Test Library » Personality & Rating Scales » Affect Grid

Affect Grid

Personality & Rating Scales Duration: ~1 minutes
Affect Grid screenshot

System Requirements

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Screen Size:
Minimum: 1024Ɨ768
Recommended: 1280Ɨ800

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

Test ID:
affectgrid
Main File:
affectgrid.pbl
Parameters:
4 configurable parameters
Languages:
German English Spanish French Italian Dutch Portuguese

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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.

Data Output

Output File:
affectgrid-{subnum}.csv
Format:
CSV

Data Columns

Column Name Description
subnum Participant ID
timestamp Timestamp of response in PEBL standard format
pleasure Pleasure-displeasure rating. 1=most unpleasant (left edge), 5=neutral (center), 9=most pleasant (right edge). Corresponds to horizontal grid axis position.
arousal Arousal-sleepiness rating. 1=highest sleepiness (bottom edge), 5=neutral (center), 9=highest arousal (top edge). Corresponds to vertical grid axis position.

Scoring and Interpretation

Both dimensions are scored 1-9 with 5 representing the neutral midpoint. Higher pleasure scores indicate more positive valence; higher arousal scores indicate higher activation. The four quadrants can be interpreted as follows: pleasureā‰¤4 & arousalā‰¤4 = Depression (bottom-left); pleasureā‰„6 & arousalā‰¤4 = Relaxation (bottom-right); pleasureā‰¤4 & arousalā‰„6 = Stress (top-left); pleasureā‰„6 & arousalā‰„6 = Excitement (top-right).

Example Data

subnumtimestamppleasurearousal
exampleThu Jan 29 22:12:13 202642

Sample data showing typical output format. Actual values will vary by participant.

About This Test

A single-item self-report measure of current emotional state using a 9x9 grid assessing pleasure-displeasure and arousal-sleepiness dimensions

Category: Personality & Rating Scales
Estimated Duration: 1 minutes
Available Translations: 7 languages

Documentation Sources:
Test implementation, Parameter schema

Documentation Status: Complete