PANAS — In General (Trait Affect)

This is the 20-item Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (Watson, Clark, & Tellegen, 1988) under its trait instruction: the respondent rates the extent to which they feel each mood adjective in general, on average. Positive Affect and Negative Affect are scored as separate 10-item dimensions, consistent with the two-factor structure of affect the PANAS was built to capture.

The norms shown on this page are the original 'General' instruction figures from Watson, Clark, and Tellegen's (1988) Table 1, matching the instruction set administered here.

The notes below are reproduced from the platform's psychometrics register for this instrument — the same source-cited reliability, validity, and norms text that accompanies its downloadable report.

The PANAS subscales show excellent internal consistency: Positive Affect alpha typically 0.86-0.90, Negative Affect alpha typically 0.84-0.87 across time frames and populations (Watson et al., 1988; Crawford & Henry, 2004).

The two-factor structure is robust across instruction sets and is replicated across diverse adult populations. Trait PANAS scores show high test-retest stability (r > 0.70 over several months) consistent with their measurement of dispositional affect (Watson et al., 1988).

Watson et al. (1988) report general adult norms for the trait ('in general') instruction: Positive Affect M = 29.7, SD = 7.9 (N ≈ 1,002); Negative Affect M = 14.8, SD = 5.4. Crawford & Henry (2004) UK community norms (N = 1,003) are consistent: PA M = 30.6, SD = 7.7; NA M = 15.4, SD = 5.8. Bands shown on the result page span ±1 SD from the Watson et al. (1988) published mean.

“Interested”

Illustrative only. During administration items are presented one screen-set at a time; response-key direction is never shown to respondents.

Item responses are summed within each scale (reverse-keyed items recoded first) and expressed as a population percentile against the cited reference sample, with a reliability-based confidence range where α is published.

Watson, Clark & Tellegen (1988), Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 54(6), 1063–1070, Table 1 — ‘General’ (‘in general’) instruction, undergraduate reference sample. Positive Affect: M = 35.0, SD = 6.4 (N = 663); Negative Affect: M = 18.1, SD = 5.9 (N = 663). Confidence range uses the standard error of measurement from the published Cronbach’s α lower bounds (PA ≥ .86, NA ≥ .84).

Watson, D., Clark, L. A., & Tellegen, A. (1988). Development and validation of brief measures of positive and negative affect: The PANAS scales. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 54(6), 1063–1070.

Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS) by Watson, Clark & Tellegen (1988). Free for research and clinical use with attribution; a commercial-use grey area applies — do not imply commercial clearance.