Please see the quotation from Richard Brown at the end of the word-a-day post here. After noting other examples,* Brown says, "The real enigma is that we can still be astonished by evaluative inconsistency and can still find it inexplicable when we know that traits have complex genetic bases and are affected by many different kinds of learning."

Is this a misuse of the word 'affected'? Or does it fit within the technical, psychological definition of 'affect' as a noun?

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*"Wagner is not an enigma, and neither is Mozart with his silly jokes and bathroom preoccupations; nor Martin Luther King, said to have bmeen something of a 'womanizer'; nor John Cheever, revealed by his daughter to have been alcoholic; nor Robert Frost, the unworldy poet who wroked tirelessly at promoting his literary standing."

Seems right to me. The "a" prefix suggests that the action is toward someone or something else, so is proper.

I see nothing wrong with it. OneLook gives as one of its quick definitions "acted upon; influenced", which perfectly fits the meaning of the sentence.

I would use effected here, as I nearly always do. I save the word affected for the adoption of unnatural accents. Somebody must have a good way of distinguishing the two.

I'm jumping into this thread late, so please forgive if this is a repetition.

I've always treated these two in the following way:

Affect is an action, direct or indirect (a verb).

Effect is the result of an action (a noun in its various incarnations).

Effect is also a transitive verb

To effect means "to bring about", as in "He has effected many changes, not all for the better".

ya know, you are so darn right. This is why I am a linguist, not a grammarian. I really should avoid using terms like noun, verb, etc.

I'm not sure I'm able to come up with a "rule" for effect and affect, after considerable thought on the matter. As a psycholinguist I put it under the heading of stuff that native speakers sort of do automatically. Except that even native speakers get it mixed up.

I think I know how to use it, but I'm darned if I can give any hard and fast rules for using it.

Those confused by how to use affect/effect might care to look at Effect vs Affect.

I think it all depends on what is meant in the sentence. Couldn't either be correct?

Are the traits merely influenced by many different kinds of learning? Or, do the different kinds of learning actually make changes in the traits? From the context, I would say the former.

quote:

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Originally posted by wordcrafter:
... traits have complex genetic bases and are affected by many different kinds of learning."

Is this a misuse of the word 'affected'? Or does it fit within the technical, psychological definition of 'affect' as a noun?

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I have trouble with affect and effect, but in this case I think affected is used correctly as a verb meaning "influenced." If effected were used it would mean the traits were "brought about" or caused by the kinds of learning.

Maybe the following usage notes will help.

From the AHD:

Usage Note: Affect and effect have no senses in common. As a verb affect is most commonly used in the sense of “to influence” (how smoking affects health). Effect means “to bring about or execute”: layoffs designed to effect savings. Thus the sentence These measures may affect savings could imply that the measures may reduce savings that have already been realized, whereas These measures may effect savings implies that the measures will cause new savings to come about.

From M-W (Click on "effect 2[transitive verb]").

usage The confusion of the verbs affect and effect is not only quite common but has a long history. Effect was used in place of 3affect as early as 1494 and in place of 2affect as early as 1652. If you think you want to use the verb effect but are not certain, check the definitions in this dictionary. The noun affect is sometimes mistakenly used for effect. Except when your topic is psychology, you will seldom need the noun affect.

Tinman

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