Affect Grid
System Requirements
Minimum: 1024×768
Recommended: 1280×800
Description
A single-item self-report measure of current emotional state using a 9x9 grid assessing pleasure-displeasure and arousal-sleepiness dimensions
About This Test
The PEBL Affect Grid is a rapid assessment tool for measuring current emotional state along two fundamental dimensions of affect: pleasure-displeasure (valence) and arousal-sleepiness (activation). **Grid Structure**: Participants view a 9x9 grid of clickable squares. The horizontal axis represents pleasure (left = unpleasant feelings, right = pleasant feelings). The vertical axis represents arousal (bottom = high sleepiness, top = high arousal). The four corners are labeled with prototypical emotional states: - Top-left: Stress - Top-right: Excitement - Bottom-left: Depression - Bottom-right: Relaxation **Response Process**: Participants click on a single square that best represents their current emotional state. The selected square is highlighted in red. After making a selection, an 'OK' button appears to confirm the response. Participants can change their selection before confirming. **Administration Time**: Under 1 minute - typically 10-30 seconds per administration. **Theoretical Basis**: The Affect Grid is based on Russell's circumplex model of affect, which posits that all emotional states can be characterized by their position along two independent dimensions: valence (pleasure-displeasure) and activation (arousal-sleepiness). This dimensional approach allows for measurement of the full range of affective states with a single, simple response. **Use Cases**: The brevity and simplicity make it ideal for repeated measurements, experience sampling, pre/post assessments, and situations where minimizing participant burden is critical.
Test Details
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Scientific Background
Original Task References:
These references describe the original task that this PEBL implementation is based on.
- Russell, J. A., Weiss, A., & Mendelsohn, G. A. (1989). Affect Grid: A single-item scale of pleasure and arousal. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 57(3), 493-502.
- Russell, J. A. (1980). A circumplex model of affect. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 39(6), 1161-1178.
- Russell, J. A., & Barrett, L. F. (1999). Core affect, prototypical emotional episodes, and other things called emotion: Dissecting the elephant. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 76(5), 805-819.
- Barrett, L. F., & Russell, J. A. (1998). Independence and bipolarity in the structure of current affect. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 74(4), 967-984.
- Killgore, W. D. (1998). The Affect Grid: A moderately valid, nonspecific measure of pleasure and arousal. Psychological Reports, 83(2), 639-642.
Validation status: The original Affect Grid (Russell et al., 1989) demonstrated good convergent validity with longer mood measures, test-retest reliability, and sensitivity to mood manipulations. The single-item format shows correlations with multi-item scales measuring pleasure (r=0.87 with PANAS Positive Affect) and arousal (r=0.75 with Thayer Activation scale). The grid format has been validated in numerous studies and translated into multiple languages.
Typical Use Cases
- Experience sampling and ecological momentary assessment
- Pre/post intervention mood measurement
- Repeated measurements during experimental tasks
- Affective response to stimuli (images, videos, sounds, etc.)
- Real-time mood tracking in field studies
- Brief mood assessment in clinical or therapeutic settings
- Emotion regulation studies
- Stress and relaxation research
- User experience and product evaluation
- Physiological stress studies requiring minimal response burden