EmojiGrid: A 2D Pictorial Scale for the Assessment of Food Elicited Emotions

Abstract

Research on food experience is typically challenged by the way questions are worded. We therefore developed the EmojiGrid: a graphical (language-independent) intuitive self-report tool to measure food-related valence and arousal. In a first experiment participants rated the valence and the arousing quality of 60 food images, using either the EmojiGrid or two independent visual analog scales (VAS). The valence ratings obtained with both tools strongly agree. However, the arousal ratings only agree for pleasant food items, but not for unpleasant ones. Furthermore, the results obtained with the EmojiGrid show the typical universal U-shaped relation between the mean valence and arousal that is commonly observed for a wide range of (visual, auditory, tactile, olfactory) affective stimuli, while the VAS tool yields a positive linear association between valence and arousal. We hypothesized that this disagreement reflects a lack of proper understanding of the arousal concept in the VAS condition. In a second experiment we attempted to clarify the arousal concept by asking participants to rate the valence and intensity of the taste associated with the perceived food items. After this adjustment the VAS and EmojiGrid yielded similar valence and arousal ratings (both showing the universal U-shaped relation between the valence and arousal). A comparison with the results from the first experiment showed that VAS arousal ratings strongly depended on the actual wording used, while EmojiGrid ratings were not affected by the framing of the associated question. This suggests that the EmojiGrid is largely self-explaining and intuitive. To test this hypothesis, we performed a third experiment in which participants rated food images using the EmojiGrid without an associated question, and we compared the results to those of the first two experiments. The EmojiGrid ratings obtained in all three experiments closely agree. We conclude that the EmojiGrid appears to be a valid and intuitive affective self-report tool that does not rely on written instructions and that can efficiently be used to measure food-related emotions.

The K‐State emoji scale

“…Schouteten, Verwaeren, Gellynck, et al () performed correspondence analysis on their emoji‐based CATA data and reported that over 90% of the variance was explained by the first dimension, which represented the emotional valence of the emojis; these findings support the results of the present research. Although some researchers argue that methods should include both emotional valence and arousal (i.e., Toet et al, ), the authors feel that when conducting research with children there may be a benefit to utilizing simple methods using only valence to ensure the children fully understand the intended emotion. The addition of emotional arousal does not add as much value as valence (Schouteten, Verwaeren, Gellynck, et al, ), and could make tasks become confusing or taxing for the participant.…”

“…First, the K‐State emoji scale was tested in two countries which do not represent emoji usage across the world. The scale has the potential to still be used or understood differently by other demographics, however, other research has shown that emojis do in fact have similar recognition and meanings in many countries and cultures globally (Jaeger, Vidal, et al, ; Kaneko et al, ; Toet et al, ). Second, participants evaluated the stimuli with two different scales in the same sitting.…”

“…When comparing repeatability of responses across United States and Chinese adult consumers, Jaeger, Vidal, et al () found emojis offered adequate face validity and were well understood by the demographic. Research on a novel emoji‐based method by Toet et al () also supported that the emotions expressed by emojis are interpreted in a similar manner across many cultures and countries globally. Second, they are nonverbal and can be used across different cultures and languages.…”

“…Kaneko et al () have developed a grid scale using emoji faces intended to measure the emotional response of consumers to food products. The grid is meant to measure both valence and activation; it has been validated with adults in multiple countries using food images as stimuli (Kaneko et al, ; Toet et al, ).…”

The EmojiGrid as a Tool to Assess Experienced and Perceived Emotions

“…Graphical affective self-report tools are an attractive alternative to verbal instruments, since they enable users to report their feelings more intuitively through figural elements that represent their current affective state (for extensive discussions on the benefits of these tools see [19,20]). Instead of asking users to phrase their emotions, these tools use the human capability to intuitively and reliably relate graphical elements to human emotions [21][22][23][24].…”