Marie, I have used a modified version of the Velten Mood Induction Procedure in my Research Methods class. The original exercise is outlined in detail in Langston's Research Methods Laboratory Manual for Psychology. (Langston also suggests a Musical Mood Induction procedure and lists a few other mood induction techniques, which I have not used.)
You recall the task pretty much correctly: participants are given leading instructions and a list of statements. The instructions encourage participants to "...Read each of the following statements twice. Think of each statement with the determination to really believe it..." etc. Velten's procedure is designed to induce Depressed or Elated mood, but each condition is distinct; the statements aren't really increasingly cheery or depressing - they're ALL one or the other. For several reasons, I opted to induce Elated and Neutral mood. A manipulation check (I used BMIS, but there are others) indicated that the manipulation was *very* successful with my students even without the Depressed mood (t (33) = 2.556, p = .007), and Langston reports that the technique has been validated elsewhere. Try this original reference if you can find it: Velten, E.C. (1968). A laboratory task for induction of mood states. Behavior Research and Therapy, 6, 473-482. or Langston's Lab Manual if you can't. Regards, Sybil ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ Sybil Streeter Department of Psychology University of Pittsburgh 4427 Sennott Square Pittsburgh, PA 15260 412.624.4332 -----Original Message----- From: Marie Helweg-Larsen [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Wednesday, October 08, 2003 5:46 PM To: Teaching in the Psychological Sciences Subject: Mood manipulation My student is looking for an effective mood manipulation technique for an experimental study. A psycinfo search is not revealing much (or rather too much) and it is hard to tell if the technique used in a "standard" technique. Can any of you point me in the direction (a reference would be great) of a well established mood manipulation technique? I seem to recall one where you read (and imagine) a set of 50 statements that grow progressively more cherry (in the good mood condition) or progressively more depressing (in the bad mood condition). Thanks Marie -- ********************************************* Marie Helweg-Larsen, Ph.D. Associate Professor of Psychology Dickinson College, P.O. Box 1773 Carlisle, PA 17013 Office: (717) 245-1562, Fax: (717) 245-1971 ********************************************* --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
