RESUMEN
The experience sampling method (ESM) allows for a high degree of ecological validity compared to laboratory research, at the cost of greater effort for participants. It would therefore benefit from implementations that reduce participant effort. In the present paper, we introduce a screenless wrist-worn one-button wearable as an unobtrusive measurement method that can be employed in ESM designs. We developed an open-source Android application to make this commercially available wearable easily configurable and usable. Over the course of six pilot studies, we explored the technical viability (e.g., battery life, reliability of inputs) of this wearable. We compared data quality between wearables and smartphones in a within-subjects design, exploring both the input options of using the number of button presses as a Likert scale, as well as using the angle of the device as a Physical Analogue Scale. Assessments of Extraversion made with either of these methods were highly correlated to comparable assessments made with comparable methods on a smartphone (i.e., Likert scale or a Visual Analogue Scale, respectively). Furthermore, in a preregistered ESM field experiment (N = 134, 4 weeks), we compared compliance to real-life event triggers between wearable devices and smartphones. We found higher numbers of logged events in the wearable group, indicating better adherence to the event-contingent scheduling. Overall, despite the device's minimal capabilities and resulting limitations, one-button wearables can be beneficial for use in ESM designs.
RESUMEN
The colloquial term "hangry" refers to the notion that people become angry when hungry, but very little research has directly determined the extent to which the relationship between hunger and negative emotions is robust. Here, we examined associations between everyday experiences of hunger and negative emotions using an experience sampling method. Sixty-four participants from Central Europe completed a 21-day experience sampling phase in which they reported their hunger, anger, irritability, pleasure, and arousal at five time-points each day (total = 9,142 responses). Results indicated that greater levels of self-reported hunger were associated with greater feelings of anger and irritability, and with lower pleasure. These findings remained significant after accounting for participant sex, age, body mass index, dietary behaviours, and trait anger. In contrast, associations with arousal were not significant. These results provide evidence that everyday levels of hunger are associated with negative emotionality and supports the notion of being "hangry".
