Satisfaction Judgments in Positive and Negative Moods: Effects of Concurrent Assimilation and Contrast Producing Processes

The present experiment tested the assumption that mood effects in evaluative online judgments are influenced by two processes. The integration of mood as one piece of information into the overall judgment produces assimilation. The comparison of a judgmental issue with a meaningful standard of reference produces contrast. The standard of reference that produces the contrast effect can sometimes be the same thing that produces the mood state, which in turn, produces the assimilation effect. Participants were induced into a positive or negative mood and then rated their satisfaction with three life domains that were differently related to the mood-inducing event. The data revealed a crossover interaction reflecting a mood assimilation effect when no similarity between mood-inducing event and judgmental domain existed, no observable effect in the case of moderate similarity, and a mood-inducing event contrast effect in high similarity conditions. The within-cell correlations between mood and judgments were all positive.