A psychometric scale to measure positive and negative affects in individuals, and both as states and traits. Positive affect questions assess to what extent the participant is attentive, interested, alert, excited, enthusiastic, inspired, proud, determined, strong and active. Negative affect questions assess to what extent the participant is distressed, upset, hostile, irritable, scared, afraid, ashamed, guilty, nervous, and jittery. Participants answer questions on a Likert scale where 0=very, 1=slightly or not at all, 2=a little, 3=moderately, 4=quite a bit, and 5=very much. The questionnaire asks whether participants have felt these traits "during the past few weeks" (trait) and "during the past few days" (state).
Definition contributed by CTorgerson about eight months ago.