Mis-using affect/effect is one of my pet peeves. If you can replace the troubling word with "influence", then the verb to use is affect. Effect as a verb means to bring about, as in "to effect change." However, the noun forms do get murky because effect as a noun means result. The noun, affect , is something we use in educational studies a lot as something within the learning environment or the learner's background that affects (influences) how the learner views the effect (result) Now isn't just about as clear as mud?