On the Dimensional and Hierarchical Structure of Affect

Green, Goldman, and Salovey (1993) challenged the view that "positive affect" and "negative affect" are largely uncorrelated dimensions. On the basis of factor analytic studies of happiness and sadness, and of positive and negative emotional activation (PA and NA), they claimed t...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Psychological science 1999-07, Vol.10 (4), p.297-303
Main Authors: Tellegen, Auke, Watson, David, Clark, Lee Anna
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Bipolar disorder
Emotion
Emotional states
Grief
Happiness
Modeling
Personality psychology
Psychology
Rotation
Sadness
Social psychology
Special Section: The Structure of Affect
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Summary:Green, Goldman, and Salovey (1993) challenged the view that "positive affect" and "negative affect" are largely uncorrelated dimensions. On the basis of factor analytic studies of happiness and sadness, and of positive and negative emotional activation (PA and NA), they claimed that a "largely bipolar structure of affect" (p. 1029) emerges when random and nonrandom error are taken into account. A reappraisal of their own findings and confirmatory analysis of additional data do not support this claim. Happiness and sadness form a largely unidimensional bipolar structure, but PA and NA are relatively independent. However, exploratory analyses yield a three-level hierarchy incorporating in one structure a general bipolar Happiness-Versus-Unhappiness dimension, the relatively independent PA and NA dimensions at the level below it, and discrete emotions at the base. We emphasize the heuristic value of a hierarchical perspective.
ISSN:0956-7976
1467-9280
DOI:10.1111/1467-9280.00157