28th Annual Student Research Conference
Daily Mood Changes
Kenda R. Eberhardt*, Christopher L. Zerr, Sarah C. Bussen, Meghan E. LaMarche, and Erin Nyquist
Dr. Jeffrey Vittengl, Faculty Mentor
The current study estimated the thresholds at which adults notice and value changes in their daily moods, as well as how much they care about these shifts in everyday mood. Undergraduates (115 women, 30 men) completed up to 14 daily mood reports (mean=9). Each day participants compared todays to yesterdays mood on several dimensions (e.g. negative affect, positive affect, sadness, joviality) and estimated the amount of time and money they were willing to spend to have the better mood for one day. Comparing todays with yesterdays mood reports, we found that participants underestimated the intensity of yesterdays mood. In addition, participants were willing to spend more time and money to improve a currently bad mood (i.e., high negative affect, low positive affect) than to continue a currently good mood (i.e., low negative affect, high positive affect).
Keywords: mood, positive affect, negative affect , values
Topic(s):Psychology
Presentation Type: Poster
Session: 10-4
Location: GEO-SUB
Time: 3:30