TITLE:
Effect of Affect Induction Method on Emotional Valence and Arousal
AUTHORS:
Josef N. Lazar, Shiri Pearlman-Avnion
KEYWORDS:
Affect, Mood, Positive Affect, Negative Affect, Music, Video Clips
JOURNAL NAME:
Psychology,
Vol.5 No.7,
May
8,
2014
ABSTRACT: Human
functioning is influenced by the affective state. The literature contains
several references to the possibility that valence and arousal have separable
influences on attention. There are several methods of inducing affective state
but the most popular are by music and video clips. The latter are more vivid
and stimulate several sensory systems, leading to the hypothesis that a
stronger effect will result when using video clips for the induction of
affective state. Both methods have been used in many studies in the past but
their different contributions have never really been tested. Thus the aim of
the present study is to systematically establish or refute the assumption that
video clips are the stronger tool for affect induction. In order to test this
hypothesis a study was conducted in which 194 subjects participated in four
groups. Positive and negative affect conditions were induced by validated music
and video clips. The results established the validity of the hypothesis. The
results should be applied in cognitive research testing the relations between
induced affect and cognitive abilities in order to determine whether the effect
is replicated when the cognitive abilities are tested.