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Affect is the felt tone and activation level of a recent period. It is narrower than a full life-satisfaction judgment and broader than one named emotion. A person can feel alert, active, and focused during a demanding week while also feeling nervous, upset, or afraid. That mixed pattern is one reason PANAS-style measures report Positive Affect and Negative Affect separately.
Positive Affect is not simply happiness. In PANAS language it reflects pleasant activation: energy, attention, interest, drive, and engagement with what is happening. Negative Affect reflects unpleasant activation: distress, threat, shame, hostility, fear, and tension. These domains can move in opposite directions, but they can also rise together or stay low together, especially when the recall period includes stress, deadlines, illness, recovery time, or disrupted sleep.
Affect ratings are most useful when the time frame stays fixed. A rating for "right now" captures a momentary state, while a past-week rating blends several days of memory, context, and intensity. Comparing one week with another is cleaner than comparing a stressful morning with a whole week, because the recall window changes what the answers mean.
Common use cases include weekly self-reflection, therapy or coaching preparation, study check-ins, workplace wellbeing notes, and tracking how routines or events relate to emotional activation. The result should be read as self-report information from a defined window, not as a clinical diagnosis or a complete account of wellbeing. Strong, unsafe, persistent, or disruptive distress needs direct support from a qualified person, regardless of any score.
Answer all 10 words against the same past-week frame. Results appear only after the final rating is complete.
Read Positive Affect and Negative Affect as two totals, not as a single subtraction. Higher Positive Affect points to more alertness, energy, focus, and engagement in the past week. Higher Negative Affect points to more distress, fear, shame, hostility, nervousness, or upset in the same window.
The Current split label is a cue, not a replacement for the separate domain totals. Subtracting NA from PA can hide mixed weeks, especially when both totals are high. The safer check is to compare the PA total, the NA total, and the top-rated words together.
Response-scale labels such as Mostly moderate describe the average item rating. They are not clinical severity bands, and they do not confirm or rule out anxiety, depression, trauma, burnout, or any other condition.
The 10-item short form uses five Positive Affect words and five Negative Affect words. Each word is rated from 1 to 5, and each domain is scored by addition. There are no reverse-scored items, so a higher value always means the respondent endorsed that word more strongly for the selected recall period.
The original PANAS literature treats Positive Affect and Negative Affect as distinct affect dimensions. The short form keeps that structure by returning two domain totals instead of compressing the answers into one mood score. A difference value can summarize which total is numerically higher, but interpretation still depends on the two totals and the item pattern.
The Positive Affect total adds Alert, Inspired, Determined, Attentive, and Active. The Negative Affect total adds Upset, Hostile, Ashamed, Nervous, and Afraid.
Each domain has five items, so PA and NA each range from 5 to 25. The domain mean divides the total by five and returns the score to the original response scale. For example, Alert 4, Inspired 4, Determined 3, Attentive 4, and Active 4 produce PA 19/25 and a PA mean of 3.80/5.
| Output | Construction | Range | Use |
|---|---|---|---|
| Positive Affect total | Alert + Inspired + Determined + Attentive + Active | 5 to 25 | Engagement, attention, drive, and active energy for the recall week. |
| Negative Affect total | Upset + Hostile + Ashamed + Nervous + Afraid | 5 to 25 | Distress, fear, shame, hostility, and nervous tension for the recall week. |
| Domain mean | Domain total divided by 5 | 1.00 to 5.00 | Shows the average item endorsement using the original rating scale. |
| Current split | Positive Affect total minus Negative Affect total | -20 to +20 | Names which total is higher without replacing the separate PA and NA scores. |
The guide labels are inclusive response-scale bands. A mean of 3.40 enters Mostly quite a bit, while 3.39 remains Mostly moderate. The labels describe item intensity only; they are not diagnostic cutoffs.
| Guide label | Mean range | Total range | Plain reading |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mostly very slight / not at all | 1.00 to 1.79 | 5 to 8 | Most words in the domain were near the response floor. |
| Mostly a little | 1.80 to 2.59 | 9 to 12 | The domain was present, but generally light. |
| Mostly moderate | 2.60 to 3.39 | 13 to 16 | The domain had noticeable weight during the week. |
| Mostly quite a bit | 3.40 to 4.19 | 17 to 20 | Several words carried strong intensity. |
| Mostly extremely | 4.20 to 5.00 | 21 to 25 | The domain was rated near the top of the response scale. |
The word ranking uses the individual 1 to 5 scores and highlights words rated 3 or higher as review signals. Repeated runs are most comparable when the same recall frame, item wording, and response scale are kept fixed.
PANAS-SF scores are self-report affect data. They can support reflection, conversation, and trend notes, but they cannot diagnose a mental health condition, measure crisis risk, or replace clinical assessment.
Alert 4, Inspired 4, Determined 3, Attentive 4, and Active 4 produce Positive side 19/25 with a mean of 3.80/5. Upset 3, Hostile 2, Ashamed 2, Nervous 4, and Afraid 3 produce Negative side 14/25 with a mean of 2.80/5. Current split reports the positive total higher by 5, while Word intensity ladder still makes Nervous the strongest negative word to review.
A Positive Affect total of 17/25 gives a mean of 3.40/5, so the guide label moves to Mostly quite a bit. A Negative Affect total of 16/25 gives 3.20/5 and stays Mostly moderate. That label change is about response intensity, not a clinical severity step.
If the progress label says 9 / 10 answered, Affect snapshot, Affect split ring, Word intensity ladder, and the answer review are not ready. Use the word navigator to find the unchecked item, choose a 1 to 5 rating, and then confirm the completed PA and NA totals.
Use Current split as a quick cue only. PA and NA stay visible because subtraction can hide weeks where engagement and distress were both high.
No. Negative Affect describes how strongly five unpleasant feeling words fit the past week. Diagnosis depends on symptoms, duration, impairment, history, and professional assessment.
The totals need five PA ratings and five NA ratings. If one word is missing, use the progress bar or navigator to find it before reading the completed score.
The answer review treats 3 or higher as a review signal because it means at least Moderately. It is a prompt to inspect that word, not a cutoff for diagnosis.
Routine scoring and charting happen in the browser. A copied result link, CSV, chart export, or DOCX answer report can still expose sensitive ratings to anyone who receives it.