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Stanford Social Neuroscience Lab

In this study, we are interested in how people make judgments about other people's emotions. This task will take approximately 30 minutes.

Please make sure your sound is on.

Do not do this HIT on a mobile device or tablet.

Legal information: By answering the following questions, you are participating in a study being performed by psychologists in the Stanford Department of Psychology. If you have questions about this research, please contact Alison Mattek at amattek@stanford.edu or Jamil Zaki, at jzaki@stanford.edu. You must be at least 18 years old to participate. Your participation in this research is voluntary. You may decline to answer any or all of the following questions. You may decline further participation, at any time, without adverse consequences. Your anonymity is assured; the researchers who have requested your participation will not receive any personal information about you.

Instructions

In this task, you will watch 8 videos of people describing emotional events that happened in their lives, and answer several questions about them. The videos range from between 0.5 mins to 4 mins, and the total duration of the 8 videos will be less than 20 minutes.

While watching these videos, we would like you to rate how you believe the person in the video feels feeling at every moment in time. Please pay special attention to the momentary changes in emotion you see in this person. For instance, someone describing a sad event might nonetheless feel relatively more or less negative at different moments.

Please make your ratings using the slider below the video. Whenever you want to change your rating, simply click on the round "handle" of this slider and move the slider to wherever you like.

Far left indicates "Very negative", and far right indicates "Very positive". Try making some ratings using the rating scale below. Click on the next button when you are done.

When you see the first frame of the video, click on the green button to start the video. Please rate how you believe the person in the video is feeling at every moment in time, and remember to make your ratings throughout the video.

Video is loading ...

Please answer the following questions regarding the video that you just watched.

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True False

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True False

You are almost at the end! We would like you to fill in a few short questionnaires. For each item, indicate how well it describes you by choosing the appropriate response on the scale. There is no "right" or "wrong" answer. Please answer as honestly as you can. Thank you!

Note: sometimes due to the screen size or the font size, the labels on the scales may end up in a confusing place. If that happens, try to zoom in or zoom out (increase or decrease the font size).

For the following items, indicate how well it describes you from
"This statement describes me not very well" on the left end, to
"This statement describes me very well" on the right.

This questionnaire consists of 12 groups of statements. For each category, read the entire group of statements. Then pick out the one of the group that best describes the way you have been feeling recently. Be sure to read all the statements in each group before making your choice.

Using the scale below, please indicate your agreement with each of the following statements, from
"Strongly Disagree" on the left end, to
"Strongly Agree" on the right.

Please answer each item below as either true or false.

You have come to the final slide. We would like to find out a little more about yourself.

What gender do you identify with?
       Male
       Female

What is your age?

What racial category do you identify with? Select all that apply
     American Indian / Alaska Native
     Asian
     American Indian / Alaska Native
     Black or African American
     White

What ethnic category do you identify with?
Hispanic or Latino
Not Hispanic or Latino

What is your native language?

You're finished with this task. Thanks for participating! The experiment will automatically inform Amazon that you have completed the task.

	This statement describes me...
	Not very well Very well
I often have tender, concerned feelings for people less fortunate than me.
I sometimes find it difficult to see things from the "other guy's" point of view.
Sometimes I don't feel very sorry for other people when they are having problems.
In emergency situations, I feel apprehensive and ill-at-ease.
I try to look at everybody's side of a disagreement before I make a decision.
When I see someone being taken advantage of, I feel kind of protective towards them.
I sometimes feel helpless when I am in the middle of a very emotional situation.
I sometimes try to understand my friends better by imagining how things look from their perspective.
When I see someone get hurt, I tend to remain calm.
Other people's misfortunes do not usually disturb me a great deal.
If I'm sure I'm right about something, I don't waste much time listening to other people's arguments.
Being in a tense emotional situation scares me.
	This statement describes me...
	Not very well Very well
When I see someone being treated unfairly, I sometimes don't feel very much pity for them.
I am usually pretty effective in dealing with emergencies.
I am often quite touched by things that I see happen.
I believe that there are two sides to every question and try to look at them both.
I would describe myself as a pretty soft-hearted person.
I tend to lose control during emergencies.
When I'm upset at someone, I usually try to "put myself in his shoes" for a while.
When I see someone who badly needs help in an emergency, I go to pieces.
Before criticizing somebody, I try to imagine how I would feel if I were in their place.

	Strongly Disagree Strongly Agree
A person's level of empathy is something very basic about them, and it can't be changed much.
Whether a person is empathic or not is deeply ingrained in their personality. It cannot be changed very much.
People can't really change how much empathy they tend to feel for others. Some people are very empathic and some aren't and they can't change that much.
No matter who somebody is, they can always change how empathic a person they are.
People can always change how much empathy they generally feel for others.
Anybody can change how empathic a person they are.

	True False
I seem to have an uncommon ability to persuade and inspire others.
I often get into moods where I feel like many of the rules of life don't apply to me.
Sometime ideas and insights come to me so fast I cannot express them all.
I seem to be a person whose mood goes up and down easily.
There are times when I am so restless that it impossible for me to sit still.
	True False
I often feel excited and happy for no apparent reason.
I often have moods where I feel so energetic and optimistic that I feel I could outperform almost anyone at anything.
In unfamiliar surroundings I am often so assertive and sociable that I surprise myself.
I am frequently in such high spirits that I can't concentrate on any one thing for too long.
I very frequently get into moods where I wish I could be everywhere and do everything at once.
	True False
A hundred years after I'm dead, my achievements will probably have been forgotten.
I am so good at controlling others that sometimes it scares me.
I am usually in an average sort of mood, not too high and not too low.
I do most of my work during brief periods of intense inspiration.
I am considered to be a kind of 'hyper' person.
	True False
Many people would consider me to be amusing but kind of eccentric.
I have often felt happy and irritable at the same time.
I frequently find that my thoughts are racing.
When I feel an emotion, I usually feel it with extreme intensity.
I like to have others think of me as a normal kind of person.