Mood

The late 20th and early 21st centuries have seen a dramatic increase in the study of affect in organizations. The affective realm consists of state and trait affect, and there are many types of each. Mood is a transitory affective state that is relatively mild and long lasting. Different from other transitory affective states (i.e., emotions), mood does not have a clear triggering stimulus or a specific object. Rather, mood is present at all times in the background of our minds (i.e., we are not void of mood at any given point in time), although we are not always aware of it. Mood is generally considered either positive or negative, whereas emotions are discrete and specific, such as anger, fear, hope, and joy. Although it is possible to talk about an angry mood, for example, this is different from the emotion of anger in that the angry mood is not related to any known stimulus, is generalized and diffused, lasts a longer time, and is characterized by an overall irritability and tendency to view external stimuli as negative.

There are several theoretical models of the structure of mood. These models describe mood according to two orthogonal and bipolar dimensions, pleasantness and activation. The interplay between these dimensions results in mood ranging from activated (e.g., aroused) to deactivated (e.g., calm); from pleasant (e.g., happy) to unpleasant (e.g., unhappy); from pleasant and activated (e.g., excited) to unpleasant and deactivated (e.g., tired); and from unpleasant activated (e.g., tense) to pleasant deactivated (e.g., relaxed). Other structural models of mood also exist.

Most research has focused on the effects of positive mood. However, there is an asymmetry between the influences of positive and negative moods, such that the effects of negative mood are not necessarily the opposite of those of positive mood. Therefore, caution must be exercised when inferring conclusions about negative mood from research conducted on positive mood, and vice versa.