Viewing drops 15 percent in the summer. Do people use TV to modify their mood. In part we will look at this because it is what researchers know the most about. Basic Idea People seek out external stimulus to minimize bad moods and maximize good moods. Although they may sometimes be aware of doing this, people are often unaware of why they are making such choices.
Television is often a convenient external stimulus for mood modification.
Indeed, people report that they are more likely to view if experiencing a negative or irritable mood. This seems to start from an early age. Each subject was randomly assigned to one of three social environments. After that they could watch as much TV as they wanted, but only from one channel. Again they were randomly assigned to have either Mr. Rogers or nutral content available.