Test of Understanding Emotions: Construction and Validation within Roseman's Model of Emotions

Authors

  • Tamara Mohoric Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Rijeka

Keywords:

Roseman's model of emotion, emotional understanding, cognitive appraisals, Test of Emotional Understanding

Abstract

According to Roseman's model of emotion, every situation is being evaluated against seven different dimensions of appraisal (unexpectedness, situational state, motivational state, probability, agency, control potential, problem type). If we know all of these seven dimensions of appraisal, we can predict which emotion will be elicited in a specific situation. The main goal of this research was to construct and validate Test of Emotional Understanding. We used these different appraisal components to define 14 different emotions. Every emotion was described within 3 situations, which resulted in Test of Emotional Understanding with 42 items. According to our results, some emotions can be easily recognized in described situations, and subjects chose answers according to expectations of the theory. Some emotions are not so easily recognized, and for those items, subjects chose answers that differ from the model. The test has above average P-value, which means it is slightly easier, and a good coefficient of internal reliability. According to our results, both subjects and experts can accurately determine which emotion would be elicited in described situations. Correlation between Test of Emotional Understanding and Vocabulary Emotion Test is moderately high and statistically significant.

Published

2016-07-15

Issue

Section

Articles