DOI: 10.23729/6da871f7-f57e-4fae-ab18-1a43c938f379
title: Emotions in Digital Media: Emotional Responses to Online Discussions - Dataset

description: Emotions in Digital Media: Emotional Responses to Online Discussions – Dataset by Aleksi Syrjämäki, Mirja Ilves, Poika Isokoski, Joel Kiskola, Anna Rantasila, Thomas Olsson, Gary Bente, and Veikko Surakka The data consist of subjective ratings of valence and arousal, and psychophysiological data (facial surface EMG and skin conductance). Three experiments investigated whether the emotional tone of online discussions influence subjective emotions in individuals reading the discussions. In all experiments, participants read the three news stories, followed by the related discussion thread. After reading each thread, participants rated how they felt while reading the thread using valence and arousal scales of the self-assessment manikin (-4...+4 scales; Bradley & Lang,1994). Positive scores refer to positive valence/high arousal. The topics of the news stories were abortion, work-related immigration, and legalization of cannabis. We edited three versions of the threads, including comments with negative/neutral/positive tone. The factual content of the three versions was similar, and they only varied in the tone of the comments (e.g., expletives and negatively charged phrases in the negative threads, very courteous language in the positive threads). In Experiment1, the stimuli and the measurements were presented in a paper form, which the participants filled in alone. Experiment2 was run in the laboratory, and the stimuli were presented on a 24" 1,440x900 monitor using E-Prime® 2.0, and responses were collected using a keyboard. Psychophysiological measurements (electromyography (EMG) and skin conductance responses (SC)) were also taken in Experiment2. Facial EMG and SC were measured with a Nexus-32-F physiological monitoring device (Mind Media B.V.) at a sampling rate of 2,048 Hz. Facial EMG activity was measured on the left side of the face at the corrugator supercilii and zygomaticus major muscle regions with bipolar pre-gelled AgCl sintered electrodes. The guidelines of Fridlund and Cacioppo (1986) were followed for the electrode attachment and placement. SC was measured with Ag-AgCl electrodes coated with electrode paste. The electrodes were attached to the medial phalanges of the index and middle fingers of the nondominant hand. Experiment3 was run online using LimeSurvey. In contrast to previous experiments, emotional tone was manipulated as a between-subjects factor, with random allocation to negative/positive groups. Neutral stimuli were not included. The original aim of Experiment3 was to investigate effects of emotion labeling on the emotional responses. Each thread was presented in a different labeling condition (the participant labeling the valence of each message, reading a label indicating the valence, or a control condition without labeling). The included files are: - Online discussions evoke emotions_Exp1_Data.xlsx - Table with the participants' ages and genders, the ratings of valence and arousal, and the topics of the emotional discussion threads - Online discussions evoke emotions_Exp2_Data.xlsx - Table with the participants' ages and genders, the ratings of valence and arousal, the topics of the emotional discussion threads, and the reading order of the topics - Online discussions evoke emotions_Supplement_Exp2_EMG&SC_Data.xlsx – Table with the peak, bottom, and mean EMG values during each stimuli, and mean SC values during each stimuli - Online discussions evoke emotions_Exp3_Data.xlsx- Table with the participants' ages and genders, the ratings of valence and arousal, the tone of the condition (positive/negative valence), and the valence and arousal ratings of the different topics References: Bradley, M. M., & Lang, P. J. (1994). Measuring emotion: The self-assessment manikin and the semantic differential. Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry, 25(1), 49–59. Fridlund, A. J., & Cacioppo, J. T. (1986). Guidelines for human electromyographic research. Psychophysiology, 23, 567-589.