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The Circumplex of Affect

Russell's 2D map: valence x arousal places every emotion as a point.

A free, animated circumplex of affect you can read here or embed on any website, from Scrollchart.

The Circumplex of Affect

The Circumplex Model of AffectRussell 1980: every emotion occupies a unique valence x arousal coordinateRussell 1980 (n=343): two dimensions account for > 85% of the variance in affective ratings across languages and cultures

Circular plot with valence (pleasant-unpleasant) on X and arousal (high-low) on Y. Emotions positioned: excited (high arousal pleasant), tense (high arousal unpleasant), depressed (low low), serene (low pleasant).

Good for

  • Affective science blog posts introducing dimensional models as an alternative to discrete emotion categories
  • Therapy and coaching handouts explaining how mood disorders shift the resting affective point toward low-arousal unpleasant space
  • UX and product-design articles on designing for emotional states across the circumplex (e.g. calm apps vs energising apps)

Source & accuracy

This circumplex of affect is an editorial illustration built to represent the concept accurately. Where it shows figures, they are typical or representative values chosen to make the relationship clear, not a single underlying dataset. The diagram and its explainer are reviewed and maintained centrally, and updated over time as understanding improves.

Valence and arousal as universal emotion axes

James Russell's circumplex model maps emotions on two dimensions: valence (positive to negative) and arousal (low to high energy). This two-dimensional space can place any emotion as a point. Contentment sits high-valence, low-arousal; anger sits negative-valence, high-arousal; fatigue sits low-valence, low-arousal.

The model captures how emotions exist on continuums rather than as discrete categories. Happiness and excitement share positive valence but differ in arousal. Fear and anger both activate the body but point in different valence directions.

Cultural universality and context dependence

Research across cultures finds that valence and arousal emerge as core dimensions of emotion perception globally. Languages differ in their specific emotion vocabulary, but the underlying structure of pleasant-to-unpleasant and calm-to-activated appears universal.

Context shapes where an emotion lands on the map. The same physiological arousal state can feel like excitement before a performance or anxiety during a medical procedure. The circumplex acknowledges that the same bodily state carries different emotional meaning depending on the situation and interpretation.

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Reference

What this is
A free, embeddable, animated circumplex of affect for any website.
Who uses it
Psychology blogs.
How to embed
Copy one line of HTML. No signup. No watermark. Works in WordPress, Webflow, Ghost, Substack, plain HTML.
File size
iframe embed, ~80 KB gzipped (loads on demand, does not block your page paint).
License
Free forever. Editorial explainer text included; updated centrally over time.
URL
scrollchart.com/diagram/circumplex-affect

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Frequently asked questions

Where can I get a free animated "The Circumplex of Affect" for my website?
Scrollchart provides "The Circumplex of Affect" as a free, embeddable animated diagram you can add to any website with one line of HTML. No signup is required and there is no watermark. The diagram and its explainer text are served from scrollchart.com, so the embed stays current without any maintenance on your end.
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