The structure of self-reports of emotional responses to film segments

Subjects viewed eight short film segments and rated the strength of their responses within eight emotion categories. Principal-components analysis showed that these ratings varied along three dimensions: Amused-Warmhearted, Fearful-Anxious, and Disgusted-Scornful. Clusters of film segment centroids occupied distinct regions within this reduced space, and moderate homogeneity was found when the individual ratings were assigned to the centroids of these clusters. Further analyses concerned the reliability of the ratings over time, the effects of prior exposure, and sex differences. Ratings obtained on a subset of these film segments during a subsequent psychophysiological experiment were analyzed to test the generalizability of the results of Study 1. The factor patterns were very similar, as were tests for the homogeneity of the ratings. The structure of self-reports of elicited affect and the utility of film stimuli are discussed.This research was supported by National Science Foundation Grant 77-08926 and by funds from the Lincoln Filene endowment to Dartmouth College.