A valid procedure for obtaining self-report of affect in marital interaction.

Thirty married couples interacted in a low-conflict situation and a high-conflict situation during which continuous physiological measures were obtained. Each spouse returned separately for a second session in which they watched the videotape of the interaction and provided a continuous self-report rating of their own affect while the same physiological measures were again obtained. Observers coded the spouses' affect during each speech unit. The self-reports of affect (a) discriminated the high-conflict interaction from the low-conflict interaction, (b) correlated significantly with marital satisfaction, (c) were coherent between husband and wife, and (d) were significantly related to the observers' coding of the couples' affect Physiological data obtained during the interaction session were significantly related (using time-series analyses) to physiological data obtained during the recall session.