Human content in affect-inducing stimuli: A secondary analysisof the international affective picture system

摘要

We report a secondary analysis of the interna-tional affective picture system (IAPS), the broadestavailable standardized sample of emotional stimuli, whichconfirmed our prediction that the distribution of slidesacross the valence and arousal dimensions would be relatedto human versus inanimate slide content. Pictures depictinghumans are over-represented in the high arousal/positiveand high arousalegative areas of affective space ascompared to inanimate pictures, which are especially fre-quent in the low arousaleutral valence area. Resultspertaining to dominance ratings and gender differences invalence and arousal ratings further suggest that there arequalitative differences between emotional reactions toanimal or human slide content and responses to nonsocialstill photos. Researchers need to be mindful of this dis-tinction when selecting affect-inducing stimuli.