MOOD-CONGRUENT ENCODING EFFECT IN SELF- AND OTHER-REFERENT JUDGMENTS

The patterns of mood-congruent encoding effect (MCE) in self- and other-referent judgments were investigated. Subjects were sequentially presented single words from a list of pleasant or unpleasant trait adjective words after inducing a positive, negative or neutral mood by music. In Experiment 1, they were then required to decide whether each word described themselves (in self-referent judgment) or their mother (in other-referent judgment). In Experiment 2, subjects were required to decide whether each word described a liked, disliked, or neutral friend (in other-referent judgment). An incidental free recall test followed the task. The results of Experiments 1 and 2 indicated that MCE in a positive mood was observed in self- and other-referent judgments, however, MCE in a negative mood was observed only in self-referent judgment. It is suggested that the self-reference might strengthen MCE in a negative mood and positive and negative moods have different influences on memory of affective information.