Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Mood impact on cardiovascular reactivity when task difficulty is unclear

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
Motivation and Emotion Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Research in the context of the mood-behavior-model (Gendolla in Rev Gen Psychol 4:348–408, 2000) has shown that moods can have an impact on effort mobilization due to congruency effects on demand appraisals. However, the mood research literature suggests that mood may also influence effort mobilization by its impact on appraisals of the instrumentality of success. In a single factor (mood valence: negative vs. neutral vs. positive) between-persons design, participants performed a memory task under conditions of unclear task difficulty. By successfully performing the task, participants could earn the chance to win a monetary reward. As predicted for tasks with unclear difficulty, effort mobilization—assessed as cardiovascular reactivity—increased from negative to positive mood. This effect was mediated by the subjective probability of winning the monetary reward for successful performance. These results demonstrate for the first time that mood can influence effort mobilization via the estimated instrumentality of success.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2

Similar content being viewed by others

Notes

  1. Please note that motivational intensity theory’s predictions about effort mobilization refer to resource (or energy) mobilization and not to perceived effort. This implies that the theory makes no predictions about the relationship of perceived effort and perceived task difficulty. Motivational intensity theory postulates that effort—the amount of energy that individuals invest in behavior—is an outcome of both perceived task difficulty and success importance. Please also note that objective task difficulty should only be a distant determinant of effort mobilization by exerting an impact on subjective task difficulty.

  2. There were 8 women and 2 men in both the negative mood cell and the neutral mood cell and 9 women and 1 man in the positive mood cell.

  3. Cell means and standard errors were as follows: M = 8.32 and SE = 2.11 in the women-negative mood cell, M = 4.18 and SE = 1.39 in the women-neutral mood cell, M = 4.53 and SE = 1.82 in the women-positive mood cell, M = 4.24 and SE = 1.74 in the men-negative mood cell, M = -0.03 and SE = 4.49 in the men-neutral mood cell, and M = 23.97 in the men-positive mood cell.

  4. We also analyzed the number of letters that participants wrote during the mood induction procedure. Mood valence did not significantly affect this measures, F(2, 27) = 0.12, p = .89, MSE = 27136. Post-hoc comparisons indicated that the negative mood cell (M = 550.30, SE = 55.04), the neutral mood cell (M = 533.20, SE = 56.91), and the positive mood cell (M = 569.20, SE = 43.27) did not differ from one another (ps > .87). Furthermore, including the number of written letters as covariate in the analyses of mood change scores resulted in a non-significant effect of the covariate (F ≪ 1) and did virtually not change the results. The correlation between the number of written letters and the baseline adjusted mood change score was low, r = .08, p = .67.

  5. Using bootstrapping instead of the Sobel test—as recommended by Preacher and Hayes (2004) for small samples—did virtually not change the results.

References

  • Baron, R. M., & Kenny, D. A. (1986). The moderator-mediator variable distinction in social psychological research: conceptual, strategic, and statistical considerations. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 51, 1173–1182.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Berry Mendes, W., Blascovich, J., Hunter, S. B., Lickel, B., & Jost, J. T. (2007). Threatened by the unexpected: Physiological responses during social interactions with expectancy-violating partners. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 92, 698–716.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Blascovich, J., & Berry Mendes, W. (2000). Challenge and threat appraisals. The role of affective cues. In J. P. Forgas (Ed.), Feeling and thinking (pp. 59–82). New York: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Blascovich, J., Seery, M. D., Mugridge, C. A., Norris, R. K., & Weisbuch, M. (2004). Predicting athletic performance from cardiovascular indexes of challenge and threat. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 40, 683–688.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Blascovich, J., & Tomaka, J. (1996). The biopsychosocial model of arousal regulation. Advances in Experimental Psychology, 28, 1–49.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brehm, J. W., & Self, E. A. (1989). The intensity of motivation. Annual Review of Psychology, 40, 109–131.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Clark, M. S., & Isen, A. M. (1982). Toward understanding the relationship between feeling states and social behavior. In A. Hastorf & A. M. Isen (Eds.), Cognitive social psychology (pp. 73–108). New York: Elsevier.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cunningham, M. R. (1988). What do you do when you’re happy or blue? Mood, expectancies, and behavioral interest. Motivation and Emotion, 12, 309–331.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Erber, R., & Erber, M. W. (2000). The self-regulation of moods: Second thoughts on the importance of happiness in everyday life. Psychological Inquiry, 11, 142–148.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Erber, R., Wegner, D. M., & Therriault, N. (1996). On being cool and collected: mood regulation in anticipation of social interaction. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 70, 757–766.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Gendolla, G. H. E. (2000). On the impact of mood on behavior: An integrative theory and a review. Review of General Psychology, 4, 378–408.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gendolla, G. H. E., Abele, A. E., & Krüsken, J. (2001). The informational impact of mood on effort mobilization: A study of cardiovascular and electrodermal responses. Emotion, 1, 12–24.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Gendolla, G. H. E., Brinkmann, K., & Richter, M. (2007). Mood, motivation, and performance: An integrative theory, research, and applications. In A. M. Lane (Ed.), Mood and human performance: Conceptual, measurement, and applied issues (pp. 35–61). Hauppauge, NY: Nova Science.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gendolla, G. H. E., & Krüsken, J. (2002a). Mood, task demand, and effort related cardiovascular response. Cognition and Emotion, 16, 577–603.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gendolla, G. H. E., & Krüsken, J. (2002b). Informational mood impact on effort-related cardiovascular response: The diagnostic value of moods counts. Emotion, 2, 251–262.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Isen, A. M. (1984). Toward understanding the role of affect in cognition. In R. S. Wyer & T. Srull (Eds.), Handbook of social cognition (pp. 174–236). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.

    Google Scholar 

  • Levick, J. R. (2003). An introduction to cardiovascular physiology. London: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Llabre, M. M., Spitzer, S. B., Saab, P. G., Ironson, G. H., & Schneiderman, N. (1991). The reliability and specificity of delta versus residualized change as measure of cardiovascular reactivity of behavioral challenges. Psychophysiology, 28, 701–711.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Martin, L. L. (2001). Mood as input: A configural view of mood effects. In L. L. Martin & G. L. Clore (Eds.), Theories of mood and cognition: A user’s handbook (pp. 135–158). Mahaw, NJ: Erlbaum.

    Google Scholar 

  • Martin, L. L., Ward, D. W., Achee, J. W., & Wyer, R. S. (1993). Mood as input: People have to interpret the motivational implications of their moods. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 64, 317–326.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Matthews, B., Jones, D., & Chamberlain, A. G. (1990). Refining the measurement of mood: The UWIST mood adjective checklist. British Journal of Psychology, 81, 17–42.

    Google Scholar 

  • Morris, W. N. (1999). The mood system. In D. Kahneman, E. Diener, & N. Schwarz (Eds.), Well-being: The foundations of hedonic psychology (pp. 169–189). New York: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nygren, T. E., Isen, A. M., Taylor, P. J., & Dulin, J. (1996). The influence of positive affect on the decision rule in risk situations: Focus on outcome (and especially avoidance of loss) rather than probability. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 66, 59–72.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Obrist, P. A. (1976). The cardiovascular-behavioral interaction as it appears today. Psychophysiology, 13, 95–107.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Obrist, P. A. (1981). Cardiovascular psychophysiology: A perspective. New York: Plenum.

    Google Scholar 

  • Preacher, K. J., & Hayes, A. F. (2004). SPSS and SAS procedures for estimating indirect effects in simple mediation models. Behavior Research Methods, Instruments, & Computers, 36, 717–731.

    Google Scholar 

  • Richter, M., & Gendolla, G. H. E. (2006). Incentive effects on cardiovascular reactivity in active coping with unclear task difficulty. International Journal of Psychophysiology, 61, 216–225.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Richter, M., & Gendolla, G. H. E. (2007). Incentive value, unclear task difficulty, and cardiovascular reactivity in active coping. International Journal of Psychophysiology, 63, 185–192.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Richter, M., & Gendolla, G. H. E. (2009). The heart contrasts to reward: Monetary incentives and pre-ejection period. Psychophysiology, 46, 451–457.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Richter, M., Gendolla, G. H. E., & Krüsken, J. (2006). Context-dependent mood effects on mental effort mobilization: A view from the mood-behavior-model. In A. V. Clark (Ed.), The psychology of moods (pp. 57–79). Hauppauge, NY: Nova Science.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schwarz, N. (1990). Feelings as information: Information and motivational functions of affective states. In E. T. Higgins & R. M. Sorrentino (Eds.), Motivation and cognition: Foundations of social behavior (pp. 527–561). New York: Guilford Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Westermann, R., Spies, K., & Stahl, G. (1996). Relative effectiveness and validity of mood induction procedures: A meta-analysis. European Journal of Social Psychology, 26, 557–580.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wright, R. A. (1996). Brehm’s theory of motivation as a model of effort and cardiovascular response. In P. M. Gollwitzer & J. A. Bargh (Eds.), The psychology of action (pp. 424–453). New York: Guilford.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wright, R. A., & Gregorich, S. E. (1991). Difficulty and instrumentality of imminent behavior as determinants of goal attractiveness. European Journal of Social Psychology, 21, 75–88.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wright, R. A., & Kirby, L. D. (2001). Effort determination of cardiovascular response: An integrative analysis with applications in social psychology. In M. P. Zanna (Ed.), Advances in experimental social psychology (Vol. 33, pp. 255–307). New York: Academic Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wright, R. A., & Lockard, S. (2006). Sex, outcome expectancy, and cardiovascular response to a masculine challenge. Psychophysiology, 43, 190–196.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Wright, R. A., Williams, B. J., & Dill, J. C. (1992). Interactive effects of difficulty and instrumentality of avoidant behavior on cardiovascular reactivity. Psychophysiology, 29, 677–686.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, University of Geneva, 40, Bd. du Pont-d’Arve, 1211, Geneva 4, Switzerland

    Michael Richter & Guido H. E. Gendolla

Authors
  1. Michael Richter
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Guido H. E. Gendolla
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Michael Richter.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Richter, M., Gendolla, G.H.E. Mood impact on cardiovascular reactivity when task difficulty is unclear. Motiv Emot 33, 239–248 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11031-009-9134-4

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11031-009-9134-4

Keywords

Search

Navigation