Mood following emotional crying: Effects of the situation

Abstract

Following film-induced emotional crying, the effects of five situations on mood were studied: waiting, exposure to humorous material, repetition of film scenes, processing, and music. Thought focus on the movie or on extraneous themes was assessed after the waiting and music situations. Although crying was associated with depressed mood when they were measured closely in time, there was no evidence to suggest that crying facilitated the reduction of subsequent depressed mood. Crying was related to later thought focus on the movie, but depressed mood, indepdent of crying, was not. The need for assessment of response variables that are not direct components of crying was discussed.