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The Induction of Mood via the WWW

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Abstract

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.

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Notes

  1. In a pre-test, four male and two female judges rated the photographs on a 6-point scale with anchors in the following order: clearly mood-lifting, slightly mood-lifting, mood-neutral, slightly depressing, clearly depressing, and shocking. For ethical reasons, 12 photographs were excluded which at least three judges found shocking. From the remaining photographs, the 58 pictures with the lowest mean score were used for the positive and the 57 with the highest score for the negative mood induction.

  2. Several measures were taken to ensure that participants only took part once. In Studies 1, 3, and 4, and in part in Study 2 participants were recruited from an online panel: They could access the pages with a personal password only. In Study 2 there were also ad hoc recruited participants. All datasets were sifted according to IP-number and timestamps. Therefore, it can be assumed that very few, if any, multiple participations remained undetected.

  3. Mean effect sizes are based on my own re-analysis of Westermann et al.’s (1996) data. To obtain mean effects, each individual effect size was Fisher-transformed and weighted by sample size (Hedges & Olkin, 1985, pp. 230–231).

  4. Larsen and Sinnett (1991) did not differentiate between negative and positive induction.

  5. A sensitivity analysis showed that the effects were invariant no matter how strictly the criteria for inclusion were set.

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Acknowledgments

This work has been supported by a University of Erlangen-Nürnberg post-doctoral scholarship (HWP). I thank Klaus Moser for helpful comments on two of the studies presented in this paper and for providing the institutional backdrop for all five studies.

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  1. Department of Organizational and Social Psychology, University of Erlangen-Nürnberg, Lange Gasse 20, 90403, Nuremberg, Germany

    Anja S. Göritz

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Correspondence to Anja S. Göritz.

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Göritz, A.S. The Induction of Mood via the WWW. Motiv Emot 31, 35–47 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11031-006-9047-4

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