Identifying a subset of fear-evoking pictures from the IAPS on the basis of dimensional and categorical ratings for a German sample

• Published in: Journal of behavior therapy and experimental psychiatry Vol. 43; no. 1; pp. 565 - 572
• Main Authors: Barke, Antonia, Stahl, Jutta, Kröner-Herwig, Birgit
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Kidlington Elsevier Ltd 01.03.2012; Elsevier
• Subjects: Adult; Affect; Affectivity. Emotion; Arousal; Biological and medical sciences; Categorical ratings; Colour; Dimensional ratings; Dominance; Emotions; Fear; Fear - classification; Fear - psychology; Female; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; German; Germany; Humans; IAPS; Male; Necessity; Pattern Recognition, Visual; Personality. Affectivity; Photic Stimulation - methods; Psychiatric/Mental Health; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychology. Psychophysiology; Psychometrics; Reference Standards; Reference Values; Sex Characteristics; Sex differences; Stimulus selection; Subsets; Young Adult; Europe; Germany; Fear; Categorical ratings; Dimensional ratings; IAPS; Sex differences; Stimulus selection; German; Social environment; Human; Affect affectivity; Sex; Psychometrics; Emotion emotionality; Photography; Categorical data; Sociodemographic factor; Dimensional analysis; Cultural environment; Psychometric standardization
• ISSN: 0005-7916; 1873-7943; 1873-7943
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jbtep.2011.07.006

The International Affective Picture System (IAPS) is a set of colour photographs depicting a wide range of subject matters. The pictures, which are widely used in research on emotions, are commonly described in terms of the dimensions of valence, arousal and dominance. Little is known, however, about discrete emotions that the pictures evoke. Our aim was to collect dimensional and categorical ratings from a German sample for a subset of IAPS pictures and to identify a set of fear-evoking pictures. 191 participants (95 female, 96 male, mean age 23.6 years) rated 298 IAPS pictures regarding valence, arousal and the evoked emotion. 64 fear-evoking pictures were identified. Sex differences for categorical and dimensional ratings were found for a considerable number of pictures, as well as differences from the US norms. These differences underscore the necessity of using country-specific and sex-specific norms when selecting stimuli. A detailed table with categorical and dimensional ratings for each picture is provided. ► Categorical ratings of IAPS pictures can be important for stimulus selection. ► Dimensional and categorical ratings were collected from 191 German participants. ► 64 fear-evoking pictures were identified. ► For many pictures, sex differences and differences to the US norms were found. ► A table with categorical and dimensional ratings for each picture can be downloaded.