Toward a Consensual Structure of Mood

Abstract

Reanalyses of a number of studies of self-reported mood indicate that Positive and Negative Affect consistently emerge as the first two Varimax rotated dimensions in orthogonal factor analyses or as the first two second-order factors derived from oblique solutions. The two factors emerged with varying sets of descriptors and were even replicated in several data sets characterized by possible methodological problems noted by earlier writers (acquiescence response bias, inappropriate response formats, and so on). The results thus strongly attest to the stability and robustness of Positive and Negative Affect in self-report. Because this same two-dimensional configuration has also been consistently identified in all of the other major lines of mood research, it is now firmly established as the basic structure of English-language affect at the general factor level. © 1985 American Psychological Association.