Investigating the effects of physical discomfort on laboratory-induced mood states

In order to investigate the effects of physical discomfort (i.e., pain) on the induction of mood, 139 participants were randomly assigned to one of four conditions: sad, sad with physical discomfort, happy, and happy with physical discomfort. Consistent with our hypotheses, the addition of physical discomfort resulted in a significantly stronger induction of self-reported depression, with these findings showing temporal specificity and persisting even after statistically controlling for stable response biases. However, other self-reported affective states, as well as cognitive and behavioral measures, were not significantly affected by physical discomfort. Findings are discussed with regard to making the laboratory induction of sad affect more consistent with the multifaceted experience of depression.