The effects of positive and negative mood on divergent-thinking performance

Previous work has shown that positive mood may facilitate creative problem solving. However, studies have also shown positive mood may be detrimental to creative thinking under conditions favoring an optimizing strategy for solution. If is argued herein that the opposite effect is observed under conditions promoting loose processing and satisficing problem-solving strategies. The effects of positive and negative mood on divergent-thinking performance were examined in a quasi-experimental design. The sample comprised 188 arts and psychology students. Mood was measured with an adjective checklist prior to task performance. Real-life divergent-thinking casks scored for fluency were used as the dependent variables. Results showed natural positive mood to facilitate significantly task performance and negative mood to inhibit it. There was no effect of arousal. The results suggest that persons in elevated moods may prefer satisficing strategies, which would lead to a higher number of proposed solutions. Persons in a negative mood may choose optimizing strategies and be more concerned with the quality of their ideas, which is detrimental to performance on this kind of task.