PANAS-SF Affect Schedule (PANAS-SF) Assessment

Introduction:

The Positive and Negative Affect Schedule – Short Form (PANAS-SF) is a psychological self-report tool that samples two universal mood dimensions: pleasant engagement and unpleasant arousal. By rating ten everyday emotion words, you obtain a concise picture of recent affective balance useful for wellbeing monitoring and research.

This assessment asks you to rate how strongly each term described your feelings during the past week on a five-point scale from “Very Slight” to “Extremely.” A reactive engine sums the first five responses to produce a Positive Affect score and the remaining five to yield a Negative Affect score, then visualises their proportions with a charting layer.

Use it before and after events such as exams, vacations, or therapy sessions to observe mood shifts over time. Repeated readings plotted across weeks reveal patterns single scores miss. Because affect fluctuates naturally, interpret snapshots cautiously and discuss persistent concerns with a mental-health professional. Results do not constitute a clinical diagnosis.

Technical Details:

The PANAS-SF condenses the original 20-item schedule into ten adjectives that load cleanly on two orthogonal factors. Each word is rated 1–5, capturing intensity. Summing “Alert, Inspired, Determined, Attentive, Active” yields Positive Affect (PA, 5–25); summing “Upset, Hostile, Ashamed, Nervous, Afraid” yields Negative Affect (NA, 5–25). Higher PA reflects pleasurable engagement whereas higher NA signals distress.

Where R_i is the rating for item i.

Scores outside the central band may warrant further reflection or professional guidance.

• R_i – five-point rating for item i.
• PA – sum of positive item ratings.
• NA – sum of negative item ratings.
• Total – combined affective activation.

• Reflects past-week feelings, not trait mood.
• Assumes equal weighting of items.
• Norms derive from Western adult samples.
• Self-report is susceptible to desirability bias.

• Skipped items reduce validity.
• Uniform ratings (all 1s or 5s) may indicate inattentive responding.
• Extreme PA and NA simultaneously can occur during mixed affect states.
• Language nuances may alter item interpretation.

Key sources: Watson & Clark (1999); Thompson (2007) reliability meta-analysis; Krohne et al. (1996) cross-cultural validation.

No personally identifiable data leave your device; the computation remains client-side.

Step-by-Step Guide:

Complete the assessment in five simple steps.

1. Select a rating for each word that best reflects your past-week feelings.
2. Watch the progress bar reach 100 % as you complete items.
3. After the last response, review Positive and Negative scores plus a donut chart.
4. Read the brief interpretation and, if desired, copy the shareable URL encoded with your results.
5. Repeat after key events to compare mood trends over time.

FAQ:

Glossary:

Affect

Observable expression of emotion.

Positive Affect

Degree of pleasurable engagement with life.

Negative Affect

Frequency of distressing emotional states.

Likert Scale

Ordered response scale measuring intensity.

Normative Band

Score range derived from comparison samples.