An Investigation of the Effects of Self-Construal, Self-Monitoring, and Susceptibility to Emotional Contagion on Negative Mood Contagion
Abstract
Mood contagion occurs when mood ‘spreads’ from one individual to another. This study investigated the effects of situational self-construal, chronic self-construal, susceptibility to emotional contagion and self-monitoring on participants’ change in mood after interacting with a confederate who displayed either a neutral or negative mood. Negative mood contagion was operationalized as the increase in negative mood following an interaction with a confederate displaying negative mood. Contrary to predictions, those who scored low on independence and high on self-monitoring tended to report increased negative mood with a neutral actor and decreased negative mood with a negative actor. Those who scored high on independence and self-monitoring reported increased negative mood with a negative actor and decreased negative mood with a neutral actor.