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Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, Vol. 30, No. 11, 1472-1484 (2004)
DOI: 10.1177/0146167204266647

Watch Out! That Could Be Dangerous: Valence-Arousal Interactions in Evaluative Processing

Michael D. Robinson

North Dakota State University, Michael.D.Robinson{at}ndsu.nodak.edu

Justin Storbeck

University of Virginia

Brian P. Meier

North Dakota State University

Ben S. Kirkeby

North Dakota State University

Seven studies involving 146 undergraduates examined the effects of stimulus valence and arousal on direct and indirect measures of evaluative processing. Stimuli were emotional slides (Studies 1 to 6) or words (Study 7) that systematically varied in valence and arousal. Evaluative categorization was measured by reaction times to evaluate the stimuli (Studies 2, 3, and 7), latencies related to emotional feelings (Study 3), and incidental effects on motor performance (Studies 4 and 5). A consistent interaction was observed such that evaluation latencies were faster if a negative stimulus was high in arousal or if a positive stimulus was low in arousal. Studies 1, 6, and 7 establish that the findings are not due to stimulus identification processes. The findings therefore suggest that people make evaluative inferences on the basis of stimulus arousal.

Key Words: affect • appraisal • cognition • valence • arousal • emotion


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