The Pilot Establishment and Evaluation of Chinese Affective Words System
Yi Wang · Zhongguo xinli weisheng zazhi · 2008
Objective:To build the normalized Chinese Affective Words System,this study had completed the determination of the affective dimensions of affective connotations and the normalization of emotional information carried in Chinese nouns,verbs and adjectives.Method:Altogether 124 participants were recruited by advertisements.250 Chinese 2-character nouns were rated by 30 undergraduates,who were selected expediently,as a trial probe into the five emotional information dimensions-pleasure,excitement,dominance,appulsion and familiarity.300 nouns,verbs and adjectives,were evaluated by another 30 university students,as verification of the dimensions.In the third experiment,64 undergraduates assessed 1500 nouns,verbs and adjectives,and 30 of them were selected randomly as the participants for the retest.All tests were taken with a 9-point rating scale.Result:The 4 factors(pleasure,excitement,dominance and familiarity),which contributed more than 98% to the principal constituent,could fully communicate the emotional information of 2-character words.The stimulants determined by the 9-point rating scale could induce a full spectrum of each dimension;and the 4-week interval double tests and tests of different subjects with the same stimulants had shown very good reliability(all more than 0.79),i.e.the average of pleasure,excitement,dominance and familiarity had a strong test-retest reliability.Conclusion:Affective connotation should be expressed fully in all dimensions.Rating of affective connotations of Chinese words can provide normalized stimulant materials for research in cognitive neuroscience.