Mood-Related Persuasion Depends on (Mis)Attributions

Previous research has shown that respondents in sad moods are likely to elaborate persuasive messages and to be highly persuaded by strong but not weak arguments. In contrast, respondents in happy moods are less likely to elaborate persuasive messages and hence show equal, moderate, persuasion by both strong and weak arguments. To examine how mood-related persuasion effects might be moderated by attributions concerning the source of a person's mood, students were approached on days with either pleasant or unpleasant weather and were asked to participate in a survey relating to higher education. Participants either were or were not cued to the weather as a source of their mood. They listened to either strong or weak arguments supporting the implementation of comprehensive examinations for graduating students. Attitudes toward comprehensive exams were measured. Participants reported more positive moods on pleasant days than on unpleasant days. When the weather was not made salient, weather (i.e., mood) interacted with argument strength: When weather was unpleasant, argument strength had an effect on attitudes, but when weather was pleasant, argument strength had no effect. In contrast, when participants were cued to the weather, there were no weather effects on persuasion; instead, attitudes were affected only by argument strength. Implications, mechanisms, and directions for future research are discussed.