The phoenix of bipolarity: Reply to Watson and Tellegen (1999).

Abstract

In their commentary on our review (J. A. Russell & J. M. Carroll, 1999), D. Watson and A. Tellegen (1999) agreed that when various factors, including activation, are taken into account, the structure of self-reported affect includes a bipolar dimension contrasting pleasant with unpleasant feelings. Agreement on this the central conclusion of our review may surprise readers familiar with the widespread claim that pleasant and unpleasant affect are not bipolar opposites but are largely independent of one another.