Mood - definition in psychology, its types and influencing factors

What is a mood

Our spiritual sphere has a large number of components, including emotions and feelings. Our emotions are determined by situations: we are angry at a specific action or happy about certain actions. Feelings are always an attitude towards an object, an object - I love this dog, I am satisfied with the work done, etc.

Mood is a general emotional background at the current moment in time, independent of the object or circumstances.

Of course, there may be an external factor that influenced a sharp deterioration in mood (a person or an event), however, when it disappears, we do not feel better.

The internal state is important for a person; how our day, and therefore life, will go depends on it.

The distinctive features of mood from other emotional components are:

The brightness of the emotional background is lower than that of feelings or emotions. A sad mood is not as actively experienced as rage or anger. If it is good, then it does not manifest itself too strongly on the outside; we can jump for joy, rather with emotions of happiness and delight.
Mood is a longer lasting state than emotion. The latter lasts seconds and minutes, the mood may not change for days and weeks.
Lack of awareness of the reasons for a particular mood. Our emotional mood is in most cases unaccountable, the subject of mood changes is absent or poorly defined: a person is “overwhelmed.”
Mood has a contagious effect. If it is good, then the sky seems bluer and the work progresses. When your mood is low, it affects both your actions and your attitude towards other people. For example, a pleasant person begins to irritate.
The mood is very multifaceted, it has a large number of components. It happens that a person himself is not able to describe and analyze it. In addition, the mood can combine different emotions. A mother giving her daughter away in marriage is both happy and sad at the same time.

Like other emotions, mood can be inspiring and exciting, or it can negatively impact productivity. In psychology, there are still no unified approaches to the nature of the emergence of this or that emotional background; the factors that cause it have not been definitively identified.

At the same time, the functions of this phenomenon are clearly established:

A person's mood can tell others a lot about the individual's needs.
Attitude determines a person’s acceptance of a specific behavioral model.
The emotional state leads to self-regulation and forces one to adapt to external factors.

Another indisputable statement is that the mood is based on physiological factors: hormonal and biochemical processes occurring in the body.

You think about a difficult situation for a long time, but still cannot find a solution.

Thinking carefully about life's big questions seems, on the surface, to be a very sensible approach. But sometimes, from searching for a solution to a problem, this process turns into marking time.

Sonya Lyubomirsky

Candidate of Psychological Sciences, author of the book “Psychology of Happiness. New approach."

It's hard to stop yourself from endlessly repeating thoughts about life because you feel like you're learning deeply about yourself in the process. In fact, this is not true. You are just spinning the wheels on a kind of psychological bicycle, but you just can’t get anywhere. This worsens your already bad condition and reduces your motivation.

Two signs indicate that you are marking time and not looking for a way to solve the problem. These are unpleasant emotions, such as anxiety or anger, and the inability to switch to other ideas due to constantly returning to the same thought.

How to cheer yourself up

Take a break. Read a book, watch a movie with an exciting plot, listen to music, take a walk in the fresh air.

Take 15-20 minutes and write down your thoughts on paper or talk about the problem with a friend, and then come up with a solution plan. This will move you from thinking to action. “You may realize that your life situation is not nearly as hopeless as you thought,” emphasizes Sonja Lyubomirsky.

What kind of mood is there?

With all the variety of types of mood, a person usually characterizes it as good or bad.

A bad mood is...

The symptoms of low mood are known to everyone:

everything seems hateful;
laziness overcomes;
there is no desire to communicate with family and friends.

Depending on mental characteristics, a person tries to either hide from the world or take it out on loved ones. We do not always understand the reasons for our condition, it is important to know one thing - a bad mood is an indicator that not everything is going well in our lives.

It is necessary to understand the causes of decreased tone, especially if the condition recurs regularly. After all, a bad mood that persists for a long time is already depression that needs to be treated. Constant despondency provokes other bodily ailments, including oncology.

Most often, this tone causes dissatisfaction with oneself, a feeling of guilt, and a lack of purpose. Calmly analyze what could have caused the decline in emotional background. A bad mood is a reason to delve into yourself. Why have I stopped loving myself so much that I allow sadness to ruin my life?

Eradicate dislike for yourself, pamper yourself like a little child. Sometimes a bad mood is a reaction to pathological processes in the body, changes in hormonal levels. In this case, you should consult a doctor for an examination.

good

A person in a cheerful mood can be identified even visually. He has a straight back and a mischievous look. Physiological processes are activated - the stress hormone cortisol is absent, heart function improves, facial muscles are relaxed, and an involuntary smile appears. Optimists and cheerful people look very young for quite a long time, their nasolabial folds are less pronounced.

In a good mood, we are ready to “move mountains”; any activity is productive and interesting. We enjoy doing household chores, finding pleasure in cleaning the apartment and plowing the potato field. At work, at such moments, we are able to redo everything that we have been putting off for a long time.

A person can hum, reaches out to people, they are close to him, and the level of empathy increases. There is a tendency to help people “just like that”, without demanding anything in return. Even old enemies don’t seem so unpleasant, and you don’t even want to think about them at all.

Creativity in this state also increases - new ideas appear, you want to engage in creativity or sports. A person thinks through plans to improve himself and his life - take up physical training, find a new source of income. I want to rearrange the furniture in my apartment and buy a new tablecloth.

A good mood is an emotional uplift, which has a great effect on health, appearance and leads to productive activity.

A friend complains about life and you start to feel sad too

This is where emotional contagion comes into play C. Herrando, E. Constantinides. Emotional Contagion: A Brief Overview and Future Directions / Frontiers in Psychology is a simple, even primitive psychological phenomenon. University of Hawaii psychology professor Elaine Hatfield explains that during a conversation, people naturally repeat the facial expressions, posture, and rate of speech of the interlocutor.

The movements of the muscles involved in this process (for example, when you frown) activate neural connections, and they give rise to the same feelings in you that the interlocutor is talking about. This feature of the brain is designed to help us empathize with others, thereby strengthening social connections.

How to cheer yourself up

Take a break from the conversation, say go to the restroom. Remind yourself that the bad mood you are experiencing at this moment does not belong to you, but to your friend. And the best thing you can do is listen to your loved one, and not solve his problems.

Types of moods

Bad and good mood are states that we understand, but this classification is very simplified. In addition, conflicting emotions can be mixed at the same time.

For example, you met an old school friend. On the one hand, you are glad that you saw her and talked. On the other hand, you are embarrassed because it took you a long time to find answers to the questions. In addition, you may be disappointed that you didn't look your best.

In addition to good and bad, psychology distinguishes the following types of mood.

Sad

Characterized by a low emotional background and passive actions.

Predominant emotions:

Boredom.
Anxiety.
Laziness.
Fear.
Closedness.

The person is not confident in himself, the level of self-esteem is low. Melancholy, apathy, sadness, melancholy, and aversion to any type of activity sets in.

Working

The mood is neutral, there is no particular joy, the level of activity is moderately active.

Human condition:

Cheerful. There is aspiration towards the goal. Expressed interest in productive work.

In a working mood, we are aimed at achieving success and get down to business with enthusiasm.

Joyful

Characterized by increased emotional tone and active actions.

Characteristic emotions:

Delight.
Inspiration.
Optimism.
Euphoria.

A person is at the mercy of such feelings as love, trust, faith in success. The level of determination and desire to act is increased.

Negative

The emotional background is elevated, negative in nature, with a desire for active actions of a destructive nature.

Emotions experienced:

Aggression.
Anger.
Fury.
Annoyance.
Disgust.
Contempt.
Resentment.
Guilt.

Often arising against the backdrop of unforeseen undesirable situations, negative actions can be directed towards other people and even inanimate objects. A person is capable of hitting, starting to destroy pieces of furniture, i.e. throw out irritation outward.

Neutral

The emotional tone is muted, perhaps slightly increased, but the activity is low.

Characteristics of this mood:

Expectation.
Abstraction.
Contemplation.

In such states, we observe what is happening from the outside, analyze events and people’s actions, and draw conclusions. This is a kind of emotional rest, calm contemplation of reality.

The presented classification is also incomplete and cannot reflect all the shades of emotional states inherent in a person. People often confuse the concept of a bad or sad mood with depression. This is fundamentally wrong.

We have already said that mood is distinguished by such a feature as a short duration in time. If sadness and apathy last for weeks, it is necessary to undergo treatment, this is a pathology.

How to be in a great mood in the morning

In order to have a positive day, you need to try to do the following:

get some sleep;
wake up exclusively to the pleasant melody of an alarm clock;
take a shower;
put on clothes prepared in the evening;
before going to sleep, be sure to ventilate the room;
you need to get out of bed slowly so that all your muscles have time to tune in to physical activity;
do exercises and have a hearty breakfast.

Factors influencing a person's mood

It is within the power of a person to raise his morale, try to cheer up and tune in to a positive mood. But the reasons for our mood are often unconscious. How can factors influence it?

Physical condition of the body

"In a healthy body healthy mind!" - This is true. Our mood is closely related to the state of various systems: endocrine, vegetative-vascular, nervous, hormonal.

Mood swings often occur due to hormonal imbalances, and heart problems lead to emotions of fear and melancholy. Many people know what a disgusting mood after drinking a large amount of alcohol, the poisoned body takes revenge on its owner.

It happens that neurons limit the production of proteins serotonin and dopamine, which are hormones of joy and happiness, then despondency and melancholy set in. The state of health is not among the primary factors of melancholy or mood, only in the presence of severe mental or physical disorders.

Objective circumstances

The leading reasons influencing the emotional background are external factors. Any event that does not seem worthy of attention at first glance can contribute to a change in mood. Moreover, it is difficult to immediately say in which direction our emotions will move.

Imagine early spring, you went outside, the sun is shining brightly after a long winter. This fact can fill you with joy for the whole day; we, like any living creature, have been strengthened by the energy of the luminary. But, literally, after 100 meters, a passing car splashed your expensive suit, and now the state of euphoria has already disappeared somewhere, giving way to annoyance and irritation.

Psychologists believe that further emotional background will depend on two factors:

the significance of each circumstance personally for the person;
an individual's predisposition to perceive positive or negative emotions.

For one of us, rain is a spoiled mood for the whole day, for the second it is an opportunity to run through puddles, like in childhood, and read a book at home.

There are external reasons that will definitely plunge a person into a serious state - death or separation from loved ones, loss of livelihood, illness of a child, news of losses, etc. No sane person would have fun in such situations. Nevertheless, there is a way out of any trouble (except death), a mature person will look for it and find it. Prolonged suffering will lead to loss of meaning in life and psychological pathologies.

Mental characteristics of personality

All people are divided conditionally into 4 psychotypes, on which their characteristic emotional background depends:

Phlegmatic people do not get excited by momentary emotions. Their mood is maintained for a long time and is not subject to frequent changes. The experiences of phlegmatic people have a calm course, they are smoothed out. Therefore, the mood of such people is mainly neutral or working.
Cholerics flare up like matches. Emotions and feelings are always sharp, bright, if there is delight, then to a squeal, if anger, then to assault. Their life is an emotional swing. But experiences do not last long; they quickly cool down. Accordingly, the mood with such a temperament changes quickly (five minutes of laughter, five minutes of tears).
Melancholic people are always in a state of unaccountable sadness. Remember Pierrot from the fairy tale about the wooden Pinocchio. Such people have a low emotional background and are unable to experience bright positive emotions. Any external obstacle can ruin an already bad mood.
Sanguine people are able to experience vivid feelings, but their emotions are closer to calm. Such people do not dwell on the negative for a long time, have high self-esteem, and are able to control their mood. They spend most of their time in a cheerful mood, sometimes in a neutral state.

When we learn to recognize the factors that influence our mood, we can change it.

You constantly replay the worst possible scenarios in your head.

When your brain imagines the worst thing that could happen, it tries to prepare you for it. However, this approach only increases anxiety, so changing your thinking is important and necessary.

Of course, you shouldn’t look at the world through rose-colored glasses and ignore problems. It is enough to objectively perceive what is happening and see the immediate future.