The OpenLAV video database for affect induction: Analyzing the uniformity of video stimuli effects

The Open Library for Affective Videos (OpenLAV) is a new video database for experimental emotion induction. The 188 videos (mean duration: 40 s; range: 12–71 s) have a CC-BY license. Ratings for valence, arousal, several appraisals, and emotion labels were assessed from 434 US-American participants in an online study (on average 70 ratings per video), along with personality traits from the raters (Big 5 personality dimensions and several motive dispositions). The OpenLAV is able to induce a large variety of different emotions, but the videos vary in uniformity of emotion induction. Based on different variability metrics, we recommend videos for the most uniform induction of different emotions. Moreover, the predictive power of personality traits on emotion ratings was analyzed using a machine-learning approach. In contrast to previous research, no effects of personality on the emotional experience were found.