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Mood (psychology)
 
 
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A mood is a relatively long lasting, affective or emotional state. Moods differ from simple emotions in that they are less specific, less intense, and less likely to be triggered by a particular stimulus or event. Moods generally have either a positive or negative valence
Valence (psychology)

Valence, as used in psychology, especially in discussing emotions, means the intrinsic pleasure or suffering of an event, object, or situation....
. In other words, people typically speak of being in a good mood or a bad mood. Unlike acute, emotional feelings like fear
Fear

Fear is an emotional response to threats and danger. It is a basic survival mechanism occurring in response to a specific stimulus, such as pain or the threat of pain....
 and surprise
Surprise (emotion)

Surprise is a brief emotional state that is the result of experiencing an expectation relevant event. Surprise can have any Valence ; that is, it can be neutral, pleasant, or unpleasant....
, moods often last for hours or days.






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A mood is a relatively long lasting, affective or emotional state. Moods differ from simple emotions in that they are less specific, less intense, and less likely to be triggered by a particular stimulus or event. Moods generally have either a positive or negative valence
Valence (psychology)

Valence, as used in psychology, especially in discussing emotions, means the intrinsic pleasure or suffering of an event, object, or situation....
. In other words, people typically speak of being in a good mood or a bad mood. Unlike acute, emotional feelings like fear
Fear

Fear is an emotional response to threats and danger. It is a basic survival mechanism occurring in response to a specific stimulus, such as pain or the threat of pain....
 and surprise
Surprise (emotion)

Surprise is a brief emotional state that is the result of experiencing an expectation relevant event. Surprise can have any Valence ; that is, it can be neutral, pleasant, or unpleasant....
, moods often last for hours or days. Mood also differs from temperament
Temperament

In psychology, temperament is the innate aspect of an individual's personality, such as introversion or extroversion.Temperament is defined as that part of the personality which is genetically based....
 or personality traits
Personality psychology

Personality psychology is a branch of psychology that studies personality and individual differences. One emphasis in this area is to construct a coherent picture of a person and his or her major psychological processes ....
 which are even longer lasting. Nevertheless, personality traits such as optimism
Optimism

Optimism is an outlook on life such that one maintains a view of the world as a positive place, or one's personal situation as a positive one. It is the philosophical opposite of pessimism....
 and neuroticism
Neuroticism

Neuroticism is a fundamental personality Trait theory in the study of psychology. It can be defined as an enduring tendency to experience negative emotional states....
 predispose certain types of moods. Long term disturbances of mood such as depression
Depression

The terms depression and depress may refer to:...
 and bipolar disorder
Bipolar disorder

Bipolar disorder is a Classification of mental disorders that describes a category of mood disorders, or mood swings, defined by the presence of one or more episodes of abnormally elevated mood clinically referred to as mania or, if milder, hypomania....
 are considered mood disorder
Mood disorder

A mood disorder is the term given for a group of diagnoses in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders classification system where a disturbance in the person's Mood is hypothesised to be the main underlying feature....
s. Mood is an internal, subjective state, but it often can be inferred from posture and other behaviors.

Etymologically, mood derives from the Old English mod which denoted military courage
Courage

Courage, also known as bravery, will, intrepidity, and fortitude, is the ability to confront fear, pain, Risk, uncertainty, or intimidation....
, but could also refer to a person's humour, temper, or disposition at a particular time. The cognate Gothic mods translates to both ??µ?? "mood, spiritedness" and ???? "anger
Anger

Anger is an emotional state that may range from minor irritation to intense rage. The physical effects of anger include increased heart rate, blood pressure,and levels of adrenaline and noradrenaline....
".

According to psychologist Robert Thayer, mood is a product of two dimensions: energy and tension. A person can be energetic or tired while also being tense or calm. According to Thayer, people feel best when they are in a calm-energy mood. They feel worse when in a tense-tired state. People often use food to regulate mood. Thayer identifies a fundamental food-mood connection , and advises against the reliance on food as a mood regulator. The low energy arousal coupled with tension, as experienced in a bad mood, can be counteracted by walking. Thayer suggests walking as a means to enhanced happiness.

A recent meta-analysis
Meta-analysis

In statistics, a meta-analysis combines the results of several studies that address a set of related research hypotheses. This is normally done by identification of a common measure of effect size, which is modelled using a form of meta-regression....
 found that, contrary to the stereotype of the suffering artist, creativity
Creativity

Creativity is a mental and social process involving the generation of new ideas or concepts, or new associations of the creative mind between existing ideas or concepts....
 is enhanced most by positive moods that are activating and associated with approach motivation (e.g. happiness), rather than those that are deactivating and associated with avoidance motivation (e.g. relaxation). Negative, deactivating moods with an approach motivation (e.g. sadness) were not associated with creativity, but negative, activating moods with avoidance motivation (e.g. fear, anxiety) were associated with lower levels of creativity.

See also


  • Hypomania
    Hypomania

    Hypomania is a Mood state characterized by persistent and pervasive elevated or irritable mood, and thoughts and behaviors that are consistent with such a mood state....
  • Dysthymia
    Dysthymia

    Dysthymia is a chronic depression mood disorder that falls within the Clinical depression. It is considered a chronic depression, but with less severity than major depressive disorder....
  • Mood disorder
    Mood disorder

    A mood disorder is the term given for a group of diagnoses in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders classification system where a disturbance in the person's Mood is hypothesised to be the main underlying feature....