Transient Affective Reaction

A transient affective reaction is a temporary or fleeting emotional response or feeling, like a brief feeling of sadness after a disappointing result, a burst of joy after receiving good news, or a sudden surge of anger that quickly subsides. Emotions can be transient, but moods are longer-lasting feeling states that may fluctuate within minutes to days. In contrast with dispositional empathy (general characteristic or tendency to empathize) or state empathy (temporary state of feeling empathy), transient affective reactions help us understand how emotions are experienced, regulated, and how they can affect behavior.