mood
Summary
Mood is a sustained, relatively low-intensity emotional state that is often diffuse and not tied to one specific trigger. The testable contrast is with emotion, which is typically briefer, more intense, and directed at a particular stimulus.
Detail
Meaning: Mood is a prolonged emotional state that colors how a person perceives and interprets events over hours, days, or longer. It is usually less intense than an emotion and often has no single identifiable trigger. An emotion is typically a shorter response to a particular stimulus, with physiological arousal, cognitive appraisal, and a behavioral or expressive component. Mood can bias thinking; for example, a sad mood makes sad memories easier to recall (mood-congruent memory).
On the MCAT: Passages may ask you to classify a state as emotion or mood, such as a brief burst of fear at a loud noise versus a low feeling lasting weeks. Mood also appears in mood disorders: depressive disorders, in which mood is persistently low, and bipolar disorders, in which mood alternates between depressive episodes and manic or hypomanic episodes. Expect questions on mood-congruent memory and on how mood shifts judgments.
Common confusion: Mood is not affect. Affect is the outward, observable expression of emotion, such as facial expression or tone of voice, and can change moment to moment; mood is the internal, sustained state. The mood–emotion line is one of duration, intensity, and specificity of cause, and the two influence each other.
Sources
- Psychology (Myers)
- Psychology (Schacter, Gilbert, Wegner)
- Abnormal Psychology (Comer)
Written for the MCAT and checked before it was published. For study reference only. Spotted an error? Let us know.