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Reliability And Validity Of Izard's Differential Emotions Scale, Gregory J. Boyle

Gregory J. Boyle

Izard's Differential Emotions Scale (DES) was administered to 204 University of Delaware undergraduates under each of four imaginal mood-induction conditions (labelled: General Depression, Curiosity, Specific Depression and Anxiety) and an actual pre-exam condition. A factor analysis of DES items supported the construct validity of some subscales. A repeated-measures multiple discriminant function analysis indicated that two-thirds of the DES items discriminated between the five conditions-an extremely stringent test of item validity. It was suggested, however, that refinement of the DES should attempt to decrease item redundancy (internal consistency) by re-establishing the instrument on a broader base of adjectives descriptive of fundamental …