Soccer, rooms, and the quality of your life: Mood effects on judgments of satisfaction with life in general and with specific domains

• Published in: European journal of social psychology Vol. 17; no. 1; pp. 69 - 79
• Main Authors: Schwarz, Norbert, Strack, Fritz, Kommer, Detlev, Wagner, Dirk
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Chichester, UK John Wiley & Sons, Ltd 01.01.1987; Wiley
• Subjects: Behavior. Attitude; Biological and medical sciences; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychology. Psychophysiology; Social psychology; Human; Mood disorder; Social behavior; Life events; Attitude; Attribution; Psychological well being; Judgment
• ISSN: 0046-2772; 1099-0992
• DOI: 10.1002/ejsp.2420170107

Two studies on the impact of temporary moods on judgments of satisfaction with life in general and with specific life‐domains are reported. It was hypothesized that individuals simplify the complex task of evaluating their life in general by referring to their mood at the time of judgment, but evaluate specific life‐domains on the basis of domain‐specific information. In accordance with this hypothesis, both studies demonstrated strong mood effects on judgments of general life‐satisfaction but only weak and non‐significant effects on judgments of specific domain‐satisfactions. The findings are interpreted as supporting the hypothesis that affective states serve informative functions.