The BMIS is a brief, widely used measure of current mood state designed for repeated or post-exposure administration in experimental research. Mayer and Gaschke (1988) developed the BMIS to capture the valence and arousal dimensions of momentary mood using a simple adjective checklist rated on a four-point endorsement scale. The 16 adjectives sample four quadrants of the valence x arousal mood space: pleasant-activated (peppy, lively), pleasant-deactivated (calm, content), unpleasant-activated (jittery, nervous), and unpleasant-deactivated (sad, unhappy, tired). The BMIS is particularly valuable in consumer and advertising research for measuring mood induced by music, store atmosphere, film clips, or other affect-generating stimuli. Its brevity makes it suitable for multiple pre/post administrations in within-subjects designs.
4-point scale (1=definitely do not feel to 4=definitely feel); items summed or averaged within subscales; higher score = stronger presence of that mood
Pleasant Mood (8 items): positively valenced mood adjectives spanning activated and deactivated pleasant states. 4-point scale (1=definitely do not feel to 4=definitely feel). Items averaged.
Unpleasant Mood (8 items): negatively valenced mood adjectives spanning activated and deactivated unpleasant states. 4-point scale. Items averaged.
Full scale items shown. Always cite the original source when using this scale in research.
The BMIS is sensitive to momentary mood states induced experimentally. Not designed for dispositional affect or mood disorders — use PANAS for trait affect or BDI for clinical depression. The Pleasant and Unpleasant subscales are not perfectly bipolar (correlation approx. –0.40 to –0.60); they reflect partially independent mood dimensions consistent with Russell's (1980) circumplex model. An arousal index can be derived by contrasting activated (lively, peppy, jittery, nervous) versus deactivated (drowsy, tired, calm, content) items.
Mayer, J.D., & Gaschke, Y.N. (1988). The experience and meta-experience of mood. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 55(1), 102–111.
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