A labeled affective magnitude (LAM) scale for assessing food liking/disliking

The most widely used scale for assessing food liking or disliking is the 9- pt hedonic scale. Unfortunately, this affective scale suffers from problems related to unequal scale intervals and the underuse of end categories, whi ch results in a reduced ability to differentiate among extremely well liked or extremely disliked foods. Magnitude estimation avoids these problems wh ile enabling ratio statements to be made about the data. However, it does n ot provide absolute ratings of liking/disliking and can be difficult for so me consumers to use. We report here on the development of a labeled affecti ve magnitude scale (LAM) scale that has advantages over both the 9-pt hedon ic scale and magnitude estimation. Forty-four semantic labels were scaled f or their affective meaning by subjects using modulus-free magnitude estimat ion. The geometric mean magnitude estimates obtained for each semantic labe l were used to construct a series of labeled affective magnitude scales by spacing the labels along a visual analogue scale according to their obtaine d semantic values. Reliability and sensitivity studies were conducted to as sess the effects of alternative semantic and numeric labels. The results of these studies led to the choice of a scale format that uses verbal labels that are consistent with the 9-pt hedonic scale. The labeled affective magn itude (LAM) scale was compared to the hedonic scale and magnitude estimatio n in several food preference and acceptability rests. The LAM was shown to have equal reliability and sensitivity to the hedonic scale, provided somew hat greater discrimination among highly liked foods, and resulted in data t hat were similar to magnitude estimation in terms of the obtained ratios am ong rated stimuli. The LAM scale was also judged by consumers to be as easy to use as the 9-pt hedonic scale and significantly less difficult than mag nitude estimation.