The contribution of music vs instructions in the Musical Mood Induction Procedure

The relative contribution of the instructions and the music to the effects of the Musical Mood Induction Procedure (MMIP) were investigated. Using an experimental procedure which minimised covert experimenter bias, subjects performed under both elation and depression mood inductions in one of four conditions: music present or absent by mood change instructions present or absent, using a crossover design. Results indicated that instructions were both necessary and sufficient to produce change on mood sensitive measures. Mood change effects were reduced by controlling for the effect of subjects who responded so as not to ‘louse-up’ the experiment. The MMIP seems to be much less musical than the name implies. Further research is needed to determine which aspects of the instructions contribute most to the changes on mood sensitive measures.     

Mood Swings and Creativity

ABSTRACT:

This article evaluates recent evidence for an association between creativity and bipolar mood disorders. Eminent creativity and everyday creativity are distinguished, with high rates of major mood disorders‐particularly bipolar disorders— appearing among eminent creators in the arts. However, among everyday persons, including the 4–5% of the population that may develop a bipolar “spectrum”; disorder and their relatives, it is those with relatively milder mood disorders and normalcy who may show the greatest creative advantage. These seemingly conflicting results are reconciled through comparison of research designs and the creativity and diagnostic variables studied. Evidence regarding mood states that enhance creativity is also considered, both for eminent and everyday creators, and some preliminary results from a study of patients are presented. Here, milder mood elevations were tied most closely to the experience of creativity, although other patterns can exist. Three patterns are examined in terms of 23 mood, cognitive, and behavioral features that Jamison (1989) studied in eminent creators.     

Effects Of Negative Mood Induction On The Body Image Of Restrained Eaters

Abstract

Twenty restrained eaters (REs) and 20 unrestrained eaters (UREs) were studied via a distorting video image technique under three conditions: (1) baseline; (2) induction of negative mood (NM), (3) induction of positive mood (PM). Under each condition they were asked: (a) to estimate the actual width of their own body; (b) to focus attention on their bodily sensations and indicate how wide their body sensed and (c) to estimate the width of a water bottle. In addition, subjects answered a body shape questionnaire (BSQ). Main effects were found for the factors Group (REs gave higher estimates). Mood (estimates were higher after induction of negative mood), and Instruction (estimates were higher for sensed width of body). There were significant interaction effects for Group x Mood (estimations of REs were higher after induction of negative mood) and for Group x Mood x Instruction. Dissatisfaction with body shape (BSQ) was significantly correlated with the estimations of sensed body width after induction of negative mood.     

The Induction of Mood via the WWW

Five experiments explored the methodology of Web-based mood induction and yielded empirical evidence for its feasibility and its limits. Study 1 examined the suitability of the Velten method and mood-suggestive photographs to induce both positive and negative moods. Negative mood was successfully induced, while the positive mood induction failed. In Study 2, cartoons successfully ameliorated mood, whereas jokes were ineffective. In Study 3, associations with affectively valenced words were not suitable in producing a positive or a negative mood. In Study 4, picture-illustrated emotive texts successfully induced a positive and a negative mood. In Study 5, valence and arousal ratings were obtained for the stimuli used in Study 1 and 3. Based on the results, recommendations for the application of online mood induction procedures are given.     

Mood state-Dependent Retrieval: The Effects of Induced Mood on Memory Reconsidered

Analysis of studies investigating mood-state-dependent retrieval identifies methodological problems that may have contributed to the controversy surrounding the reliability of the effect-in particular, the possible confounding of encoding and retrieval in previous studies. Five experiments are reported investigating the effects of mood on learning and recall. Mood-state-dependent retrieval was observed in Experiment 1a (using Velten's Mood Induction Procedure); Experiment 1b (using a music MIP); and Experiment 1c (using Velten's MIP at encoding and a music MIP at retrieval). Subjects who learned and recalled in different moods had significantly greater decrements in recall than did subjects in the same moods. Experiments 2 and 3 investigated the effect of observable retrieval cues on moodstate-dependent retrieval. In Experiment 2, the presence of observable retrieval cues at recall overrode state-dependent retrieval. In Experiment 3, by manipulating the presence or absence of observable cues at recall, both the occurrence and the erasure of the mood-state dependency was demonstrated.Moodstate during learning andcued recallwas also shownto affect performance in a third session under conditons of free recall.     

Dispositional and Situational Autonomy as Moderators of Mood and Creativity

Although previous research suggests that mood can influence creativity, the controversy about the effects of positive and negative moods has raged for years. This study investigated how the relationship between induced mood and creativity is moderated by dispositional and situational autonomy. It contrasted the different moderating effects of the 2 kinds of autonomy. In Experiment 1, 93 participants completed a questionnaire about dispositional autonomy and performed a creative task after watching 1 of 3 film clips, which were to induce positive, negative, or neutral moods. The results of experiment 1 indicated that positive moods prompted creativity and negative moods inhibited creativity when individuals were low in dispositional autonomy (low in autonomous orientation or high in impersonal orientation). In Experiment 2, 73 participants engaged in a game to manipulate levels of situational autonomy and induce positive or negative moods. The results of experiment 2 showed that positive moods fostered greater creativity than did negative moods when individuals were in full-autonomy condition. The different moderating effects of dispositional and situational autonomy are discussed.     

Effects of Gender-Role Self-Discrepancy on Depressed Mood

Gender and gender role comparisons of manifestdream content were investigated by analyzing the dreamsof male and female college students, 16% of whom wereethnic minorities. Dreams were coded using the C. S. Hall and R. Van de Castle [(1966) TheContent Analysis of Dreams, New York: Appleton] codingsystem; participants also completed the Bem Sex-RoleInventory [(S. L. Bem, 1981) Bem Sex-Role Inventory Professional Manual, Palo Alto, CA: ConsultingPsychologists Press]. Gender × Gender Rolemultivariate analyses of covariance, with dream lengthas the covariate, indicated greater gender similaritythan in previous decades. Gender role differencesdid emerge for content previously viewed asdistinguishing men's dreams: a masculine gender role wasassociated with a higher frequency of weapons,unfamiliar characters, male characters, aggressiveinteractions, and failure outcomes. Findings areinterpreted in terms of changing patterns of gender rolesocialization, the convergence of male and female roles, and the continuity of conscious and unconsciouspreoccupations.     

The Interaction of Mood and Rumination in Depression: Effects on Mood Maintenance and Mood-Congruent Autobiographical Memory

Rumination is a response to distress in which individuals focus repetitively on their feelings and the causes and consequences of those feelings. When induced to ruminate, dysphorics exhibit more negative mood and recall more negative memories, but these effects are not seen in nondysphorics. This pattern of results could be due to trait-like differences between dysphoric and nondysphoric individuals, or to the high levels of negative affect that dysphorics are experiencing at the time of rumination. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of pre-rumination mood on post-rumination mood and subsequent memory. Participants scoring high or low in depressive symptoms were assigned to either a positive or negative emotion induction prior to ruminating and completing an autobiographical memory task. Analysis of self-reported mood indicates that both emotion inductions were effective. Surprisingly, all participants returned to baseline mood levels following the rumination induction, and emotion induction had no effect on the negativity of the memories recalled. Dysphorics recalled significantly more negative memories than nondysphorics, regardless of whether positive, neutral, or negative memories were specifically prompted. Our results indicated that the prolonged experience of dysphoria may have greater effects on post-rumination mood and memory than the transitory experience of sadness.     

Narrowing the Creativity Gap: The Moderating Effects of Perceived Support for Creativity

This article examines the role of 3 types of perceived support for creativity in moderating the relation between creative self-efficacy and self-perceived creativity. The findings suggest significant interaction effects for perceived work-group support and supervisor support, but not for perceived organizational support. This study is among the first to (a) examine the importance of perceived support for creativity in unlocking creative potential and increasing creativity in organizations and (b) use interaction terms in structural equation modeling (SEM) to investigate moderator effects in an applied research setting. These results imply that organizational interventions focused on training supervisors and work-group members to support creativity in the workplace may be more effective than broader and less focused interventions at the organizational level.     

An Exploratory Study of the Relationship Between Mood States and Creativity Self-Perceptions

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between noninduced mood state and self-perceptions of creativity. Undergraduate teacher education students (N = 287) completed 2 mood state inventories (Teasdale 100-Point Thermometer and Perception of Mood States) and a creative self-perception inventory (What Kind of Person Are You? [Khatena &; Torrance, 1976]). The group expressed overall indications of happiness and normally distributed creativity perceptions. Findings were mixed when the 5 scales of the creativity measure (i.e., Acceptance of Authority, Self-confidence, Inquisitiveness, Awareness of Others, and Disciplined Imagination) were correlated to the 6 dimensions of mood (i.e., Tension/Anxiety, Depression/Dejection, Anger/Hostility, Vigor/Activity, Fatigue/Inertia, and Confusion/Bewilderment). There was, however, some indication that positive mood was related to creative self-perception. Results are discussed and future research is suggested.     

An Attempt to Predict Change in Mood in Response to Velten-Like Mood Induction Procedures

College student subjects were rated high or low in cognitive and behavioral depression proneness, based on their scores on a screening battery that included the Automatic Thoughts Questionnaire (Hollon & Kendall, 1980), the Dysfunctional Attitude Scale (Weissman, 1979), the Intemality-Extemality Scale (Rotter, 1966), the Pleasant Events Schedule and the Unpleasant Events Schedule (Lewinsohn & Amenson, 1978). The students were subsequently exposed to one of two different Velten-like depressive mood inductions, one based on Beck's (1974) model of depression, and the other based on Lewinsohn's (1974) model. We hypothesized that subjects who scored higher on the cognitive measures would tend to become more depressed when exposed to the Beck statements and that those who scored higher on the behavioral measures would tend to become more depressed when exposed to the Lewinsohn statements. The hypothesis was not supported. Instead, pre-existing cognitively or behaviorally defined depression proneness appeared to be unrelated to subjects' susceptibility to one or the other model of depression as defined by the two mood inductions. However, the inductions themselves were found to produce a significant lowering of mood, and both inductions were equally effective in lowering mood.     

Effects of Instructional Style on Problem-Solving Creativity

This study sought to determine the impact of 2 differing instructional approaches on creative problem-solving performance. Eighty-two college students completed a novel structure-building task after receiving algorithmic instruction (providing a rote, step-by-step algorithm for building a sample structure), heuristic instruction (demonstrating the same techniques in a more flexible form), or no instruction. All participants viewed the same sample structure before beginning the task. It was hypothesized that algorithmically instructed students would exhibit less exploratory behavior and lower levels of creativity than students receiving heuristic instruction. No specific hypotheses were made concerning the problem-solving creativity of students in the no-instruction condition. Results suggest that the type of instruction that students received influenced their perceptions of the task, their behaviors during the task, and their final solution to the structure problem. Students receiving algorithmic instruction exhibited greater confidence and speed when building their structures than did other students. However, they were significantly less likely to engage in exploratory behavior or to deviate from the sample structure than were students receiving heuristic instruction. Although there was no main effect of instruction condition on the judge-rated creativity of these structures, a significant interaction between instruction type and participants' attempts to replicate the sample structure was predictive of the structure's creativity. Theoretical and practical implications of these and other results are discussed.     

Valence and Arousal Ratings for Velten Mood Induction Statements

Participants rated 84 statements adapted from Velten's original mood induction statements—designed to induce positive and negative mood—on two dimensions of emotion (valence and arousal), using the Self Assessment Manikin (SAM) (P. J. Lang, M. M. Bradley, & B. N. Cuthbert, 1999). Fifty-two of these Velten positive, negative, and neutral statements yielded SAM valence ratings that were consistent with Velten's previous valence designation (E. Velten, 1968). Reliability analyses for the positive, negative, and neutral statements indicated a high level of internal consistency in the three statement groups. Arousal and valence ratings of the statements were positively correlated. Related issues concerning differences in rating verbal versus visual emotional stimuli and recommendations for future work to improve the validity of Velten's mood induction statements are addressed.     

电针影响脑电和睡眠及心境的研究

本研究的目的是．探讨电针对脑电和被试主观感觉(困倦、心境)的影响。我们对24位健康志愿者施以电针．4—6小时后脑电测量表明．θ波的相对功率在额、颞区呈增加趋势．其中Fp1、Fp2、F3、F4、C3、C4,F7、F8、T5显著增加;α波的相对功率呈减少趋势,其中αI相对功率在左侧额、颞区Fp1、F3、F7、T5显著减少;α2．在F4、C3、C4,O1和T3显著减少;β频段的相对功率有增有减．其中β1在C3、C4显著减少,在O2、T3、T4显著增加;β2的相对功率在F3、C3显著减少,O1、O2T4、T5、T6显著增加。电针后的问卷调查表明,多数被试有困感,电针对睡眠深度、睡眠时间、醒来次数以及晨间心境有不同程度影响。