Effects of induced mood on self-reported life events and perceived and received social support.

Tested the relation between mood (depressed [D], elated [E], or neutral [N]), induced by the Velten (1968) procedure, and college students' responses on a subjectively scored life events questionnaire and measures of perceived and received social support. A manipulation check showed that the mood manipulation was successful. There was a significant mood effect on the number of self-reported negative life events, with E Ss reporting the fewest. However, mood had no significant effect on the number of self-reported positive life events or the rated intensity of negative and positive events. Mood had a significant effect on perceived social support, with D Ss scoring the lowest. Self-report of received social support, however, was not affected by the mood manipulation. The findings challenge the widespread use of life event and perceived social support questionnaires whose independence from a mood-related response bias has not been adequately demonstrated. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Social comparison and depression: Company's effect on misery.

Two studies examined the social comparison processes of 50 depressed and 48 nondepressed college students selected on the basis of their scores on the Beck Depression Inventory. In the 1st study, Ss' preferences for information from others were assessed after they had received a manipulation intended to improve or worsen their mood states. The responses of the depressed Ss provide evidence of downward comparison: They indicate a preference for information from people who were experiencing negative affect, but only when they themselves were also experiencing relatively negative affect, not when their moods had been temporarily improved. In the 2nd study, Ss' moods were assessed before and after they had received information indicating another person was currently experiencing highly negative affect. This information had little effect on the nondepressed Ss; however, the mood states of the depressed Ss improved after they read the information. Results suggest that realizing that others are doing worse may help depressed persons to feel somewhat better. (38 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Sense of humor as a moderator of the relation between stressors and moods.

Three studies, conducted with 143 undergraduates, are reported that investigated the hypothesis, long held by theorists, therapists, and laypersons alike, that a sense of humor reduces the deleterious impact of stressful experiences. In each study a negative-life-events checklist was used to predict stress scores on a measure of mood disturbance. These studies made use of different measures of Ss' sense of humor, including 4 self-report scales and 2 behavioral assessments of Ss' ability to produce humor under nonstressful and mildly stressful conditions. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses revealed that 5 of the 6 humor measures produced a significant moderating effect on the relation between negative life events and mood disturbance. Ss with low humor scores obtained higher correlations between these 2 variables than did those with high humor scores. Results provide initial evidence for the stress-buffering role of humor. (42 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Dysphoric mood and overeating: A test of restraint theory's disinhibition hypothesis.

Tested the hypothesis that restrained eaters overindulge when experiencing emotional arousal. A dysphoric or nondysphoric mood was induced in 104 normal-weight female college students who had completed the Restraint Scale. Ss completed a bogus "culture-free intelligence test" that consisted of either unsolvable problems (dysphoric mood condition) or solvable problems (nondysphoric mood condition). Mood was measured by the Multiple Affect Adjective Check List. After the mood induction, Ss' cracker consumption was measured in a taste test. Consistent with restraint theory's prediction, the results revealed a significant Restraint by Mood interaction, with restrained eaters eating more when in a dysphoric than in a nondysphoric mood, and unrestrained eaters consuming similar amounts in both mood states. The predictive powers of 2 subscales of the Restraint Scale, Weight Fluctuation (WF) and Concern with Dieting (CD), were also compared. CD scores were better predictors of the amount eaten by Ss in a dysphoric mood than were WF or total restraint scores. This suggests that the 2 subscales of the Restraint Scale are worth distinguishing and that the CD scale may be the more valid of the 2 scales. (16 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of mood states, costs, and benefits on helping.

263 college students participated in a factorial experiment designed to test the hypotheses that mood states interact with costs and with benefits in determining helping. Positive and negative mood states were induced by varying the difficulty of a bogus aptitude test; neutral-mood (control) Ss did not take the test. Benefits for helping were manipulated by asking Ss to collect donations for a worthwhile charity (the American Cancer Society) or to a less worthwhile charity (Little League baseball). In the high-costs-for-helping condition, Ss were asked to collect donations by going door to door, whereas in the low-cost condition, Ss were asked to sit at donations desks. Pretests indicated that the manipulations effectively induced the intended mood states, costs, and benefits. The results generally support the hypotheses. Positive-mood Ss volunteered more than neutral-mood Ss, and whether negative-mood Ss volunteered more or less than neutral-mood Ss depended on the costs and benefits. It is suggested that the seemingly conflicting results of previous investigations of negative mood and helping can be explained by interactions of mood states with costs and with benefits. (21 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Influence of mood on health-relevant cognitions.

Three experiments assessed the effects of mood on symptom appraisal, health behavior self-efficacy, outcome expectations, and perceptions of vulnerability. Ss in Experiments 1 and 2 were acutely ill, whereas Ss in Experiment 3 were healthy. In each experiment, happy, sad, and neutral moods were induced. In Experiment 1, Ss who experienced sadness reported more aches and pains and greater discomfort than happy Ss. Sad Ss were less confident that they could carry out illness-alleviating behaviors. Experiments 2 and 3 demonstrated that mood's influence of vulnerability perceptions is moderated by health status. Although mood had little impact on perceptions of vulnerability among ill Ss, probability estimates of future negative health-relevant events among healthy Ss were mood sensitive. Seeing oneself as invulnerable to future negative events was accentuated among happy Ss and attenuated among sad Ss. Mood may be an important determinant of care seeking, adherence, and recovery from illness. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Attributional styles and life events in the classroom: Vulnerability and invulnerability to depressive mood reactions.

A core prediction of the reformulated model of learned helplessness and depression states that when confronted with the same negative life event, people who display a tendency to attribute negative outcomes to internal, stable, or global factors should be more likely to experience a depressive reaction than people who typically attribute negative outcomes to external, unstable, or specific factors. The present study tested that prediction with 227 undergraduates by determining whether the content of Ss' attributional styles at 1 point in time predicted the severity of their depressive response (Multiple Affect Adjective Check List) to receiving a low grade on an exam at a subsequent time. Consistent with the prediction, Ss with an internal or global attributional style for negative outcomes at Time 1 experienced a depressive response when confronted with a low grade; Ss with an external or specific attributional style were invulnerable to this response. In contrast to results for the internality and globality dimensions, Ss' scores along the stability attribution dimension were not correlated with the severity of their depressive response to the low grade. In the absence of a negative life event, Ss' generalized tendencies to make internal or global attributions for negative outcomes at Time 1 were not significantly correlated with their subsequent changes in depressive mood, although there was a nonsignificant positive correlation between severity of depressive response and the tendency to make global attributions for negative outcomes at Time l. (14 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Emotional states and memory biases: Effects of cognitive priming and mood.

Recent studies have shown that naturally occurring and experimentally induced affect states enhance the accessibility to retrieval of memories of life experiences that are congruent in valence with the affect state. Previous studies have suggested that this memory bias results from the influence of affective processes on memory retrieval. Ss read statements expressing positive or negative self-evaluative ideas or describing somatic states that often accompany positive or negative mood states. The somatic and self-evaluative statements had, in general, equally strong effects on mood state. However, the self-evaluative statements had a stronger impact on recall latencies for life experiences than did the somatic statements. Moreover, the impact of the self-evaluative, but not the somatic, statements on recall was found to be independent of the statements' effect on mood state. This suggest that the cognitions accompanying a mood-altering experience may have a substantial effect on the capacity of the mood state to influence memory retrieval. (32 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Illusion of control: Invulnerability to negative affect and depressive symptoms after laboratory and natural stressors.

Examined whether individual differences in susceptibility to the illusion of control predicted differential vulnerability to depressive responses after a laboratory failure and naturally occurring life stressors. The illusion of control decreased the likelihood that Ss (N?=?145) would (1) show immediate negative mood reactions to the lab failure, (2) become discouraged after naturally occurring negative life events, and (3) experience increases in depressive symptoms a month later given the occurrence of a high number of negative life events. In addition, the stress-moderating effect of the illusion of control on later depressive symptoms appeared to be mediated in part by its effect on reducing the discouragement Ss experienced from the occurrence of negative life events. These findings provide support for the hopelessness theory of depression and for the optimistic illusion–mental health link. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Perceived self-efficacy, outcome expectancies, and negative mood states in end-stage renal disease.

Tested A. Bandura's (1977) social learning theory, which hypothesizes that the joint experience of weak efficacy and strong outcome expectancies induces negative mood states. 70 end-stage renal disease patients served as Ss. Perceived self-efficacy was measured via Ss' self-rated control over health and over life in general. Outcome expectancies were assessed on Rotter's Internal–External Locus of Control Scale and the Health Locus of Control Scale. The 3 dependent variables were Ss' scores on the Beck Depression Inventory, Self-Esteem Inventory, and self-ratings of helplessness. Data were analyzed using a hierarchical multiple-regression strategy. The efficacy and outcome measures each correlated significantly and uniquely with the 3 dependent variables. Weaker efficacy and weaker outcome expectancies were associated with increased depression, lower self-esteem, and subjective feelings of helplessness. (19 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Prospective and retrospective reports of mood states before relapse to substance use.

In a prospective design, it was predicted that the role of negative mood in precipitating relapses and crises among alcohol-dependent Ss would be greater when assessed with retrospective mood ratings than when assessed by prospective mood ratings because of Ss' attributional biases. This hypothesis was not supported. Support was found, however, for a relationship between negative bias and the amount of negative mood assessed at the time the retrospective report was given. As has been previously found, the most frequent precipitant of relapses and crises in this study was negative emotional states. Female Ss were more likely to report interpersonal and less likely to report intrapersonal determinants than male Ss. Minor relapses were more likely to be precipitated by social pressure and less likely to be related to negative emotions than major relapses. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Mood changes associated with blood glucose fluctuations in insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus.

Examined relationships between blood glucose (BG) levels and self-reported mood in 34 19–68 yr old insulin-independent diabetes mellitus patients. Four times each day, Ss completed a mood/symptom checklist before a self-measurement of BG until 40 checklists had been completed. Half the items of the checklist described physical symptoms, and half described mood states. Within-S correlations and regressions showed that moods were related to BG for the majority of Ss and that, like physical symptoms, mood–BG relationships were idiosyncratic. Low BG levels were associated with negative mood states; positive mood items were almost always associated with high BG. High BG levels also frequently correlated with negative mood states, although the negative mood items that related to high glucose (anger, sadness) differed from those that tended to relate to low BG. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Social confirmation of dysphoria: Shared and private reactions to depression.

Investigated the social responses to dysphoria of 120 female undergraduates selected on the basis of their scores on the Beck Depression Inventory. Ss conversed for 15 min with persons selected for presence or absence of depressed mood. Following the conversations, mood measures (e.g., Multiple Affect Adjective Check List) were administered along with social perception questionnaires that were described either as confidential or to be shared with the other person. Ss who interacted with depressed persons were anxious, depressed, and hostile, and Ss rejected them. Contrary to predictions, Ss were willing to share their negative responses with the depressed persons. The depressed persons correctly anticipated rejection and reciprocated. It is argued that cognitive models of depression need to be integrated with a conception of the social environment as being active and responsive. Judgments of cognitive distortion cannot be made without an understanding of the feedback typically available from the social environment. (34 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Manipulation of self-esteem as a determinant of mood of elated and depressed women.

Tested the theory that self-esteem is a determinant of elation-depression. Changes in self-esteem were induced by having Ss read positive or negative self-evaluative statements. 140 female college students were selected on the basis of extreme scores of characteristic elation and depression and on the basis of suggestibility and were assigned to 1 of 5 treatment or control groups. The induction of positive vs negative cognitions produced significant differences in elation-depression on multiple measures. Characteristically elated and depressed Ss were able to take on opposite mood states. This study suggests that a determinant of depression is evaluative self-statements, supports the utility of cognitive therapy for depressives, and demonstrates a potentially useful technique for inducing more appropriate self-evaluations. (19 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Depression and the response of others: A re-evaluation.

Used a methodology similar to that employed by J. C. Coyne (see record 1976-22455-001) to determine whether depressed patients induce negative mood in others and elicit social rejection. 45 female undergraduates conversed for 20 min by telephone with either 15 depressed psychiatric women, 15 nondepressed psychiatric women, or 15 nondepressed women. Depression was assessed by the Self-Rating Depression Scale, and Ss were rated on the Schedule for Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia. It was hypothesized that Ss who spoke with depressed Ss would report more negative mood (as assessed by the Multiple Affect Adjective Check List) and less willingness to interact further with their telephone partner than would Ss who spoke with nondepressed Ss. Results show that Ss were able to detect greater sadness and more problems in depressed Ss, although they themselves were not more depressed or more rejecting if they spoke with a depressed S. Present findings did not confirm those of Coyne. (12 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Impact of chronic and acute stressors on daily reports of mood.

Compared the relative impact of major life events, chronic stressors, and minor daily stressors on daily reports of mood. Analyses are based on daily diary data combined with interview data derived from a longitudinal study of 96 women (mean age 33.1 yrs) sampled from the population of persons using the services of a neighborhood health center. Ss kept daily diaries for 28 days following initial personal interviews. The Affect Balance Scale was used as a baseline measure of psychological well-being. The most important direct determinants of mood were found to be concurrent daily stressors and physical symptoms, and previous levels of psychological well-being. Life events and chronic stressors had indirect effects on mood through these other variables. Results confirm and extend previous studies on the determinants of short-term changes in mood. The advantages and disadvantages of the temporal aggregation of time-series data are discussed. (44 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

On going to the counselor: Contributions of life stress and social supports to the decision to seek psychological counseling.

Studied life stresses and social supports in 100 17–27 yr old college students to specify how these factors contributed to the decision of 50 Ss to seek psychological counseling. Life stress was measured with a life events checklist that yielded scores on the number and perceived impact of events. Social support was measured with a network size index that yielded scores on the number of potential and actual providers of support in each of 6 support categories. Results show that Ss who sought counseling reported no more negative events than their peers, but they reported greater impact of these events, fewer positive events, less family closeness, less frequent speaking to their parents, and more family history of seeking counseling. Ss who sought counseling reported having fewer available supports in 5 of the 6 categories of support. It is suggested that given equal numbers of stressful events, the likelihood of seeking counseling increases as social supports decrease. (53 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Evaluative judgments of aspects of life as a function of vicarious exposure to hedonic extremes.

In 2 experiments with 156 female undergraduates, the hypothesis was corroborated that vicarious exposure to hedonic extremes—especially the hedonically negative—results in contrast regarding evaluative judgments of aspects of life that have evolved or been acquired in the course of life beyond the laboratory. In Exp I, Ss who wrote about hedonically negative events occurring at the turn of the century expressed greater satisfaction on a composite index of present life quality than Ss who wrote about hedonically positive events. In Exp II, Ss who wrote about hedonically negative events (personal tragedies) scored higher on a composite index of satisfaction with life, health, and physical appearance than Ss who wrote about hedonically positive events. The findings for the composites corroborate a comparison level model of evaluative judgment. The findings for individual items, however, suggest that aspects of life are not evaluated in terms of a single utility scale and standard—the comparison level. Other findings are discussed that appear to contradict a simple affective model of evaluation in which the positivity of evaluations is postulated to increase with the positivity of affective states. (20 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

In defense of the Velten mood induction procedure.

Examined whether the Velton Mood Induction procedure (VMIC) (E. Velton, 1968) produced mood effects only through demand characteristics, in 2 studies. In study 1, 50 undergraduates were assigned to 1 of the 5 mood conditions: Positive, negative, neutral, and positive and negative demand. They were presented the VMIC, and were then asked to complete the Multiple Affect Adjective Check List (MAACL). In study 2, 49 Ss were assigned to 1 of 4 imagine conditions with target moods: Elated, depressed, in a positive or negative mood; and were then asked to complete the MAACL. Mood effects of the VMIC were genuine and not simply the product of demand characteristics. Ss reported mood change after reading the VMIC. The VMIC did not provide Ss with information about a mood state that they did not already know, and Ss did not respond more extremely to the moods of depression and elation as compared to negative and positive moods. (French abstract) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)