Process Tracing of Emotional Responses to TV Ads: Revisiting the Warmth Monitor

Abstract

Because of the transient nature of some emotions stimulated during TV commercials, measurement of emotional reactions at various points during an ad requires process tracing. This research discusses the analysis of process-tracing data using the Warmth Monitor as an illustration. We show that the establishment of the reliability and validity of process-tracing measures hinges on a suitable choice of the relevant domain of (co)variance in the data. The Warmth Monitor is shown to provide a reliable measure of warmth, but questions remain regarding the construct's meaning and valid measurement. Copyright 1994 by the University of Chicago.