Affect intensity: Separating intensity and frequency in repeatedly measured affect.

frequency as separable components in repeatedly measured affect. In this article, an improved way of differentiating intensity and frequency of affect is proposed that permits one to measure affect intensity separately for each emotion of interest. The results of 3 studies using this method provide further support for the affect intensity construct and demonstrate the superiority of the new approach. In addition, a new measure based on intensity ratings of hypothetical scenarios proved to be the best measure of affect intensity when it has to be assessed at 1 moment in time. Finally, results of 2 diary studies, one sampling emotional events and the other sampling random moments, confirmed the hypothesis that affect intensity is best conceptualized as a disposition to react strongly to emotioneliciting events rather than to experience intense affect in the absence of goal-relevant situations. If an individual experiences intense happiness, is he or she likely to experience intense sadness as well? As pointed out by several authors (Diener, Larsen, Levine, Emmons, 1985; Lazarus, 1991), this question is ambiguous because it may refer either to the simultaneous occurrence of pleasant and unpleasant emotional states at a specific moment, or it may refer to the relations between an individuals general disposition to experience pleasant and unpleasant emotions intensely) In other words, it is important to distinguish between a state and a trait perspective when discussing affect intensity. Concerning states, ample evidence indicates that people who experience intense pleasant affects at a specific moment are unlikely to experience simultaneously intense unpleasant affects