SEPARATE PROCESSES IN THE RELATION OF ELATION AND DEPRESSION TO HELPING - SOCIAL VERSUS PERSONAL CONCERNS

The Separate Process analysis suggests that individuals in an elated mood are most affected by social concerns associated with a helping request, whereas individuals in a depressed mood are most influenced by the personal hedonic considerations involved with the request. In Experiment 1, subjects received either an elating, neutral, or depressing mood induction, after which they were asked to help either on a task of high interest valence, described as fun, or low interest valence, described as dull. After the request, a confederate volunteered to help and provided either high social inducement to help for the subject by encouraging volunteering, or low social inducement to help by volunteering for the self alone. Suggesting increased social interest, elated subjects were more likely than neutral subjects to help with both high and low interest tasks. Elated subjects also were significantly more likely to volunteer under conditions of high social inducement, but that variable had little impact on negative and neutral mood subjects. The personal concern associated with negative mood was evident in the finding that depression significantly increased helping only when the task had a positive interest valence. Experiment 2 replicated Experiment 1, but operationalized both social and personal concerns in terms of the content of the helping opportunity. Positive mood subjects were significantly more likely than neutral and negative mood subjects to volunteer for a Social task, involving a group discussion. Negative mood subjects, by contrast, were significantly more likely to volunteer for a task having positive hedonic consequences, involving the rating of jokes, than for the Social task. © 1990.