27th Annual Student Research Conference
Meanings and Values of Better and Worse Moods
Christopher L. Zerr*, Sarah Bussen, and Erin Nyquist
Dr. Jeffrey Vittengl, Faculty Mentor
The present longitudinal study clarified what undergraduates mean when they report their mood today as better or worse than yesterday, as well as how much they care about these shifts in everyday mood. Undergraduates (115 women, 23 men; 1826 years old) completed up to 14 daily mood reports (M=9.3), compared todays versus yesterdays mood globally, and estimated the amount of time and money they would be willing to spend to have the better mood for one day. Better (vs. worse) moods were characterized by high positive and low negative affect. Participants were more willing to spend time (M=122 minutes) and money (M=$47) to improve todays importantly worse mood than to maintain an importantly better mood (M=86 minutes, M=$25). Future research should investigate the extent to which individuals value changes in positive and negative affect as compared to global mood judgments.
Keywords: mood, positive affect, negative affect, values
Topic(s):Psychology
Presentation Type: Poster
Session: 14-1
Location: GEO - SUB
Time: 3:30