Lf. Barrett et Ja. Russell, INDEPENDENCE AND BIPOLARITY IN THE STRUCTURE OF CURRENT AFFECT, Journal of personality and social psychology, 74(4), 1998, pp. 967-984
The independence of positive and negative affect has been heralded as
a major and counterintuitive finding in the psychology of mood and emo
tion. Still, other findings support the older view that positive and n
egative fall at opposite ends of a single bipolar continuum. Independe
nce versus bipolarity can be reconciled by considering (a) the activat
ion dimension of affect, (b) random and systematic measurement error,
and (c) how items are selected to achieve an appropriate test of bipol
arity. In 3 studies of self-reported current affect, random and system
atic error were controlled through multiformat measurement and confirm
atory factor analysis. Valence was found to be independent of activati
on, positive affect the bipolar opposite of negative affect, and deact
ivation the bipolar opposite of activation. The dimensions underlying
D. Watson, L. A. Clark, and A. Tellegen's (1988) Positive and Negative
Affect schedule were accounted for by the valence and activation dime
nsions.