Developing a collection of 80 mood-expressive images

Abstract

This manuscript describes the development of a collection of 80 mood‐expressive images to be included in a mood inspiration booklet. Four images were selected for each of 20 different mood states. Two main criteria guided the selection procedure: (1) each image clearly represents and illustrates the target mood, and (2) the images within a set of four do not overlap (i.e., each image should add explanatory power to the set), and the set shows diversity (i.e., expressions, behaviours, social interactions and environments). First, a broad collection of 200 images was selected from online image databases. A questionnaire study (N = 66) examined the degree to which each of the 200 images expresses/illustrates the target mood. The study indicated that 158 images were good representations of the mood target (i.e., they rated significantly higher than the
scale midpoint). The final collection of 80 moods were selected from these representative images.