Valence

The positive-to-negative dimension of an emotion — whether the affect being experienced is pleasant or unpleasant.

In affective science, valence is the axis that runs from highly negative (fear, sadness, disgust) through neutral to highly positive (joy, contentment). It is one of two primary dimensions in the circumplex model of affect, paired with arousal.

Real-time analytics platforms output valence as a continuous score (commonly -1 to +1 or 0 to 100) rather than a discrete emotion label, allowing teams to track emotional trajectory over a meeting, training session, or patient interaction.

Related terms: arousal, emotion ai, seven universal emotions

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