The Pan-Affect Chart is a useful overview of all of the main affects (i.e. pleasant or unpleasant sensations) that we experience throughout our lives, and which motivate most of our actions and decisions. They are grouped by category, with pleasant sensations written in green text and unpleasant ones in red. This information was excerpted from the free book The Sudist Way, which contains a more detailed version of this chart. Suggestions and feedback are welcome below.
Physical activity drivers
Pleasant physical activity
Physical restlessness
Physical effort
Physically resting
Physical fatigue
Thermal drivers
Pleasant core warming
Low core temperature
Pleasant core cooling
High core temperature
Pleasant surface warming
Low surface temperature
Pleasant surface cooling
High surface temperature
Nutritional drivers
Pleasant scents and flavours
Unpleasant scents and flavours
Satisfying hunger
Hunger pains
Stomach overfulness
Quenching thirst
Thirst pains
Stomach overfulness
Breathing
Shortness of breath
Urinating or defecating
Urge to urinate or defecate
Relief from expelling irritants
Nausea and indigestion
Urge to cough
Urge to sneeze
Urge to gag
Other physical safety drivers
(no opposites)
Headaches
Musculoskeletal pains
Unpleasant sounds
Unpleasant brightness
Other surface pains Other physical pains
Scratching an itch
Itching
Mental activity drivers
Pleasant mental stimulation
Mirth
Boredom
Curiosity
Mental effort
Mentally resting
Mental fatigue
Social drivers
Pleasant touch
Longing for touch
Caring for others
Compassion
Feeling cared for
Feeling uncared for
Retribution
Anger
Sexual drivers
Sexual attraction
Sexual curiosity
Sexual activity
Sexual desire
Sexual overactivity
Being in love
Lovesickness
Expectation drivers
Satisfaction with self
Disappointment in self
Satisfaction with others
Disappointment in others
Non-specific drivers
Joy
Dysphoria
Imagination drivers (past, present, future)
Remembering pleasure
Remembering pain
Imagining pleasure
Imagining pain
Anticipating pleasure
Anticipating pain
v1.2. Reproduction (in whole or in part) of this chart must attribute sudism.org as the source.
The free book The Sudist Way contains a more in-depth version of this chart.
This is a great framework for emotion contemplation! I’ve been using this online emotion wheel I coded and it works great, but I’m going to try to implement this sudism chart in my practice!! Thank you. 🙏🏾
Hi Pat. Thanks for the positive feedback! May I ask what kind of practice you run? You can use this chart as much as you’d like. However, if you reproduce it entirely in your app, website, or other medium, please include a brief attribution and link to sudism.org alongside the chart. I hope it serves you well and any suggestions for improvement are welcome. Take care.
Hi! I meant in my own personal practice, as in for myself, not as a professional. The way that you’ve broken down the categories, with their respective pleasant and unpleasant sensations, is very enlightening. If at any point I figure out a way to implement this in my emotion wheel app, I would go beyond just providing attribution and link. Thanks again!!
I’m glad you find it useful! I spent quite a bit of time working on this chart and it has gone through several iterations. If you ever have any question or suggestions about it, please don’t hesitate to reach out. Also, my forthcoming free book “The Sudist Way” provides more detail on each of the feelings described in this chart–I can send you a copy if you’re interested. Take care.