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A New Set of Standardised Verbal and Non-verbal Contemporary Film Stimuli for the Elicitation of Emotions

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 October 2012

Lisanne M. Jenkins  and
David G. Andrewes
Lisanne M. Jenkins*
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, University of Melbourne, Australia
David G. Andrewes
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, University of Melbourne, Australia
*
Address for correspondence: Lisanne Jenkins, E-mail: [email protected]
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Abstract

This study responded to a need for an updated set of film clips for the elicitation of emotion. Previous such stimuli are not only dated, but are limited in that they have been validated using participants from a narrow age range, which is problematic given conflicting reports regarding age differences in self-reported emotion elicited in a laboratory setting. The present study aimed to develop a new film stimulus set standardised on a wide age range of participants, while investigating age differences in self-reported emotion in response to film clips. An ancillary aim was to standardise film clips that were with and without dialogue. Two researchers composed a shortlist of 60 clips that were chosen to elicit six target emotions of amusement, anger, disgust, fear, happiness and sadness, as well as a neutral state. Each of the 109 participants (55 males, 54 females), aged between 18 and 88 years (M = 44.94) viewed all 60 clips. Self-reported emotional experience was measured using a computerised Visual Analogue Scale. Age differences were observed whereby participants aged 46–88 reported more intense positive and negative emotions in response to film clips than participants aged 18–45. Consistent with previous research, difficulties were found in eliciting the target emotion of anger. A success index was calculated for each film that took into consideration the mean rating on the target emotion and the degree to which the film elicited only the target emotion. We present a list of film clips recommended for future research.

Keywords

emotionfilmsagestandardisationverbalnon-verbal
Type
Articles
Information
Brain Impairment , Volume 13 , Issue 2 , September 2012 , pp. 212 - 227
Copyright
Copyright © The Authors 2012

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