  Software engineering is a human activity. Despite this, human aspects are
under-represented in technical debt research, perhaps because they are
challenging to evaluate.
  This study's objective was to investigate the relationship between technical
debt and affective states (feelings, emotions, and moods) from software
practitioners. Forty participants (N = 40) from twelve companies took part in a
mixed-methods approach, consisting of a repeated-measures (r = 5) experiment (n
= 200), a survey, and semi-structured interviews.
  The statistical analysis shows that different design smells (strong
indicators of technical debt) negatively or positively impact affective states.
From the qualitative data, it is clear that technical debt activates a
substantial portion of the emotional spectrum and is psychologically taxing.
Further, the practitioners' reactions to technical debt appear to fall in
different levels of maturity.
  We argue that human aspects in technical debt are important factors to
consider, as they may result in, e.g., procrastination, apprehension, and
burnout.
