Stick in the Mood

You're sunk in a deep blue funk. Do you turn on your most soulful
CD and crawl into bed with some herbal tea, Kafka's reflections on
meaninglessness, and a pint of Chunky Monkey? Or do you call a funny
friend, flip on Comedy Central, and laugh yourself up a notch on the mood
meter?

According to a recent study, how--and if--you strive to improve
your dismal temper may depend on your self-esteem. Ohio State University
researchers put subjects into good, bad, or neutral moods by showing them
a tape intended to induce a certain mind-set. One film depicted a funny
scene from "David Letterman," for example, while another showed a child
being diagnosed with cancer. Subjects were then asked to select another
video from a list that identified only how happy, interesting, and
agreeable the video was.

Those who had been induced into cheerful moods strove to maintain
them. They chose the videos deemed "happy." Subjects in sad and neutral
moods were less concerned with the happiness factor. That surprised
researcher Richard Petty, Ph.D.: Why would some people elect not to
change their gloomy states of mind?

A follow-up study revealed the self-esteem factor. "People with
high self-esteem in a negative mood do work very hard to retrieve a
positive state," says Petty, "while people with low self-esteem do the
opposite." They tend to perpetuate their melancholy by staying aboard a
negative train of thought.

People who value themselves, Petty explains, think that they don't
deserve to feel bad. So they put positive energy into chasing their gloom
away.