Inducing and assessing differentiated emotion-feeling states in the laboratory.

Two questions are addressed. The first question pertains to the capacity of film segments to induce emotional states that are: (a) as comparable as possible to naturally occurring emotions; (b) similar across individuals; and (c) clearly differentiated across the intended emotions. The second question concerns the discriminant capacity of self-report questionnaires of emotion-feeling states differing in their theoretical assumptions. Subjects viewed six short film segments and rated the strength of their responses on one of three kinds of questionnaires. The questionnaires were: (1) the Differential Emotions Scale that postulates category-based distinctions between emotions; (2) the Semantic Differential that postulates that emotions are distinguished along bipolar dimensions; and (3) free labelling of their feelings by the subjects (control condition with no theoretical a priori). Overall, results indicate that film segments can elicit a diversity of predictable emotions, in the same way, in a majority of individuals. In the present procedure, the Differential Emotions Scale yielded a better discrimination between emotional states than the Semantic Differential. Implications for emotion research and theories of the cognitive structure of emotion are discussed.

[1]  W. Wundt,et al.  Outline of psychology. , 1897 .

[2]  W. Wundt.  Outlines of Psychology , 1897 .

[3]  A Lecture ON THE PHYSICS OF THE CHEST, AND THEIR RELATION TO DISEASES AND INJURIES OF THE THORACIC ORGANS , 1919 .

[4]  J. Scott.  Systolic blood-pressure fluctuations with sex, anger and fear. , 1930 .

[5]  A. Ax.  The Physiological Differentiation between Fear and Anger in Humans , 1953, Psychosomatic medicine.

[6]  H. Schlosberg.  Three dimensions of emotion. , 1954, Psychological review.

[7]  R. Sternbach.  Assessing differential autonomic patterns in emotions. , 1962, Journal of psychosomatic research.

[8]  C. Adsett,et al.  Changes in Coronary Blood Flow and Other Hemodynamic Indicators Induced by Stressful Interviews , 1962, Psychosomatic medicine.

[9]  C. Osgood.  Dimensionality of the semantic space for communication via facial expressions. , 1966, Scandinavian journal of psychology.

[10]  R. Thayer,et al.  Measurement of Activation through Self-Report , 1967, Psychological reports.

[11]  S. Black,et al.  Effects of emotion and pain on adrenocortical function investigated by hypnosis. , 1968, British medical journal.

[12]  J. M. Grossberg,et al.  Physiological changes accompanying the visualization of fearful and neutral situations. , 1968, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[13]  J. Averill.  AUTONOMIC RESPONSE PATTERNS DURING SADNESS AND MIRTH , 1969 .

[14]  C. Hendrick,et al.  The structure of mood: a comparison between sleep deprivation and normal wakefulness conditions. , 1970, Journal of personality.

[15]  R. Meddis.  Bipolar factors in mood adjective checklists. , 1972, The British journal of social and clinical psychology.

[16]  B. C. Lacey,et al.  Pupillary and cardiac activity during visual attention. , 1973, Psychophysiology.

[17]  Murray S. Miron,et al.  Cross-Cultural Universals of Affective Meaning , 1975 .

[18]  Peter J. Lang,et al.  A Bio‐Informational Theory of Emotional Imagery , 1979 .

[19]  C. Izard.  Emotions in Personality and Psychopathology , 1979 .

[20]  R. Plutchik.  Emotion, a psychoevolutionary synthesis , 1980 .

[21]  J. Russell.  A circumplex model of affect. , 1980 .

[22]  J. Polivy,et al.  On the induction of emotion in the laboratory: discrete moods or multiple affect states? , 1981, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[23]  G. M. Southward,et al.  Analysis of Categorical Data: Dual Scaling and Its Applications , 1981 .

[24]  J. Singer,et al.  Cardiovascular Differentiation of Happiness, Sadness, Anger, and Fear Following Imagery and Exercise1 , 1981, Psychosomatic medicine.

[25]  P. Ekman.  Emotion in the human face , 1982 .

[26]  Craig A. Smith,et al.  The structure of self-reports of emotional responses to film segments , 1982 .

[27]  J. Russell.  Pancultural Aspects of the Human Conceptual Organization of Emotions , 1983 .

[28]  R. Krauss,et al.  Facial and autonomic manifestations of the dimensional structure of emotion , 1984 .

[29]  P. Ekman.  Expression and the Nature of Emotion , 1984 .

[30]  P. Ekman,et al.  Approaches To Emotion , 1985 .

[31]  Michel Tenenhaus,et al.  An analysis and synthesis of multiple correspondence analysis, optimal scaling, dual scaling, homogeneity analysis and other methods for quantifying categorical multivariate data , 1985 .

[32]  J. Russell,et al.  Fuzzy Concepts and the Perception of Emotion in Facial Expressions , 1986 .

[33]  P. Ekman,et al.  A new pan-cultural facial expression of emotion , 1986 .

[34]  G. Boyle.  Analysis of Typological Factors across the Eight State Questionnaire and the Differential Emotions Scale , 1986 .

[35]  P. Shaver,et al.  Emotion knowledge: further exploration of a prototype approach. , 1987 .

[36]  C. Izard,et al.  On the form and universality of the contempt expression: A challenge to Ekman and Friesen's claim of discovery , 1988 .

[37]  D. R. Heise,et al.  Structure of Emotions , 1988 .

[38]  G. Stemmler,et al.  The autonomic differentiation of emotions revisited: convergent and discriminant validation. , 1989, Psychophysiology.

[39]  A. Tesser.  Smith and Ellsworth's Appraisal Model of Emotion , 1990 .

[40]  A. Ortony,et al.  What's basic about basic emotions? , 1990, Psychological review.

[41]  K. Scherer,et al.  Evidence for universality and cultural variation of differential emotion response patterning. , 1994, Journal of personality and social psychology.