Mood is objective and expresses how things are, unlike emotion which deviates
Evidence
Atmosphere – or mood (Stimmung) – differs from both feeling and emotion. It possesses even more objectivity than feeling. Objectively, a space or room can harbour any given atmosphere. An atmosphere or mood expresses a way-it-is. In contrast, emotions derive from deviations from the way-it-is. For instance, a place may diffuse a friendly mood. This atmosphere is something wholly objective. But there is no such thing as a friendly emotion or a friendly affect. — Byung-Chul Han, Psychopolitics, 99
Categorization
- DEFINE: Fourth term — atmosphere/mood — ranked on an objectivity axis above feeling; emotion is deviation-from-way-it-is.
- SEED: Design writing: spaces engineered to radiate a ‘way-it-is’ ambience vs advertising built to manufacture deviations — mood as totalizing objective backdrop.
- XREF: connects to: Feeling refers to something objective while emotion and affect are strictly subjective — Byung-Chul Han, Psychopolitics: Neoliberalism and New…, 95; Emotions are performative and goal-oriented while feelings need no intentional object — Byung-Chul Han, Psychopolitics: Neoliberalism and New…, 97; Atmosphere is objective; emotion arises from deviations from atmosphere — Byung-Chul Han, Psychopolitics: Neoliberalism and New…, 99