Assessment Measures

Psychologists have developed numerous questionnaires to assess emotions.
There are self-report measures to assess anxiety, anger, guilt, happiness, and
hopelessness, to name a few. In addition to measures of specific emotions,
researchers have developed methods for assessing emotional intensity. Emotional
intensity refers to the strength with which a person experiences both
positive and negative emotions. It has been found that people who are emotionally
intense report a feeling of well-being as “exuberance, animated joyfulness,
and zestful enthusiasm.” On the other hand, people who score low
on a measure of emotional intensity experience a state of well-being as “serenity,
contentment, tranquil calmness, and easygoing composure.”

In addition to the use of self-report measures of emotion, psychologists
often use physiological measures. Using sophisticated biological measuring
instruments, psychologists are able to assess emotional arousal by measuring,
for example, heart rate, skin sweating, respiration, blood pressure, and
muscle tension. By examining the amount these measures change in response
to a stimulus, researchers are able to infer emotional arousal. For example,
it has been found that people who have the type of personality that
puts them at risk for heart attacks show greater increases in blood pressure
when trapped in a traffic jam, in comparison to those people who have personality
characteristics that do not predispose them to heart attacks. In this
instance, the psychologist uses the measure of blood pressure to infer a negative
emotion, such as anger or frustration.
One question that arises when using physiological measures to assess
emotions is whether each emotion has a specific pattern of physiological responses.
For example, blood pressure appears to be particularly responsive
to anger-inducing situations. People’s heart rates, however, increase during
emotional states of excitement, anxiety, anger, and sexual arousal. For this
reason, researchers may use multiple measures of emotion, assessing selfreports
of emotion while physiological responses are being recorded. Another
way of assessing emotions is by direct observation of overt behavior.
Approach behavior can indicate acceptance, and avoidance behavior can reflect
fear or disgust. In addition, facial expressions have been used to assess
various emotional states.