Topic 4b - Mood Flashcards
What are emotions?
Related to the heart, feelings, distinct physiological patterning (beating heart, lump in throat), rise quickly, are brief and expressive
Caused by specific event or object
We are aware of this cause - an emotion is about something and is clearly defined, displayed and uncontrollable - intense
What is a mood?
Related to the mind, thoughts, no distinct physiological patterning, stable and enduring
Causes are less defined, we are often unaware, more controllable (can shake it off)
What are mood states?
Sporadic emotional states lasting for minutes or hours- manifested through physiological signals (heart rate, behaviour)
What are some individual differences in mood?
Mood traits - dispositions of mood varies and reflect ones capacity or tendency to experience mood states
What is the structure of mood? - Watson & Tellegen 1985
Reviewed previous factor analysis studies of self ratings of mood related words
2 orthogonal dimensions
- Positive affect = extent someone feels high zest for life, high levels = active, elated, excited. Low levels = drowsy, sleepy, sluggish
- Negative affect = extent someone feels unpleasant arousal, high levels = distressed, fearful, nervous. Low levels = calm, placid, relaxed
What does research say about the co-occurance of positive and negative mood? - Larson et al. 2001 happiness and sadness
189 PPTs
Measured emotional state ratings before and after watching a tragic comedy - life is beautiful
Researchers gave PPTs 10 mood adjectives
Evidence of co-activation : BITTERSWEETNESS, reported feeling happy and sat at the same time after the film
What did Conrad et al. 2019 find about the bittersweet feeling and music?
PPTs asked what songs they always listen to on repeat and how it makes them feel - 16% said the songs that gave them bittersweet feelings
What is the 3 dimensional model of mood? - Matthew et al. 1990
- Tense arousal = anxiety, fear, stress VS calm, relaxed, peaceful
- Energetic arousal = active and alert VS sleepy and sluggish
- Hedonic tone (pleasure) = pleased, cheerful, happy VS low spirit and sad
How can we measure individual differences in mood traits and states?
- Self report methods
- Retrospective judgements
However, these depend on memory and current mood may influence/ most extreme mood at the time may impact
What are the cultural mood stereotypes?
Monday = lowest mood
Friday = highest mood
What did a study find that criticised the cultural mood stereotypes? - Areni & Burger 2008
202 PPTs recruited in full time employment
asked: what morning of the week are you at your best / worst mood & what evening are you at your best / worst mood?
found that PPTs said best = fri/sat, worst = mon/tues
THEN
251 PPT - 8 day study
asked: what is your mood right now? (day 1-7)
what is your mood on a typical mon/tues/wed etc.? (day 8)
Found that mood is actually STABLE but PPTs expect it to be worse at the start and better at the end of the week
What does this study show about mood and the days of the week?? - Areni & Burger 2008
Beliefs about our best and worst mood don’t match our actual mood experiences - mood is fairly stable
What are the effects of current mood on studies? - Schwartz & Close 1983
Interview on sunny or rainy days
Higher happiness on sunny days for happiness rating at that moment and for happiness rating for life as a whole (global life happiness)
What is peak end theory? - Redelmeier & Kahneman 1996
Patients retrospective ratings were strongly influenced by peak end experiences of PAIN when rating the pain levels of the overall procedure - bias
How does child birth support the peak end theory? - Chajut et al. 2014
324 pregnant women
Momentary pain reports during labour
Average pain throughout = 37/100
Peak pain = 90/100
End pain = 54/100
Retrospective pain ratings of the entire period taken 2 days later = 72/100
Two month later = 68/100
Pain remembered much higher than the average pain of the whole experience
