Quickie: Want to Persuade Your Partner? Catch Them in a Good Mood

How mood influences our receptiveness to messages

Do you want to persuade your partner to do something and you’re wondering the best tactic to use?

Be sure to catch them in a good mood.

Research in Communication Studies shows that when we’re in a positive mood, it’s easier to persuade us with a message — no matter how strong or weak that message may be. That’s because when we’re happy, we’re more likely to make cursory judgments about the messages we hear and don’t feel motivated to dig much deeper.

On the other hand, when we’re in a negative mood, we become hypercritical about the messages we receive. We’re more thoughtful during this time and will systematically pick apart everything we hear. One explanation for this is because people want to improve their negative mood, so analyzing a message can be a distraction from how bad they’re feeling.

Our moods can also affect what messages we remember. People tend to be more attentive to messages that are congruent with their moods, so whether they retain positive or negative information depends on how they feel at the time they heard it.

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Source:

Mitchell, M. (2001, June). Risk, Threat, and Information Seeking about Genital Herpes: The Effects of Mood and Message Framing. Communication Studies. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/233320222_Risk_Threat_and_information_seeking_about_genital_herpes_The_effects_of_mood_and_message_framing