Depending on my mood: mood-driven influences on text comprehension

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Authors
Bohn-Gettler, Catherine M.
Rapp, David N.
Advisors
Issue Date
2011-08
Type
Article
Keywords
Research Projects
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Journal Issue
Citation
Journal of educational psychology. 2011 Aug; 103(3): 562-577.
Abstract

Reading comprehension is a critical component of success in educational settings. To date, research on text processing in educational and cognitive psychological domains has focused predominantly on cognitive influences on comprehension, and in particular, those influences that might be derived from particular tasks or strategies. However, there is growing interest in documenting the influences of emotional factors on the processes and products of text comprehension, because these factors are less likely to be associated with explicit reading strategies. The present study examines this issue by evaluating the degree to which mood can influence readers' processing of text. Participants in control, happy-induced, or sad-induced groups thought aloud while reading expository texts. Happy, sad, and neutral moods influenced the degree to which readers engaged in particular types of coherence-building processes in the service of comprehension. Although reading strategies clearly influence processing, understudied factors that are less explicitly goal-driven, such as mood, can similarly impact comprehension activity. These findings have important implications for the role of mood on reading instruction and evaluation.

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Publisher
American Psychological Association
Journal
Book Title
Series
Journal of Educational Psychology
PubMed ID
DOI
ISSN
0022-0663
EISSN