your definitions?
AliceD
CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-03-07T17:17:40.157Z
Yeah, sources would help, I don't think these definitions are correct. -1
Arnon Weinberg
CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-03-05T07:10:33.330Z
2021-03-05T07:10:33.330Z
jose
<p>From what I know, intuition is affect-based. But how do they differ? </p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-04-26T20:17:49.510Z
Related: [What is the difference between affect and feeling?](https://psychology.stackexchange.com/q/16144/7001) and [Difference between Instinct and Intuition](https://psychology.stackexchange.com/q/767/7001).
Arnon Weinberg
<cognitive-psychology><emotion><intuition><cognition>
What is the difference between emotions, intuition and affect?
Potato la
# What is the difference between emotions, intuition and affect?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2017-04-25)

From what I know, intuition is affect-based. But how do they differ?

**Tags:** cognitive-psychology, emotion, intuition, cognition

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: Related: [What is the difference between affect and feeling?](https://psychology.stackexchange.com/q/16144/7001) and [Difference between Instinct and Intuition](https://psychology.stackexchange.com/q/767/7001).  

---

## 4 answers

### Answer by username_2 on 2017-04-29. Score: 3

**Affect** is a fundamental feature of consciousness and is a mental representation of input from the body to the brain. Affect corresponds to feelings of (un)pleasantness and activation (arousal).

**Emotions** are conceptualizations (interpretations) of your affect in a given context. You might feel pleasant and highly aroused (an affective feeling) on a roller coaster, and your conceptualization of that affect in that context would be "excitement" (an emotional feeling). In this sense, emotions are what we would traditionally consider to be "cognitive."

[Source](http://www.nature.com/nrn/journal/v16/n7/abs/nrn3950.html)

Under this scheme, **intuition** doesn't really have a direct, formal relationship to affect or emotion, although intuitions are often affective (well, pretty much everything is affective). But [see here](https://www.dshs-koeln.de/fileadmin/redaktion/Institute/Kognitions-_und_Sportspielforschung/Publikationen/Paper/Pretz_Brookings_Carlson_Humbert_Roy_Jones___Memmert_2014.pdf) for a more informed discussion of the literature.


---

### Answer by username_3 on 2017-04-26. Score: 2

[## Intuition](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intuition) is

> the ability to acquire knowledge without proof, evidence, or conscious reasoning, or without understanding how the knowledge was acquired ([Miriam Webster Dictionary](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/intuition); [Oxford English Dictionary](https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/intuition))

[## Affect](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Affect_(psychology)) is

> the experience of feeling or emotion. (Hogg, et al. 2010)

[## Emotion](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emotion) is

> any relatively brief conscious experience characterized by intense mental activity and a high degree of pleasure or displeasure (Cabanac, 2002; Schacter, 2011). Scientific discourse has drifted to other meanings and there is no consensus on a definition.

An **emotion** can be an **affect** as a result of **intuition**

---

## References

Cabanac, M. (2002). *What is emotion?* In: Behavioural Processes 60(2): 69-83  
DOI: [10.1016/S0376-6357(02)00078-5](http://doi.org/10.1016/S0376-6357(02)00078-5) PMID: [12426062](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12426062)  
**Free PDF Available** from [ResearchGate](https://www.researchgate.net/publication/11040893_What_is_emotion)

Hogg, M.A., Abrams, D., & Martin, G.N. (2010). *Social cognition and attitudes*. In: Martin, G.N., Carlson, N.R., Buskist, W., (Ed.), Psychology (pp 646-677). Harlow:Pearson Education Limited.

Schacter, D. L., Gilbert, D.T., Wegner, D.M. (2011). Psychology Second Edition. New York, NY:Worth Publishers. p. 310. ISBN 978-1-4292-3719-2.


---

### Answer by username_4 on 2017-04-26. Score: 0

[Intuition](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intuition) is unrelated to the other two, because it is an aspect of [cognition](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cognition). Meanwhile [affect](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Affect_(psychology)) is "the experience... of [emotion](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emotion)", meaning that these terms are more or less synonymous.

> **Comments:**
> **username_3**: "Intuition is unrelated to the other two" - What about the issues of emotion caused by the outcomes of intuition?  
> **username_4**: By "unrelated" I mean that there is a clear conceptual distinction between affect and cognition. Of course cognition (including intuition) can impact affect, and also vice versa.  

---

### Answer by username_5 on 2021-03-05. Score: -1

Intuition: my environment is totally uncorrelated with anything I am aware of but it still leads me to believe something is about to happen.

Emotion: a state of mind evoked by physical sensations, particular memories, and expectations of the future.

Affect: the outward manifestation of my emotions which may or may not be deliberate.

> **Comments:**
> **username_6**: Welcome - can you add sources to your definitions?  
> **username_1**: Yeah, sources would help, I don't think these definitions are correct. -1  

---

