[Effects of probabilistic judgments on negative moods]

Theory and research on the effects of mood on cognition have shown that persons in a negative mood tend toward analytic effortful processing strategies, whereas individuals in a positive mood prefer simplifying heuristic strategies. A review of the literature shows that (a) mainly the influence of mood on cognition and social behavior (e.g., persuasion) has been investigated; and (b) achievements in memory and cognitive tasks were of central concern (Abele, 1991; Schwarz, Bless & Bohner, 1991). With this background, and based on propositional network models of human information processing, the present study investigates influences in the opposite direction, i.e., the effect of cognitive style on feeling states. The compatibility thesis (Otto & Schmitz, 1993), which postulates that an interaction of feeling state and information processing style is necessary for the continuation of a mood state, is generalized to negative feeling states (anxiety) and analytic information processing style (probabilistic judgments). Equivalent emotional states and cognitive productions have to go together to sustain the mood states. In a 2 x 2 x 4 mixed design, 76 male and female students from introductory classes in psychology served as subjects. Using a 15-minute mood induction procedure (autobiographical recollection methodology), a negative, anxiety-prone, or neutral feeling state was elicited in half of the participants. During the next 10 minutes half of each group worked on a list of future life events (Weinstein, 1980), either with the instruction to rate the chances of the items (probabilistic judgments) or with the instruction to rate the items' general applicability (control condition). Repeated sampling of a measurement repetition factor served as a baseline assessment and as a manipulation check, along with measurements of the feeling states while completing the task. The feeling states were assessed by means of a multifactor instrument (Eigenschaftswörterliste; Janke & Debus, 1978). The results support the generalization of the compatibility thesis to negative feeling states (anxiety). Only the group in which a negative feeling state and a probabilistic processing style interacted reported a negative mood and anxious state throughout the task completion. Neither the induced negative (anxious) mood nor the probabilistic judgments alone could sustain a negative feeling state. Moods seem to be best conceivable as a combination of genuine emotional elements (feeling states) and cognitive elements (probabilistic judgments in the case of anxiety).