Interaction of cognitive balance and mood induction on self-descriptions: a Q methodological approach

Predictions based on cognitive balance and mood induction theories were used to investigate how participants reacted to positive or negative feedback on a Q-sorting task. Positive and negative feedback was presented by giving some participants positive and negative adjectives with which to describe themselves, while giving a third group of participants neutral adjectives. The effect of the feedback was assessed by correlating self-descriptions with reference to their current self, how they remembered being in the past, and how they wanted to be in the future. These correlations were then compared across groups. The mean correlations between the current self-description and other self-descriptions were significantly lower for the positive and negative groups than they were for the control group. These findings appear to support the concept of cognitive balance and also indicate a possible chronological basis for balancing self-descriptions across a life span.