Continuous Affect Measures for Daily Life

In this study, we collected data using a newly developed continuous affect item, which allowed participants to visually depict changes in their affective experience over short time spans. A total of 117 participants took part in a one-week experience sampling study, during which they received six notifications per day on their smartphones. These notifications alternated between two types: (1) a brief prompt assessing momentary positive and negative affect, and (2) an extended questionnaire that included momentary affect ratings, continuous affect drawings, event reports, and rumination items. Additionally, participants completed a daily measurement burst, consisting of six extra momentary assessments between two regular prompts.

From the second daily prompt onward, participants were asked to draw their affective changes, both positive and negative, since the previous assessment, and to report any affective events that occurred in that interval. This approach allowed us to examine continuous affect drawings as an innovative method for capturing affective dynamics between discrete assessments. While traditional intensive longitudinal designs often leave “blind spots” between time points, this method enabled a more fine-grained reconstruction of affective fluctuations throughout the day.