According to a University of Dayton study, people can put themselves in a good mood by reading upbeat statements, watching a Robin Williams comedy skit or listening to classical music, but they tend to neutralize their positive mood later, sometimes by recalling negative experiences. For instance, first-time skydivers experience great anxiety, then a thrill. Experienced skydivers eventually have very little anxiety, followed by an overwhelming high. First-time blood donors initially have a negative experience, followed by a warm glow.
Experienced donors have a predominantly positive experience.
We examined whether such a process happens after mood induction in this study. The two researchers presented the study at the joint meeting of the Western Psychological Association and Rocky Mountain Psychological Association meeting in Albuquerque, N.M., this spring. In each situation, one group was given explicit instructions that made the mood induction intent obvious, while the other group was told instructions unrelated to moods. Following the experience, participants were given 14 adjectives to describe their mood and asked to indicate the degree to which each word described the way they felt. Then they were asked to write about a recent experience and describe it as vividly as possible.