Measurement error and the correlation between positive and negative affect: spearman (1904, 1907) revisited
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Updated: Aug 18, 2026

Experimental Paradigm for Measuring the Effect of Induced Emotion on Grammar Learning
Published on: January 29, 2020
Christopher Mutch1, John Tisak
1Bowling Green State University.
Abstract:
There has been considerable debate in the literature on the structure of affect, especially on the correlation between positive and negative affect and the effect of measurement error on this correlation. In this brief article, it is shown that, as Spearman (1904, 1907) noted, the extent to which the correlation between imperfect measures is attenuated by measurement error depends upon the reliabilities of the measures used.
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