Jove
Visualize
Contact Us
JoVE
x logofacebook logolinkedin logoyoutube logo
ABOUT JoVE
OverviewLeadershipBlogJoVE Help Center
AUTHORS
Publishing ProcessEditorial BoardScope & PoliciesPeer ReviewFAQSubmit
LIBRARIANS
TestimonialsSubscriptionsAccessResourcesLibrary Advisory BoardFAQ
RESEARCH
JoVE JournalMethods CollectionsJoVE Encyclopedia of ExperimentsArchive
EDUCATION
JoVE CoreJoVE BusinessJoVE Science EducationJoVE Lab ManualFaculty Resource CenterFaculty Site
Terms & Conditions of Use
Privacy Policy
Policies

Related Experiment Videos

Mood and helping.

M B Harris, R J Smith

    The Journal of Psychology
    |November 1, 1975
    PubMed
    Summary
    This summary is machine-generated.

    Helping others can improve your mood, but a good mood doesn't necessarily increase helping behavior, especially for tasks that might worsen your mood. Further research is needed to understand mood's complex influence on prosocial actions.

    Related Concept Videos

    You might also read

    Related Articles

    Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

    Sort by
    Same author

    Quality of care for patients with a fracture of the hip in major trauma centres: a national observational study.

    The bone & joint journal·2016
    Same author

    Evolution of lung breathing from a lungless primitive vertebrate.

    Respiratory physiology & neurobiology·2015
    Same author

    Isoflurane causes concentration-dependent inhibition of medullary raphé 5-HT neurons in situ.

    Autonomic neuroscience : basic & clinical·2015
    Same author

    Validation of multisociety combined task force definitions of abnormal disk morphology.

    AJNR. American journal of neuroradiology·2015
    Same author

    A group of non-serotonergic cells is CO2-stimulated in the medullary raphé.

    Neuroscience·2013
    Same author

    Cardiovascular disease risk following a 758 km pilgrimage.

    International journal of sports medicine·2013
    Same journal

    "I Can't Get Rid of the Bad News…!" Doomscrolling and Subjective Vitality: Serial Mediation by Rumination and Hope.

    The Journal of psychology·2026
    Same journal

    From Emotion Regulation Difficulties to Loneliness Over Time: A Three-Wave Longitudinal Mediation Test of Social Anxiety and Depressive Symptoms.

    The Journal of psychology·2026
    Same journal

    Co-Parenting During Separation and After Divorce: Exploring Relational Aggression Towards the Former Romantic Partner and the Child(ren).

    The Journal of psychology·2026
    Same journal

    Mechanisms of Trait Anxiety's Influence on College Students' Academic Procrastination: The Chain Mediation Role of Self-Control and Short Video Addiction.

    The Journal of psychology·2026
    Same journal

    Is Likeability in the Eye of the Beholder? A Quasi-Experimental Study on Personality, Social Anxiety and the Need for Affiliation in Assessing the Likability of Socially Anxious Adults.

    The Journal of psychology·2026
    Same journal

    Pushing and Pulling: Unraveling the Bidirectional Relationship Between Resilience and Benign and Malicious Envy Among Adolescents.

    The Journal of psychology·2026
    See all related articles

    Area of Science:

    • Psychology
    • Social Psychology
    • Affective Science

    Background:

    • The relationship between mood and helping behavior is complex.
    • Previous research suggests positive moods may increase prosocial behavior, but findings are not always consistent.

    Purpose of the Study:

    • To investigate if helping others improves mood.
    • To examine if individuals in a good mood are more likely to help with mood-maintaining tasks compared to mood-disrupting tasks.

    Main Methods:

    • 80 female undergraduates participated in a mood-induction study.
    • Participants interacted with a confederate to induce either a positive or neutral mood.
    • Mood, picture ratings, and willingness to help with elating or depressing pictures were assessed.

    Related Experiment Videos

    Main Results:

    • Participants induced to help or receive a gift reported feeling better than those in a neutral interaction.
    • Mood induction did not significantly affect the amount of help provided for picture rating tasks.
    • Rating depressing pictures led to increased negative mood compared to rating cheerful pictures.

    Conclusions:

    • Helping can positively impact mood, but this effect may not generalize to increased helping behavior.
    • The enjoyment derived from the task may have influenced altruistic perceptions.
    • Further investigation is needed to explore the temporal dynamics and task-specific nature of mood and helping.