affective fallacy

noun

1. a proposition in literary criticism that a poem should be analyzed and described in terms of its own internal structure and not in terms of the emotional response it arouses in the reader.

Word History and Origins

Origin of affective fallacy¹

First recorded in 1945–50

Example Sentences

When making the case for Dark Souls, almost every defender stumbles into the affective fallacy, wherein the value of a work is tied to the emotions it dredges up from its audience.

From Slate