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Advances in Social Sciences Research Journal – Vol. 9, No. 11

Publication Date: November 25, 2022

DOI:10.14738/assrj.911.13392. Thackerson, E. K., Jones, I. T., Baker, M. E., & Grice, J. W. (2022). An Investigation of the Emotional Balance Inventory. Advances in

Social Sciences Research Journal, 9(11). 132-150.

Services for Science and Education – United Kingdom

An Investigation of the Emotional Balance Inventory

Emery K. Thackerson

Department of Psychology, Oklahoma State University

Ian T. Jones

Department of Psychology, Oklahoma State University

Megan E. Baker

Department of Psychology, Oklahoma State University

James W. Grice

Department of Psychology, Oklahoma State University

ABSTRACT

Using experience sampling methodology, this study investigated the scaling format

and validity of an alternative affect measure, the Emotional Balance Inventory

(EBI). Signaling occurred twice per day for a week, directing undergraduate

students (n = 79) to report the frequencies of their emotions using either a

dichotomized or Likert scaled format of the EBI. At the conclusion of the daily

ratings, participants completed two measures of psychological well-being. Results

revealed little evidence in the distinction of the response formats, and there was

marginal evidence supporting the monotonic relationship between the affect

measure and psychological well-being measures. External validity and

generalizability are discussed, along with implications for future research utilizing

clinical populations.

Keywords: affect balance, emotion, scale validity, psychological well-being

INTRODUCTION

Numerous measures exist that allow researchers and clinicians to evaluate the frequency,

intensity, and valence of one’s affective experiences. Nevertheless, researchers who wish to

examine the construct of affect balance, which is the balance between positive and negative

affect, may find themselves at a disadvantage. Many widespread affect and mood assessments,

such as the positive and negative affect schedule (PANAS; [60]) and the differential emotions

scale (DES; [27]), were not constructed to measure affect balance. Moreover, other issues

regarding conventional affect measures pose problems for affect balance research. These

problems include moderately valanced inventory items, items that depict arousal rather than

hedonic states, and inventories with an unequal distribution of positive and negative items [15,

56]. Consequently, these inventories may exclude extreme affective states seen in those with

mood disorders [8], and they may lead to mathematical complications in calculating balance

scores. Developed by Schwartz [48], the Emotional Balance Inventory (EBI) is a unique measure

of affect balance that resolves these problems and possesses several methodological and

statistical advantages over standard affect and affect balance measures.

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Advances in Social Sciences Research Journal (ASSRJ) Vol. 9, Issue 11, November-2022

Services for Science and Education – United Kingdom

dichotomous scales have also reported adequate or equivalent fit indices for dichotomous

scales [9, 32].

The notion that dichotomous scales are a poor choice for scale development is not as

straightforward as some researchers may claim because dichotomous scales offer several

benefits over Likert-type scales. These benefits include shorter completion time, precision, and

ease of scoring. First, dichotomous inventories allow respondents to answer more items in a

short period, yielding more information compared to Likert-type scales [11]. Thus,

dichotomous scales would likely prove beneficial to those respondents in repeated measure

design studies, as these scales would reduce respondent fatigue. Second, since dichotomous

scales are a forced-choice format, these scales extract exact answers, and there is little

misunderstanding regarding the question posed. Though the level of precision in dichotomous

scales has been a noted critique made by those in favor of Likert-type scales [23, 38], Matell and

Jacoby [34] reported that the number of response options (2 to 19) did not impact the quality

of the data. Moreover, this level of precision has proven useful for emotion researchers

interested in the frequency of affective states [57]. Third, dichotomous scores have been

historically implemented in personality assessments for their ease of scoring, especially for

instruments with clinical applications [12, 52]. Considering the evidence that indicates

marginal differences between polychotomous and dichotomous scales, the benefits that

dichotomous scales pose, and the design of the EBI to deliver the affect balance ratio (P/[P+N]),

it stands to reason the EBI measure may benefit from incorporating a dichotomous item

format.

RESEARCH AIMS AND HYPOTHESES

The primary aim of the current study was to determine if dichotomizing the EBI items would

lead to better psychometric outcomes over the Likert-type format of the inventory. A secondary

aim of this study was to provide more evidence concerning the EBI's criterion validity. To

investigate the validity of the EBI, we correlated the EBI's affect balance ratios with previously

validated measures of well-being, particularly life satisfaction [16] and psychological

flourishing [17]. Since the EBI measures affect balance, we hypothesize that the EBI's affect

balance scores should exhibit a monotonic association with the two psychological well-being

constructs, as previous research has indicated a positive correlation between affect balance and

life satisfaction [40, 64] and psychological flourishing [17, 54]. We moreover employed an

experience sampling design (ESM) to allow for a momentary assessment of affect balance

scores for approximately one week [30]. Daily assessment of affect balance scores allowed for

assessment of the scale's variability and dispersion of the EBI ratios. Experience sampling

designs have several noted advantages over one-time assessments, such as reducing recall bias

and improved ecological validity, and are often utilized to assess affect and mood [1, 50, 58].

METHOD

Sample

Recruitment was conducted through the university’s SONA administration system, where in

exchange for their participation, participants received prorated course credit which was

contingent upon the number of responses given. Participants included 79 undergraduate

students from a midwestern public university (14 men, 65 women, Mage = 21.33, SDage = 5.38).

Two-thirds of the sample identified their ethnicity as Caucasian (67.1%), with the remaining