Participants In Negative Mood Research Articles

Mood moderates the effect of aesthetic appeal on performance

ABSTRACT Aesthetically appealing stimuli can improve performance in demanding target localisation tasks compared to unappealing stimuli. Two search-and-localisation experiments were carried out to examine the possible underlying mechanism mediating the effects of appeal on performance. Participants (N = 95) were put in a positive or negative mood prior to carrying out a visual target localisation task with appealing and unappealing targets. In both experiments, positive mood initially led to faster localisation of appealing compared to unappealing stimuli, while an advantage for appealing over unappealing stimuli emerged over time in negative mood participants. The findings are compatible with the idea that appealing stimuli may be inherently rewarding, with aesthetic appeal overcoming the detrimental effects of negative mood on performance.

Is the seductive details effect moderated by mood? An eye‐tracking study

SummaryAccording to the seductive details (SD) effect, interesting, but irrelevant information in learning materials reduces learning outcomes. Basic research suggests that subjects in positive mood are more distractible by task‐irrelevant stimuli than subjects in negative mood. Hence, mood could moderate the SD effect. We tested this assumption by comparing eye movements to seductive pictures in participants in positive versus negative mood. As expected, participants in positive mood fixated pictures longer and more frequently than participants in negative mood, which can be interpreted in terms of mood‐based higher distractibility. However, this did not translate to a more pronounced SD effect in the learning test. Unexpectedly, there was no SD effect in either mood condition. We discuss implications of the eye‐tracking data as well as potential reasons for the nonexistent SD effect in our study.

Mood state dissociates conflict adaptation within tasks and across tasks.

The present study investigated the influence of mood state (positive vs. negative) on the cognitive control process of conflict adaptation. A task-switching paradigm was applied, allowing to assess conflict adaptation both within tasks and across tasks. A success-failure manipulation was applied for mood induction. Within-task conflict adaptation tended to be larger in negative mood than in positive mood, in line with previous findings in the literature. Across-task conflict adaptation was also observed, but only in the positive mood group: Participants in positive mood showed larger conflict adaptation than participants in negative mood. We suggest that different cognitive mechanisms underlie this double dissociation: Within-task conflict adaptation is enhanced in negative mood because response conflict is aversive in nature, and is therefore congruent to negative mood states. Between-task conflict adaptation is only present in positive mood because of less distinct task representations under positive mood, leading conflict adaptation to transfer to the other task. The data show that influences of mood state on cognitive control are multifaceted, with some control processes being enhanced and others attenuated in negative relative to positive mood. (PsycINFO Database Record

Influence of mood on gazing behavior: Preliminary evidences from an eye-tracking study

The effect of positive and negative mood on gazing behavior in multi-alternative forced choice situations (2AFC, 4AFC, 8AFC and 16AFC) was analyzed. It was expected that current mood may influence the decision time, fixation and dwell durations as well as fixation and dwell counts. A Tobii Pro X2-60 screen-based eye tracker (60Hz) and Tobii Studio software were used to present the stimuli and to analyze the gazing behavior of the 150 volunteer participants, out of which 67 were used in the final data analysis. Participants’ mood was registered using the positive and negative affect scale (PANAS) method. Participants in positive mood had longer fixations and dwell durations and more fixation and dwell counts. Survival analysis revealed that significantly less time was needed for participants in negative mood to choose one from the presented alternatives. An interesting result of the analysis was that significant differences were present only in the case of 8AFC and 16AFC. These results draw attention to the importance of mood during eye-tracking studies.

Flexibility of Spontaneous Trait Inferences: The Interactive Effects of Mood and Gender Stereotypes

Recent research has indicated that people draw spontaneous trait inferences (STIs) flexibly from others’ behaviors. In two experiments, we examined how perceiver's mood states and actor's gender-behavior stereotypic consistency affected the likelihood of STIs. In Experiment 1, positive mood participants made STIs from trait-implying behavior sentences, while those in negative moods did not draw such trait inferences. In Experiment 2, we further examined the role of gender stereotypes in the effects of mood on STIs and found that positive mood participants made STIs only from gender stereotype-consistent behaviors, not from gender stereotype-inconsistent behaviors, while negative mood participants still did not make STIs regardless of gender stereotype consistency. Extending prior work, we provided initial evidence for the flexible formation of STIs in response to perceiver's mood states and actor's gender-behavior stereotypic consistency.

How emotions affect logical reasoning: evidence from experiments with mood-manipulated participants, spider phobics, and people with exam anxiety.

Recent experimental studies show that emotions can have a significant effect on the way we think, decide, and solve problems. This paper presents a series of four experiments on how emotions affect logical reasoning. In two experiments different groups of participants first had to pass a manipulated intelligence test. Their emotional state was altered by giving them feedback, that they performed excellent, poor or on average. Then they completed a set of logical inference problems (with if p, then q statements) either in a Wason selection task paradigm or problems from the logical propositional calculus. Problem content also had either a positive, negative or neutral emotional value. Results showed a clear effect of emotions on reasoning performance. Participants in negative mood performed worse than participants in positive mood, but both groups were outperformed by the neutral mood reasoners. Problem content also had an effect on reasoning performance. In a second set of experiments, participants with exam or spider phobia solved logical problems with contents that were related to their anxiety disorder (spiders or exams). Spider phobic participants' performance was lowered by the spider-content, while exam anxious participants were not affected by the exam-related problem content. Overall, unlike some previous studies, no evidence was found that performance is improved when emotion and content are congruent. These results have consequences for cognitive reasoning research and also for cognitively oriented psychotherapy and the treatment of disorders like depression and anxiety.

Being a grump only makes things worse: a transactional account of acute stress on mind wandering.

The current work investigates the influence of acute stress on mind wandering. Participants completed the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule as a measure of baseline negative mood, and were randomly assigned to either the high-stress or low-stress version of the Trier Social Stress Test. Participants then completed the Sustained Attention to Response Task as a measure of mind-wandering behavior. In Experiment 1, participants reporting a high degree of negative mood that were exposed to the high-stress condition were more likely to engage in a variable response time, make more errors, and were more likely to report thinking about the stressor relative to participants that report a low level of negative mood. These effects diminished throughout task performance, suggesting that acute stress induces a temporary mind-wandering state in participants with a negative mood. The temporary affect-dependent deficits observed in Experiment 1 were replicated in Experiment 2, with the high negative mood participants demonstrating limited resource availability (indicated by pupil diameter) immediately following stress induction. These experiments provide novel evidence to suggest that acute psychosocial stress briefly suppresses the availability of cognitive resources and promotes an internally oriented focus of attention in participants with a negative mood.

The effects of mood state on the information processing of advertisement

We examined the effects of mood on the information processing and on the multiple functions of advertisement. The first experiment hypothesized that positive mood promoted an automatic processing of information and negative mood promoted a controlled processing of information. Moods were induced by asking about happy (positive mood) or unhappy (negative mood) event. Next, participants were presented with the statement advertisement or image advertisement. The results showed that participants in negative mood elaborated the statement advertisement and changed attitude more than participants in positive mood, whereas positive and negative participants presented with image advertisement indicated little attitude change. The second experiment hypothesized that the persuasive effects of image advertisement were depended on the interaction between mood and image relevance to merchandise. Positive or negative mood participants were presented with relevant image advertisement or irrelevant image advertisement. The results showed participants in positive mood indicated more attitude change in irrelevant image advertisement than participants in negative mood, whereas positive and negative mood participants presented with relevant image advertisement indicated little attitude change. Therefore, our results suggest that mood state does not only affect the information processing but also the persuasive effects of information.

First Thought, Best Thought: Positive Mood Maintains and Negative Mood Degrades Implicit-Explicit Attitude Correspondence

Two studies investigate the effect of mood on the relationship between implicit and explicit attitudes toward African Americans (Experiment 1) and implicit and explicit academic attitudes (Experiment 2). Because explicit and implicit attitudes are more related when people validate their automatic attitudes as true (the associative-propositional evaluation model) and because people tend to validate their immediate reactions when they are in positive rather than negative moods (the affect-as-information model), the authors predicted a stronger implicit-explicit attitude correspondence among positive versus negative mood participants. As predicted, in both studies, participants exhibited a significant correspondence between implicit and explicit attitudes when in positive moods but not when in negative moods.

Influence d’inductions d’humeurs positive et négative sur la structure des scripts

This research raises the question of the effects of the positive and negative moods on the structure of scripts through two experiments. The first one, which consists in a script generation experiment shows a more important production of actions in positive mood. The second one, which requires evaluations of centrality, reveals that the positive mood participants judge the actions as more important than the negative mood participants. These results are congruent with the hypothesis of cognitive reorganization: positive mood does nor only favour the use of general knowledge structures but also influences the structure itself, generating a modification in the degree of centrality of the actions in the script.

The Influence of Mood on the Search for Supporting Versus Conflicting Information: Dissonance Reduction as a Means of Mood Regulation?

Focusing on similarities between the mood regulation approach and dissonance theory, this article addresses the interplay between dissonance and mood by examining how individuals search for information after making a decision while under the influence of positive versus negative mood. Study 1 suggested that negative mood increased the preference for consonant over dissonant information after decisions, whereas positive mood led to a more balanced information search. In Study 2, participants in negative mood rated consonant information as more pleasant and dissonant information as more annoying than participants in positive mood. In addition, the results suggested that mood regulation processes took place. In Study 3, the findings from Study 1 were replicated with a paradigm in which higher stakes were involved.

The Impact of Positive and Negative Affect and Issue Framing on Issue Interpretation and Risk Taking

Two studies examined the influence of transient affective states and issue framing onissue interpretationandrisk takingwithin the context of strategic decision making. In Study 1, participants in whom transient positive or negative affective states were induced by reading a short story showed systematic differences in issue interpretation and risk taking in a strategic decision making context. Compared to negative mood participants, those in a positive mood were more likely to interpret the strategic issue as an opportunity and displayed lower levels of risk taking. Study 2 replicated and extended these results by crossing affective states with threat and opportunity frames. Results showed that framing an issue (as a threat or an opportunity) had a stronger impact on issue interpretation among negative affect participants than among positive affect participants. Affective states also moderated the impact of issue framing on risk taking: the effect of framing on risk-taking was stronger under negative rather than positive affect. These results are interpreted via information-processing and motivational effects of affect on a decision maker.