Prior Negative Mood Buffers Some Individuals from Subsequent Negative Events: The Moderating Role of Neuroticism
Weiting Ng
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DOI: 10.4236/psych.2011.25069   PDF    HTML     5,730 Downloads   9,902 Views   Citations

Abstract

The effects of mood on cognition are well-documented. However, would mood influence subsequent emotional reactions? The present research shows that prior moods interact with neuroticism to influence subsequent emotional experiences. Low-neuroticism individuals who initially felt negative subsequently experienced less negative emotions toward a slightly unpleasant task, relative to those who initially felt positive. Conversely, there were no mood effects on high-neuroticism individuals. This demonstrates that surprisingly, a prior negative, rather than positive, mood buffers low- but not high-neuroticism individuals from the effect of a subsequent unpleasant event on negative emotions. The possible mechanism underlying this effect—negative mood repair—is also discussed.

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Ng, W. (2011). Prior Negative Mood Buffers Some Individuals from Subsequent Negative Events: The Moderating Role of Neuroticism. Psychology, 2, 445-449. doi: 10.4236/psych.2011.25069.

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

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