AFFECTIVE INFLUENCES ON PARTNER CHOICE - ROLE OF MOOD IN SOCIAL DECISIONS

Does mood influence our information search and decision strategies when choosing a partner? In Experiment 1 N = 60, sad Ss preferred rewarding to competent partners and remembered information supporting that choice better. In Experiment 2 N = 96, mood effects on information selectivity, decision speed, and processing strategy in partner choices were found. In Experiment 3 N = 42, a computerized stimulus presentation revealed mood-induced differences in the latency, self-exposure, and eventual recall of interpersonal information. These results are interpreted as evidence for mood-induced selectivity in information search and decision strategies when making realistic partner choices. The implications of the findings for research on interpersonal relations and for contemporary affect-cognition theories are considered.