A lack of norms limited previous work on the interplay of language and emotion. Valence and arousal are regularly dichotomized affecting generalizability and accuracy. Important questions remain unexplored such as the interaction between these dimensions along with individual and group differences. Chapters 2 and 3 report collections of affective and concreteness norms. In Chapter 4, these norms are used to reveal that valence is negatively and arousal is positively correlated with reaction time, both monotonically. Previously, it has been argued that people
categorically distinguish between positive and negative or prioritize emotional over neutral stimuli. We demonstrate that this automatic vigilance must be graded. Chapter 5 introduces a method for measuring approach and avoidance in proportion to valence and arousal. A
previously demonstrated congruency effect between valence and approach and avoidance movements is categorical. We showed that people choose distances proportionally to word valence and that responses are affected by word frequency, gender, and personality. Finally, Chapter 6 combines the distribution of affect with word frequency information to reveal how
language is organized around communicative needs. A compound bias toward high-arousal emotional and low-arousal, mid-valence word types along with more frequent use of positive words suggest that humans need tools to talk about danger and thrills as well as the mundane, while fostering relationships by focusing on the positive. Thus, this dissertation provides important resources – large sets of norms – for the extension of studies on emotion and language. It shows the value of these norms in revisiting past studies of word processing, enabling new methods for testing the motivations behind emotional effects, and considering how the
distribution of emotion across language informs our understanding of these motivations. Throughout each chapter, group and individual differences are explored. / Dissertation / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:mcmaster.ca/oai:macsphere.mcmaster.ca:11375/16227 |
| Date | 11 1900 |
| Creators | Warriner, Amy Beth |
| Contributors | Kuperman, Victor, None |
| Source Sets | McMaster University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
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