Lecture 5 Affect Flashcards
What is Mood congruence?
This is when people report attitudes that match their mood
People in a good mood will report more positively about things. People in a bad mood will report more negatively about things
BUT, if people missattribute the mood, mood congruence can dissapear
When can mood congruence dissapear?
Mood as information
* If we are asked to think about how happy we are at the present time, we may look to our mood as a source of information that may influence our judgemnet about how happy we are in general life. If we discount our mood as a peice of information,then we might respond differently
Schwartz & Clore (1983) methodology only
They assessed whether the weather would be used as a cue to inform mood.
* They called Ps on either a rainy day or a sunny day
* Some Ps were asked about the weather, or they weren’t (meaning the weather was made salient, or not)
* DV = happiness
Clore & Schwartz (1983) Findings
In the condition where the weather is not salient, people reported greater happiness scores on a sunny day compared to a rainy day
In the condition where the weather was made salient, the difference in the weather doesn’t matter and levels of happiness were the same.
WHY: In the condition where the weather is not made salient, the weather is seen as a source of information. When the weather is made salient, the weather is no longer a source of information that helps guide judgemnets
Mood congruence and attitude strength
effects of mood are larger when dealing with weak (or constructed) attitudes
* this isnt suprising, a strong attitude would not be affected by mood.
Mood congruence and individual differences and research supporting such a claim
Effect on mood congruence can also depend on the person
Haddock et al., (1994): Ps mood was induced either +ve, -ve or neutral. they were then asked to evaluate a target group (different social groups in Canada).
Results:
* they found that mood congruence effects (I.e. the extent to which peoples moods effected their favourability on the target groups) were dependent on affect intensity
Affect intensity = how intensely people experinece a +ve or -ve emotion
Mood and Persuasion
The impact mood has on persuasion depends upon elaboration liklihood =the degree to which people scrutinse the content of relevant information
Elaboration Likelihood model and Mood persuasion
Caccioppo & Petty (1986) proposed two routes of attitude change in line with the ELM:
1. Central route - when people pay close attention to the content of an appeal, occurs when people are able and motivated to pay attention. Results in long lasting attitude change
2. Peripheral route - people do not elaborate on the contents of a message, but instead areswayed by peripheral cues. Results in transient attitude change
Petty 1993 - ELM and mood & persuasion study - PROCEDURE only
They were interested in seeing how positive affect would play a role in the persuasion depending on the motivation
- Ps watched a TV show that contained a series of ADs. One AD contained a key object (PEN).
- Before viewing TV show and ADs, the involvement with a pen was manipulated: they told some Ps that they would recieve a free pen or coffee after the experiment
- they also manipualted mood by showing Ps a comedy show or a documentary show
- at the end of the experiment, they asked Ps for their attitudes towards the pen
Petty (1993) PREDICTIONS of the study
Low elaboration = Ps were told that they would get a free coffee. No motivation t pay attention to the pen. Therefore, researcehrs argued that these Ps should display simple cue effects (I am in a good mood so I will like the pen)
High elaboration = Ps were told that they would get a free pen. So there is high motivation to pay attention to the pen. Therefore, researchers argue that under these conditions, people are going to pay attention to the contents od the message, and mood is going to serve bias to my thoughts.
Petty (1993) Findings
In low elaboration:
* People in the +ve mood were more +ve in their attitudes towards the pen compared to the neutral condiion
* from a regression analysis they found that mood does not impact positivity of personal thoughts. People in the +ve or neutral mood condition did not differ in the positivity of their thoughts under low elaboration
* consistent with ELM because these individuals arent motivated to pay attention to the message (under LE, mood influences attitudes unmediated by thoughts)
In high elaboration:
* mood impacted attitudes. A positive mood meant more positive attitudes towards the pen. BUT the process underlying this effect is different.
* under HE, mood had a significant impact on their cogntive responses.
* the mood and the cognitive responses drove the attitude. There was significant predicatbility from the positivity of their thoughts to attitudes. The mood itself did not have a direct effect on attitude.
Findings to Petty (1993) in diagram form …
Under low elaboration, mood has a direct effect:
* Mood —(0.2)—->% of +ve thoughts —(0.13)—> Attitude
* Mood ——-(0.19 * )——> attitude
Under high elaboration, mood serves to bias thoughts which impacts attitudes
* Mood —(0.34 * )—->% of +ve thoughts —(.34 * )—> Attitude
* Mood ——(0.10) ——-> attitude
High elaboration leads to longer lasting effects
What is Integral Affect
Feelings associated with an attitude object
* mere exposure
* conditioning
Incidental affect
affective state not linked to an object that can influence judgement
* mood
Mere exposure
Repeated exposure to stimuli can elicit positive affect that can go onto influence attitudes