Date of Award

6-2008

Document Type

Union College Only

Degree Name

Bachelor of Science

Department

Psychology

Language

English

Keywords

self, mood, monitors, low, morality

Abstract

Prior research has shown that mood influences individuals’ moral judgments. Previous studies have also shown that the personality construct, self-monitoring, often moderates the impact of mood, causing low self-monitors to be more affected by their internal states, while high self-monitors are less so. The hypothesis of this study is that low self-monitors will be more affected by both positive and negative mood induction than high self-monitors, which will be reflected in the morality scores of the participants on the questionnaire measuring moral judgment. In this study, participants completed the Self-Monitoring Scale as well as a Self-Esteem Scale before viewing a short film clip as the method of either happy or sad mood induction. A Mood Adjective Checklist was then completed to determine the effectiveness of the mood induction. Following this check, participants completed the Defining Issues Test to obtain a morality rating. Results showed higher morality scores for the low self-monitor/happy mood condition and lower scores for the low self-monitor/sad mood condition, while morality scores for high self-monitors remained relatively stable across conditions. Ultimately it was found that self-monitoring has a moderating effect on mood, which, in turn, influences individuals’ moral thinking and decision-making.

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