Pictured Feelings Instrument (PFI)

Purpose: To identify and communicate feelings through a nonverbal vocabulary

Age: 5-65+ years

Time: Untimed

Administration: Individual and group

The Pictured Feelings Instrument (PFI) provides a flexible and standardised way to enable people to access, identify and communicate.

The PFI consists of a set of 26 cards with line drawings of facial and body expressions, which provide a validated nonverbal vocabulary of feelings. The cards illustrate 26 specific feelings, such as happy, sad, loving, angry and confused.

Each picture was created to be specific as to the feelings expressed but ambiguous as to age, gender or ethnicity, so as to apply to a broad population.

The comprehensive manual includes seven photocopiable interview/answer forms designed to address specific issues (e.g. body image, events, and relationships).

The PFI is designed for use in clinical/counselling practice, assessment, emotion recognition testing, education/training and research.

Key Features

• Validated nonverbal communication instrument that covers a broad range of feelings
• Helps overcome communication boundaries of culture, education, age and abilities
• Useful for emotion recognition testing
• Appropriate for children, adolescents and adults on the autism spectrum
• Developed for any people who have difficulty expressing emotions/feelings (e.g. traumatised people such as victims of child abuse; people in intensive care, or people in therapy who are unaccustomed to speaking about emotions/feelings)