Preference for current mood, anticipated emotional reaction, and experienced emotional reaction

How situational activation of values evokes positive and negative feelings: Theory and experimental findings

We propose a theory of how situational activation of values evokes positive and negative feelings. In conjunction we present a re-conceptualization of Schwartz’ et al. (J Personal Soc Psychol 103:663–688, 2012. 10.1037/a029393) value set including additional values. In our new value set, we posit contrastive values having opposite values and central values having no opposite values. As a consequence, balanced access to salient opposite contrastive values and maximal access to central values evoke the strongest positive and weakest negative feelings. Study 1 shows, as hypothesized, that contrastive values form a circumplex structure with central values located inside its periphery. Study 2 supports theoretically derived hypotheses of how positive and negative feelings are evoked by different degrees of access to values, salience of opposite values, and centrality of values.

The Arithmetic of Emotion: Integration of Incidental and Integral Affect in Judgments and Decisions

Research has demonstrated that two types of affect have an influence on judgment and decision making: incidental affect (affect unrelated to a judgment or decision such as a mood) and integral affect (affect that is part of the perceiver’s internal representation of the option or target under consideration). So far, these two lines of research have seldom crossed so that knowledge concerning their combined effects is largely missing. To fill this gap, the present review highlights differences and similarities between integral and incidental affect. Further, common and unique mechanisms that enable these two types of affect to influence judgment and choices are identified. Finally, some basic principles for affect integration when the two sources co-occur are outlined. These mechanisms are discussed in relation to existing work that has focused on incidental or integral affect but not both.

Validation of a Swedish short self-report measure of core affect

This research aimed at validating two self-report composite rating scales of core affect that are useful when quick assessments are required, for instance, of current mood or recalled, anticipated, and experienced emotional reactions. The ratings were derived from the Swedish Core Affect Scales (SCAS) comprising six self-report rating scales of the two orthogonal dimensions of core affect, valence (unpleasantness-pleasantness) and activation (quietness-excitement). In three samples of university students who were requested to rate current moods, affect-inducing sounds, or affect-inducing pictures, the composite ratings were compared to SCAS, two widely used graphical rating scales of valence and activation, and skin conductance responses and the acceleratory peak of heart rate. Three different rating formats were also compared. The results showed that the composite ratings were reliable and yielded the expected correlations with the other ratings and with the physiological affect indicators. No effects of rating format were detected. It is concluded that the composite ratings of valence and activation may be used if quick assessments are called for. Choices can be made of any of three rating formats depending on purpose with the assessments.