Grumpy?

July 8th, 2023| Topic: RaMbLeS | 3

There are advantages to being in a bad mood, apparently. So saith researchers from the University of Arizona, Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics, and Utrecht University (the last two in the Netherlands), in “Negative Affect Increases Reanalysis of Conflicts Between Discourse Context and World Knowledge” published the other day in Frontiers in Communication.

Said Dr. Vicky Lai, lead author:

Mood and language seem to be supported by different brain networks. But we have one brain, and the two are processed in the same brain, so there is a lot of interaction going on. We show that when people are in a negative mood, they are more careful and analytical.”

The scientists manipulated their study participants’ moods by showing them clips from a sad movie (“Sophie’s Choice”) or a funny television show (“Friends”). A computerized survey was used to evaluate participants’ moods before and after watching the clips. While the funny clips did not impact participants’ moods, the sad clips succeeded in putting participants in a more negative mood.

Then these subjects listened to a series of audio recordings of four-sentence stories that each contained a “critical sentence” that made sense or did not. E.g., a story about driving at night concluded with “With the lights on, you can see more.” Versus another about stargazing ending with, “With the lights on, you can see less.” The researchers also presented versions of the stories in which the critical sentences were swapped so that they did not fit the context of the story. For example, the story about driving at night would end with, “With the lights on, you can see less.” And so on.

It was found that when participants were in a negative mood, they showed a type of brain activity closely associated with better and more careful analysis.

Prof. Lai:

We show that mood matters, and perhaps when we do some tasks we should pay attention to our mood. If we’re in a bad mood, maybe we should do things that are more detail-oriented, such as proofreading.”

So the next time you need to proofread a sensitive document, or a friend asks you to look over an important email for them, reflect on a few things in life that spark negative, gloomier feelings. Sounds like an odd strategy, but when we’re in a bad mood, we actually tend to identify literary, or written, inconsistencies faster and bettter.

Co-author, Prof. Jos van Berkum added:

There’s a lot going on here, in unexpected corners of our minds. Imagine your laptop being more or less precise as a function of its battery level—that’s unthinkable. But in human information processing, and presumably also in (information processing) of related species, something like that seems to be going on.”

I am doing a lot of proofreading these days, as I complete a three-volume commentary on the Psalms. I need to get into a real bad mood to be effective!

Indeed, in one place in Psalm 119, the psalmist recommends affliction (sure to put one in a bad mood), in order to learn Scripture better!

Good discernment and knowledge—do make me learn,
for on Your commandments I have believed.
Before I became afflicted I went astray,
but now Your utterance I have kept.
Good You are, and the one doing good;
make me learn Your statutes.
Good for me [it was], that I was afflicted,
in order that I might learn Your statutes.
Good for me is the law of Your mouth,
more [so] than thousands of gold and silver [pieces].
Psalm 119:66–68, 71–72

SOURCES: Study Finds; University of Arizona News; Frontiers in Communication