[French translation and validation of the Tension-Effort Stress Inventory (TESI, 7) emotional list].
Since emotion became a central topic in scientific psychology, a conceptual consensus is needed with regard to its definition. Reversal theory provides such a widely, comprehensive theory of emotion that is currently missing from the psychology literature. According to reversal theorists, there are 16 primary emotions corresponding directly to one's preferred and non preferred phenomenological experiences. These include 4 pleasant/somatic emotions (relaxation, excitement, placidity, provocativeness), 4 unpleasant/somatic emotions (anxiety, anger, boredom, sullenness), 4 pleasant/transactional emotions (pride, modesty, gratitude, virtue) and 4 unpleasant/transactional emotions (humiliation, resentment, shame and guilt). Tension-Effort Stress Inventory (TESI, is an auto questionnaire with the 3rd section containing this 16 primary emotions list. The aim of our study deals with french translation and factorial validation of this list. Method and procedure - Participants (n=46) were voluntary french speaking individuals who prepared to be involved in a new tourist attraction established in a french winter sport resort. This attraction is made up of a 950 meters-long carrying cable tightened to an altitude of 100 meters above the ground, offering anyone whose weight exceeds 40 kg a thrilling 90 km/h rush. Of the sample of 46 individuals, 29 were male and 17 were female. The average age was 31,4 years with a 18-59 range and 7,7 as standard deviation value. Each subject had to complete a french version of TESI just before being hang on the cable and just after his or her arrival on the landing zone. Results - Pre- and post-activity descriptive statistics for each item were subjected to Pearson correlations calculation and then, an explanatory factorial analysis was carried out. Principal component analysis results (after varimax rotation) exhibited 6 factors explaining a proportion of 64% of the total variance: 4 of these 6 dimensions seemed to be similar to the ones claimed by reversal theory; 1 dimension resembled a more popular conception of emotion experience which is  bad mood ; 1 composite dimension was more ambiguous (anxiety + modesty). Confirmatory factorial analysis (carried out from variance/covariance matrix) proved to be conclusive in assessing the fit of the data with regard to reversal theory classification of emotions. Thus, the eight pleasant emotions were found to be dichotomised into four somatic and four transactional emotions with satisfactory fit indexes [GFI (Goodness of Fit Index)=0,92, residuals=0,09]. In addition, the eight unpleasant emotions were also split up into 4 somatic and 4 transactional groupings with comparable ratings (GFI=0,93, residuals=0,07). Conclusion - This french version of TESI emotional list appears to be suitable in assessing one's phenomenological emotional experiences. The equipartition according to pleasant/unpleasant and somatic/transactional dimensions meets the original classification postulated by reversal theorists.
Legrand
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F
Laboratoire de Psychologie appliquée, UFR STAPS, 51687 Reims cedex, France.
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D004644:Emotions; D005163:Factor Analysis, Statistical; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007802:Language; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014175:Translating