The capacity to feel and express emotions; the emotional aspect of consciousness or personality.
From 'affective' plus the noun suffix '-ity,' creating an abstract noun. Ultimately from Latin 'affectus,' this psychological term emerged in the 19th century.
Psychologists realized they needed a word for the emotional component of personality—affectivity is to feelings what 'intelligence' is to thinking. It's a way of measuring something we can't directly see!
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