Classification and Rating of Emotional Experiences

Abstract

I A central task of psychosomatic research lies in the working out of relations between psychological and physiological processes by means of systematic, empirical inquiry, using the best available procedures for all processes under scrutiny. Although many difficulties hindering physiological studies in intact humans require analysis and solution, the present paper represents an attempt to identify several of the major methodological problems on the psychological side and to report on efforts made to cope with them. Among the main difficulties apparent in published psychosomatic research have been the following: (1) skimpy, impressionistic observations of behavior with meager specification of psychological processes; (2) absence of checks to determine whether similar results could be obtained if the observations were made again under essentially the same conditions, or if another observer viewing the same phenomena could obtain the same results, and (3) lack of quantitative estimates for the psychological variables, thus sharply limiting