Positive affect: a method of content analysis for verbal samples

A measure of positive affect using content analysis of verbal samples was devised and found to have satisfactory interjudge reliability. Normative data from five groups (29 psychiatric patients, 32 established students, 48 incoming students, 27 women reallocated in a housing development, and 200 new mothers) showed an association of positive affect levels with the situations subjects were undergoing. As predicted, positive affect levels were independent of subjects' backgrounds (e.g., sex, education level) and subjects' negative affects as measured by the Gottschalk Gleser scales, indicating the necessity for measuring people's positive affect when attempting to understand their experience.