title: Norms of valence, arousal, concreteness, familiarity, imageability, and context availability for 1,100 Chinese words.
abstract: In the present study, we collected valence, arousal, concreteness, familiarity, imageability, and context availability ratings for a total of 1,100 Chinese words. The ratings for all variables were collected with 9-point Likert scales. We tested the reliability of the present database by comparing it to the extant Chinese Affective Word System, and performed split-half correlations for all six variables. We then evaluated the relationships between all variables. Regarding the affective variables, we found a typical quadratic relation between valence and arousal, in line with previous findings. Likewise, significant correlations were found between the semantic variables. Importantly, we explored the relationships between ratings for the affective variables (i.e., valence and arousal) and concreteness ratings, suggesting that valence and arousal ratings can predict concreteness ratings. This database of affective norms will be a valuable source of information for emotion research that makes use of Chinese words, and will enable researchers to use highly controlled Chinese verbal stimuli to more reliably investigate the relation between cognition and emotion.
authors.affiliation: School of Humanities, Xidian University, Xi'an, Shaanxi, China. zyao@xidian.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Zhao
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Yao
authors.affiliation: School of Foreign Languages, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi'an, Shaanxi, China.
authors.forename: Jia
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.affiliation: School of Foreign Languages, Zhengzhou University, Zhenzhou, Henan, China.
authors.forename: Yanyan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: School of Psychology, Shaanxi Normal University, Xi'an, Shaanxi, China.
authors.forename: Zhenhong
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Wang
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D001143:Arousal; D003071:Cognition; D016208:Databases, Factual; D004644:Emotions; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007802:Language; D008297:Male; D021641:Recognition, Psychology; D012016:Reference Values; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012108:Research Personnel; D012660:Semantics; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Affective variables; Lexical norms; Relationship; Semantic variables