| Summary: | The International Affective Picture System (IAPS) was developed in an attempt to provide a standardised tool to elicit and measure emotions for research purposes. The IAPS is unique, in that it is completely pictorially based. An emotional response is stimulated by the pictures, which are then used to measure the emotional response. This has obvious benefits in South Africa. The overall aim of this study was to conduct a cross-cultural exploration of the IAPS, with a sample of South African university students, in order to come to an initial understanding of the measure’s performance within the South African context. A quantitative methodology was used, in order to reach the research aim and objectives. The overall research approach was exploratory and descriptive in nature and the actual data gathering consisted of a single measurement instance. The procedure for this study was based on that used by the developers of the IAPS to norm the instrument. Convenience sampling was used, resulting in a total sample of 169 participants, 31 male, and 136 female. For analysis purposes, participants were grouped according to a race and language combination, thus operationalising ethnicity. This resulted in four primary ethnic groupings. In summary, it was found that a large number of items seem to travel well in terms of equivalence. The correlations achieved and affective space plot are consistent with that outlined in the IAPS instruction manual, and are similar to international studies using the same procedure. However, when items were examined in greater detail, statistically significant differences raised concerns about the level of equivalence and suggested that not all items travel equally well. Similarly, although many items were statistically similar between the South African ethnic groups, differences were also found on specific items.
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