Chris Lawer’s paper "The Creation of Concrete Real Experience" investigates the process by which real, lived experiences are formed, with a particular focus on the interaction of perception, affect, duration, and emotion. Through a synthesis of contemporary perspectives on affect and real experience, Lawer presents a comprehensive framework that integrates these elements within an experience ecosystem.

1. Affective Dimensions and Experience Ecosystem

The paper introduces the concept of an experience ecosystem to explain how affects emerge and stabilize in real experiences. Lawer outlines five primary dimensions of affective processes:

• Presence: The pre-conscious, virtual potential of affects that exist prior to actual human interactions in a socio-cultural and material-spatial environment.
• Content: The sensory experiences and bodily states that form the foundation of affect (including proprioception, interoception, and exteroception).
• Formation: The interaction of individuals with entities in their environment that generate affective experiences.
• Expression: The outward manifestation of affective states, which may take the form of emotions, gestures, bodily movements, and other forms of communication.
• Power: The role of affects in shaping social-cultural and material-spatial power dynamics and how these dynamics influence the formation and sedimentation of real experiences.

Lawer uses these dimensions to conceptualize the fluid and dynamic nature of human experience as it emerges through the interaction of various physical, social, and psychological factors. He integrates Graham Harman’s object-oriented ontology and Gilbert Simondon’s theory of individuation, providing a more expansive view of experience, one that transcends human-centered approaches and incorporates non-human agents and material conditions.

2. The Role of Affect

Affects are central to Lawer’s argument. He differentiates between affects as sensations (bodily experiences that signal transitions within real experience) and affects as capacities (the potential for individuals to influence or be influenced by their environment). Affects are described as dynamic forces that form and sustain real experiences, emerging through interactions with human and non-human entities in four relational affective domains: social-cultural, material-spatial, bodily-motor, and perceptual-cognitive.

He introduces the terms affectees and affectors to describe the agents involved in the production and reception of affects. Affectees are individuals, groups, or places that experience affects, while affectors are entities responsible for generating or influencing those affects. These terms allow for a more nuanced view of experience that does not solely rely on human actors but considers the role of material and social structures.

3. Real Duration

One of the key concepts in the paper is real duration, which refers to the subjective experience of time, as opposed to objective, clock-based time. Lawer draws on Henri Bergson’s theory of time, where real duration is linked to the felt passage of time as it is experienced by individuals. In the context of illness, for example, real duration can distort one’s perception of time, as seen in conditions such as depression and schizophrenia, where individuals may experience time either as dragging or as fragmented.

This focus on real duration ties back to the paper’s broader aim of understanding lived experience as something more than objective, measurable phenomena. It highlights how personal, emotional, and physical states shape our perception of time, further complicating traditional distinctions between the body, mind, and world.

4. Affective States and Emotion

Lawer explores how affects crystallize into affective states, which are then expressed as emotions. Emotions, according to Lawer, are socially constructed narratives that abstract and simplify the multiplicity of affects that are actually present in a given experience. For example, anger or joy might emerge as emotions, but they are only partial representations of a complex network of bodily sensations and cognitive processes. Emotions, in this view, are the end states of affective creation, rather than the causes of experience.

This section also includes the sedimentation of affective states, where repeated or sustained experiences of certain affects lead to stable patterns of feeling and behavior over time. These sedimented experiences form the foundation of an individual’s ongoing, lived reality, and they can influence future interactions with the world.

Practical Applications

Below are a few examples of how the paper's concepts could be used practically:

1. Chronic Pain Management and Patient-Centered Care

Lawer’s framework, especially the ideas of affects as sensations and affects as capacities, can be directly applied to healthcare settings, particularly for individuals dealing with chronic pain. In managing conditions like fibromyalgia or osteoarthritis, healthcare providers can use Lawer’s framework to better understand how affective states (such as pain, fatigue, or frustration) affect not only the individual’s physical health but also their emotional and social well-being.

Practical Application:

• Empathy in Diagnosis and Treatment: By framing chronic pain as a dynamic interaction between affectees(patients) and affectors (healthcare providers, environments, medications), clinicians can develop more holistic treatment plans that consider the patient’s emotional state, social environment, and overall affective capacity. For example, if a patient feels isolated or misunderstood in their pain management journey (social-cultural affect), clinicians could integrate social support interventions alongside medical treatments.

• Interdisciplinary Approach: Health professionals such as doctors, physiotherapists, and mental health counselors could collaborate to address the multiple domains that influence a patient's experience. Cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) could target the perceptual-cognitive domain to alter negative thought patterns, while physiotherapy could address the bodily-motor domain to improve physical function.

• Real Duration in Treatment: Understanding real duration allows clinicians to recognize how patients experience time differently during chronic illness. For example, patients with chronic pain may feel time dragging on, especially if their symptoms are not improving. Recognizing this subjective sense of time can help clinicians develop more compassionate timelines for recovery and set realistic expectations for both the patient and healthcare providers.

2. Designing Inclusive and Accessible Urban Spaces

The paper’s exploration of material-spatial affects and bodily-motor affects offers valuable insights for urban planning and design, particularly in making spaces more inclusive for diverse populations. Understanding how space affects human experience, Lawer’s concepts can inform the design of environments that support a variety of emotional and physical needs, including those of people with disabilities, elderly individuals, or those with mental health conditions.

Practical Application:

• Designing for Affective Capacities: Urban planners could use the framework to assess how different spaces (parks, public transportation systems, workplaces) affect people's emotional and physical capacities. For example, creating spaces that reduce sensory overload (calm, quiet areas for individuals with autism) or providing comfortable seating and accessible restrooms (to support bodily mobility) can enhance affective capacities for those with chronic illnesses or disabilities.

• Interacting with Affect in Public Spaces: Spaces can be designed to promote positive social-cultural affects, such as belonging and community. For instance, creating spaces that encourage social interaction (like community centers or well-designed public parks) can reduce feelings of isolation, particularly for marginalized groups.

• Real Duration in Urban Experience: Public spaces can be designed with the real duration of individuals in mind. For example, by considering the time it takes for elderly people or those with mobility issues to navigate certain spaces, planners can improve accessibility and overall quality of life for these populations.

3. Social Policy and Interventions in Mental Health

Lawer’s model also has practical applications for mental health interventions. The concepts of affectees and affectors can be used to shape interventions that focus on the complex interplay between an individual’s internal emotional states and external social conditions. This is especially relevant in addressing issues like depression, anxiety, or addiction, where perceptual-cognitive affects play a central role in how individuals perceive themselves and their relationships with the world.

Practical Application:

• Affective Stake in Mental Health Treatment: Lawer’s idea of the affective stake can be useful for understanding why certain individuals may be more or less open to treatment. For instance, a person experiencing depression may have a low interactional affective capacity, meaning they feel incapable of engaging with therapists or even reaching out for help. Social workers or mental health professionals can work to lower these barriers by creating more supportive environments, such as telehealth services or group therapy for shared experiences.

• Community-Based Mental Health Interventions: By recognizing how affective states and emotional expressions, like grief or hopelessness, are socially constructed, interventions could focus on shifting social perceptions and fostering environments where individuals can express themselves and receive support. For example, interventions targeting social-cultural affects, such as stigma reduction campaigns, can help shift the perception of mental illness and increase engagement in treatment.

• Temporal Perception and Cognitive Restructuring: With the understanding of real duration, mental health professionals can incorporate techniques that help individuals reframe their experience of time. For example, in CBT, therapists might use strategies to help clients with depression who feel time is “slowing down” or “stopping” to develop more present-focused or future-oriented thinking.

4. Education and Cognitive Development

In educational settings, especially for students with learning disabilities or mental health challenges, Lawer’s focus on perceptual-cognitive affects and the sedimentation of affective states can be applied to better understand how emotions and cognitive states impact learning and development.

Practical Application:

• Emotional Regulation for Learning: Teachers can design classrooms that are emotionally supportive and responsive to students’ affective states. By recognizing how affective states influence cognition and learning capacity, educators can foster environments that reduce stress and anxiety, allowing students to better engage with their studies.

• Time Management for Students with ADHD: The concept of real duration could also help students with ADHD or other attention-related challenges. Teachers or counselors could help students develop strategies to better manage their perception of time, ensuring they break tasks down into manageable parts and avoid feeling overwhelmed by a "distorted" experience of time.

• Creating Positive Learning Environments: By designing curricula and activities that recognize and engage students' affective capacities—like offering emotionally resonant or socially meaningful content—students can be better motivated and prepared for learning, reducing feelings of alienation or frustration.

PAPER: The Creation of Concrete Real Experience: Perception, Affect, Duration and Emotion

In this paper, Chris Lawer, Umio Founder-CEO, explains the nature, formation, and differentiation of concrete real experience. He defines affect and how it differs from emotion, and explains a process for how real lived experiences form, differ and persist. The paper includes a model of experience annotated with the 10 steps forming the process of creation of experience.

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