Ebook: Mood: The Frame of Mind

This is a book about moods. Though I will define the term somewhat more carefully in Chapter 1, it might help to note here that I use the word "mood" to refer to affective states which do not stimulate the relatively specific response tendencies we associate with "emotions". Instead, moods are pervasive and global, having the capability of influencing a broad range of thought processes and behavior. My interest in mood was provoked initially by the empirical and conceptual contri­ butions of Alice Isen and her colleagues. What fascinated me most was the sugges­ tion first made in a paper by Clark & Isen (1982) that mood seemed to affect behavior in two very different ways, i. e. , mood could "automatically" influence the availabil­ ity of mood-related cognitions and, thereby, behavior, or mood, especially of the "bad" variety, might capture our attention in that if it were sufficiently aversive we might consciously try to get rid of it, a "controlled" or "strategic" response.

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This important new monograph describes research on the two primary aspects of mood, and examines people's attempts to regulate and alter their own mood states. Morris acknowledges the variety of theories about affect that seem especially pertinent to understanding mood; discusses what is known about the relationship of mood onset to environmental events and endogenous processes; and considers the large and steadily expanding literature on the effects of everyday mood on cognition, perception, and social behavior.