Core Affect aka MOOD
Your mood—whether you feel good or bad, energized or drained—tells a story about your body and mind. In my body-based psychotherapy practice, we dive into the concept of affect from a cognitive science perspective; the internal sense of pleasant or unpleasant feelings that guide your actions. Backed by the latest in empirical data, particularly predictive processing, this blog explains why you feel the way you do and how understanding affect can transform your emotional life. Let’s break it down.
Core Affect: Your Brain’s Predictive Power
Your brain is a prediction machine, constantly forecasting what your body needs to thrive—glucose, rest, magnesium, you name it. This process, according to predictive processing, generates feelings of pleasure or discomfort to nudge you toward meeting those needs. When your brain senses you’re low on a resource, it doesn’t wait for a crisis. Instead, it predictively creates an unpleasant feeling, prompting you to act before the deficit becomes critical. For example, feeling irritable might signal you need rest, while a burst of energy could mean it is time to take action. This physiological dance isn’t just about survival—it’s also the foundation of your emotional experience. In body-based psychotherapy, we use this understanding to tune into these signals, discuss how you interpret those signals, and see if that’s moving you closer to your goals or further away.
Core Affect in Action: Goals, Expectations, and Your Emotional State
Beyond basic physiology, affect shapes how you navigate goals in your social and personal life. Whether you’re aiming for a promotion, seeking a new relationship, or mastering a new skill, how you feel depends on the gap between your expectations and reality. If you’re moving toward a goal—like finding a partner—at a pace that aligns with your expectations, you feel good. But if progress is slower than anticipated, frustration or discomfort creeps in. For instance, imagine you’re back on dating apps after a breakup. If you expect to find a match quickly but face endless swipes with no connection, you’ll likely feel unpleasant. Conversely, if you’re patient, accepting that it might take months, your mood stays steady. In body-based psychotherapy, we help you align your expectations with reality, reducing the emotional friction that comes from unmet goals.
The Agent vs. the System: Why Cravings Persist
Here’s where it gets fascinating: your mind operates as both an agent (your conscious self with goals and desires) and a system (your body’s automatic processes, shaped by habits). Sometimes, these two clash. Take quitting alcohol as an example. You, the agent, decide you’re done drinking. But your system, conditioned by years of habits, still expects alcohol at certain times—like 5 p.m. on a Friday (or any day of the week!) or when you’re on a boat with friends. Your brain predictively generates cravings, pushing you to act in ways that once met its needs. These cravings feel unpleasant because your system is sounding the alarm: “Where’s the alcohol we’re used to?” According to predictive processing, we must learn to recognize these signals as the system’s outdated predictions, not a failure of willpower. By acknowledging the discomfort and resisting the urge to act, you gradually retrain your system, reducing those automatic pings over time.
Navigating Discomfort for Growth
Feeling unpleasant isn’t a sign something’s wrong—it’s a signal you’re doing something hard. When your system pushes you toward old habits, and you choose a new path, that discomfort is your brain rewiring itself, i.e., you’re learning something new. In therapy, we work through this process, using the practice of psychoanalysis to navigate your journey toward your goals. By aligning your agent (your conscious goals) with your system (your body’s automatic responses), you can create a winning team.
