Discrete emotion norms for nouns: Berlin affective word list (DENN–BAWL)

• Published in: Behavior research methods 2011-06, Vol.43 (2), p.441-448
• Main Authors: Briesemeister, Benny B., Kuchinke, Lars, Jacobs, Arthur M.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adult; Arousal; Behavior; Behavioral Science and Psychology; Cognitive Psychology; Decision Making; Emotions; Female; Happiness; Humans; Language; Male; Middle Aged; Norms; Psycholinguistics; Psychology; R&D; Research & development; Studies; Vocabulary
• ISSN: 1554-3528; 1554-351X; 1554-3528
• DOI: 10.3758/s13428-011-0059-y

The Berlin Affective Word List (BAWL, Võ, Jacobs, & Conrad, Behavior Research Methods, 35, 606-609, 2006 ) and the BAWL-R (Võ et al. in Behavior Research Methods 38 , 606-609, 2009 ) are two commonly used lists to investigate affective properties of German words. The two-dimensional valence and arousal model of affect underlying the BAWL is traditionally contrasted with models describing affect in discrete emotional categories, which, however, are not currently incorporated in the BAWL. In order to allow future studies to investigate affective processing from both perspectives—or to directly compare them—in the present study, we collected data by assigning nouns taken from the BAWL-R to discrete emotion intensities, which in turn allowed the assignment to discrete emotion categories. In the study, we present Discrete Emotion Norms for Nouns–Berlin Affective Word List (DENN–BAWL). Using these ratings and the psycholinguistic indexes from the BAWL-R, the DENN–BAWL allows researchers to design experiments using highly controlled and reliable word material. Data have been archived at www.fu-berlin.de/allgpsy/DENN-BAWL