Scale of Positive and Negative Experience (SPANE)

Abstract

The Scale of Positive and Negative Experience (SPANE) is a concise, 12-item psychological measurement tool developed to assess an individual’s balance of positive and negative emotional experiences over a defined period. The scale is split evenly, dedicating six items to positive feelings (e.g., joyful, contented) and six items to negative feelings (e.g., sad, angry). The SPANE utilizes broad, general feeling descriptors such as “positive,” “pleasant,” and “negative” to efficiently capture the full breadth of a respondent’s affective state, thus avoiding the need for extensive checklists of specific emotions.

The SPANE yields three distinct scores. The summed positive score (SPANE-P) and the summed negative score (SPANE-N) both range from 6 to 30. The resulting balance score (SPANE-B), calculated by subtracting SPANE-N from SPANE-P, provides a measure of overall affective equilibrium, with scores ranging from -24 to 24. This balance indicator is highly valuable in clinical and research contexts for quantifying subjective well-being.

Keywords

Affective balance, Positive emotion, Negative emotion, Subjective well-being, Happiness, Life satisfaction, SPANE, Emotional assessment

Authors

Diener, E., Wirtz, D., Tov, W., Kim-Prieto, C., Choi. D., Oishi, S., Biswas-Diener, R.

Purpose

The primary purpose of the SPANE is to provide a brief yet comprehensive measure of both positive and negative feelings experienced by an individual over the past four weeks. It is designed as an efficient and flexible tool for assessing the affective component of subjective well-being in research and applied settings, such as tracking client progress during psychological interventions aimed at increasing positive feelings.

The scale’s advantage lies in its use of general feeling terms, which allows it to reflect a diverse range of emotional states, including physical pleasure, interest, pain, and boredom, without requiring an exhaustive list of hundreds of specific items. This approach ensures high ecological validity while maintaining brevity and ease of administration.

Construct

The SPANE measures the core psychological construct of subjective well-being, specifically focusing on the experienced emotional state, or affect balance. This construct encompasses the frequency and intensity of positive and negative emotional experiences. The instrument distinguishes between two primary factors: Positive Affect and Negative Affect.

The SPANE-B score serves as the definitive measure of the affective balance construct, representing the net difference between positive and negative emotional experiences. A high SPANE-B score signifies a predominance of desirable feelings, which is closely associated with high levels of flourishing and perceived happiness. The scores reflect an individual’s general tendency to feel and identify emotions, where, for instance, extroverts typically report higher scores on both the positive and negative subscales compared to introverts.

Validity

The SPANE demonstrated strong convergent validity during its initial evaluation. Validation studies confirmed that the scale scores correlated appropriately with other established measures of related psychological constructs, including general emotion, subjective well-being, happiness, and life satisfaction. This indicates that the SPANE accurately measures the affective dimensions it was intended to capture.

The use of general terms ensures that the scale captures emotional experiences ranging beyond basic mood states, enhancing its capacity for capturing diverse feelings such as engagement or physical pain, thereby providing a more holistic assessment of affective experience.

Reliability

The reliability of the SPANE was evaluated using a sample of 689 college students. The three resulting subscales exhibited high internal consistency, measured by Cronbach’s alpha, and acceptable temporal stability over a one-month period:

• SPANE-P (Positive Scale): Internal consistency of .87; temporal stability of .62.
• SPANE-N (Negative Scale): Internal consistency of .81; temporal stability of .63.
• SPANE-B (Balance Score): Internal consistency of .89; temporal stability of .68.

These values demonstrate that the items within each subscale are highly correlated and that the scale provides reasonably consistent measurements of affective experience over time.

Factor Analysis

The SPANE is fundamentally structured around a two-factor model: Positive Affect and Negative Affect, with six items designated for each factor. Although detailed factor analysis statistics (such as factor loadings) are not provided in the summary source content, the reported high Cronbach’s alpha values for both the SPANE-P and SPANE-N subscales strongly support the intended bi-factor structure.

This clean division into positive and negative dimensions confirms that the items successfully group into their respective factors, enabling the calculation of the crucial SPANE-B score, which represents the balance between these two affective dimensions.

Instrument

Test Type: Self-report scale for affective psychological measurement.

Format: 12 items utilizing a 5-point Likert-type response scale.

Language Available: English (original); numerous translations are available globally.

Population Group: General population.

Age Group: Adolescents and Adults.

Population Details: Initial validation was conducted on a sample of 689 college students from six locations.

Test Methodology: Respondents rate the frequency of 12 feelings over the past 4 weeks using a scale from 1 (Very rarely or never) to 5 (Very often or always). Scores are calculated for positive feelings (SPANE-P), negative feelings (SPANE-N), and the balance (SPANE-B = SPANE-P minus SPANE-N).

Keywords

Positive psychology, Affective experience, Emotional balance, Diener, Subjective well-being, Psychometrics, Affect, General feelings

Authors

Author ORCID Identifier: Not provided in source content.

Affiliation Email addresses: Not provided in source content.

Correspondence Address: Correspondence regarding the scale can be directed to the primary developer, Ed Diener. The official resource page is available here: http://internal.psychology.illinois.edu/~ediener/SPANE.html

Permissions & Fee and Test Year

The SPANE was first published in 2009. The scale is generally available for non-commercial academic research and educational use. Users seeking specific permissions or utilizing the instrument for commercial purposes should consult the primary author, Ed Diener, for licensing information.

Reference’s

Diener, E., Wirtz, D., Tov, W., Kim-Prieto, C., Choi. D., Oishi, S., & Biswas-Diener, R. (2009). New measures of well-being: Flourishing and positive and negative feelings. Social Indicators Research, 39, 247-266.

Items of the Scale of Positive and Negative Experience (SPANE)

Please think about what you have been doing and experiencing during the past 4 weeks. Then report how much you experienced each of the following feelings, using the scale below. For each item, select an option from “Very rarely or never” to “Very often or always”.