The emotional movie database (EMDB): an expanded toolkit for emotion research

Abstract

Emotion-eliciting film clips are widely used in psychological, neuroscientific, and affective computing research as standardized stimuli for the study of emotional responses. The Emotional Movie Database (EMDB) was originally developed to provide silent film clips for emotion research; however, limitations in stimulus diversity motivated its expansion. The present study extends the EMDB by introducing four additional emotional categories—social exclusion, social inclusion, unpleasant landscapes, and extreme sports—together with an expanded set of neutral film clips. Two complementary validation experiments were conducted. Experiment 1 (laboratory-based; n = 117) assessed social exclusion, social inclusion, unpleasant landscapes, and extreme sports clips, whereas Experiment 2 (web-based; n = 128) evaluated social exclusion, social inclusion, and newly recorded neutral clips. Participants rated each clip on valence, arousal, and dominance using the Self-Assessment Manikin (SAM) and reported the discrete emotions experienced. The results provide descriptive normative data for the newly added categories. Social exclusion clips were associated with negative valence (M = 2.16, SD = 1.07) and moderate-to-high arousal (M = 5.97, SD = 2.06), whereas social inclusion clips showed positive valence (M = 7.17, SD = 0.92) and moderate arousal (M = 4.68, SD = 1.72). Unpleasant landscape clips were rated as negatively valenced (M = 2.77, SD = 0.99) with relatively low arousal (M = 4.53, SD = 2.01). Extreme sports clips showed positive valence (M = 6.25, SD = 1.12) and intermediate arousal (M = 5.34, SD = 1.95). Newly recorded neutral clips consistently elicited near-neutral valence (M = 5.11, SD = 0.42) and low arousal (M = 2.31, SD = 1.36), supporting their use as baseline control stimuli. This work provides initial validation evidence and descriptive norms for an expanded set of EMDB film clips, broadening the affective space covered by the database and supporting its use in experimental research on emotion across laboratory-based and online settings.