MOOD AS INPUT - PEOPLE HAVE TO INTERPRET THE MOTIVATIONAL IMPLICATIONS OF THEIR MOODS

It was hypothesized that moods have few, if any, motivational or processing implications, but are input to other processes that determine their motivational implications. In Experiment 1, Ss read a series of behaviors in forming an impression. When told to read the behaviors until they felt they had enough information, those in positive moods (PMs) stopped sooner than did those in negative moods (NMs). When told to stop when they no longer enjoyed reading the behaviors, NMs stopped sooner than PMs. In Experiment 2, Ss generated a list of birds from memory When told to stop when either they thought it was a good time to stop or they simply felt like stopping, PMs stopped sooner than NMs. When told to stop when they no longer enjoyed the task, NMs stopped sooner than PMs. The findings extend work by others (eg., D. M. Mackie & Worth, 1991; N. Murray, Surjan, Hirt, & Surjan, 1990; N. Schwarz & Bless, 199 1; R. C. Sinclair & Mark, 1992).