Mood (psychology) facts for kids

In psychology, a mood is how you feel inside. It's different from a quick emotion like surprise or anger. Moods usually last longer and aren't always caused by one specific thing. Think of it as your general feeling for a while.

People often describe moods as either good or bad. Many things can affect your mood, making you feel positive or negative. Moods are also different from your temperament or personality, which are parts of you that last even longer. However, your personality can make you more likely to be in certain moods. For example, someone who is usually optimistic might have more good moods.

Sometimes, moods can become very strong and last a long time. When this happens, like with clinical depression or bipolar disorder, they are called mood disorders. Even though mood is an inner feeling, you can often tell someone's mood from their posture or how they act.

What Does the Word "Mood" Mean?

The word mood comes from an Old English word, mōd. This old word meant things like military courage or a person's general feeling at a certain time. A similar word in the Gothic language, mōds, meant "spiritedness" or "anger".

So, the English word "mood" that we use today, meaning your emotional state, came from this older Germanic root word.

Different Kinds of Moods

Feeling Good: Positive Moods

A positive mood can come from many parts of life. It can also affect how people think and act. Often, when you're in a good mood, you can't point to one exact reason why. People tend to feel positive when they feel fresh, have slept well, and don't feel stressed.

Studies show that a good mood can help your brain in many ways. It often makes you more creative and better at solving problems. When you're in a positive mood, you might think more freely and use your imagination more. This can be helpful for tasks that need a lot of brainstorming. For example, one study found that people in a good mood were better at a task that needed creative thinking.

A positive mood can also help you resist temptations, like unhealthy food. Spending time with friends and family can also help keep you in a good mood. People who have strong social connections often have more positive moods than those who feel alone.

However, a positive mood can sometimes have downsides too. Some research suggests that people in good moods can be more easily distracted. If you're trying to study in a library while in a good mood, small noises or people walking by might distract you more easily. This means it might be harder for happy people to focus on a task if there are distractions.

Feeling Down: Negative Moods

Just like positive moods, negative moods are important for how we feel mentally and physically. Negative moods are basic feelings that can happen after an event, or sometimes for no clear reason. Since there isn't always a specific cause, a negative mood can last for hours, days, or even longer. These moods can change how you see the world and how you behave.

Negative moods can affect your judgment and how you see things. A study showed that people tend to notice things that match their current mood. For example, if sad music made people feel negative, they would then describe other things as negative too. This shows that your current mood can affect your judgments.

These moods can also cause problems in friendships and relationships. Sometimes, people might overreact to their negative feelings to get attention or support from others. Other times, they might hide their negative feelings and pull away from people to avoid frustration.

Negative moods are linked to feelings like depression, anxiety, anger, low self-esteem, and stress. They are often seen as unhelpful because they can make it hard to process information. For example, someone in a negative mood might only focus on the person speaking, while someone in a positive mood pays attention to both the speaker and the message. This can lead to misunderstandings with others.

Even though negative moods are often seen as bad, they aren't always harmful. There's an idea called the Negative State Relief Model. It suggests that people naturally want to reduce bad feelings. We can do this by doing things that make us feel better, like helping others. When you help someone, you might get a smile or a thank you, which can make you feel good. So, a negative mood might actually make you more helpful because helping others can reduce your own bad feelings.

Things That Affect Your Mood

Sleep

Sleep has a big connection with your mood. If you don't get enough sleep, you'll likely feel more irritable, angry, stressed, and tired. Studies show that even a little bit of sleep loss can really affect your mood. Researchers found that people who slept only 4.5 hours a night for a week felt more stressed, angry, sad, and mentally exhausted. When they went back to normal sleep, their mood got much better.

However, sometimes, not sleeping enough can strangely make some people feel more energetic and alert, and even improve their mood. This happens more often with "night owls" (people who prefer staying up late) and those with depression. Because of this, sometimes lack of sleep has been used as a treatment for major depressive disorder.

Your Surroundings

Being in Nature can also make you feel better. Studies show that being in natural places increases positive feelings and decreases negative ones. This means your mood is often better when you're in nature. For example, direct sunlight can improve mood and is used to help with symptoms of depression. Also, walking outdoors often makes people happier than walking indoors.

But nature can also affect your mood negatively. There's a common mood disorder called Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD). This often happens during winter when there's less daylight and it's colder. SAD can cause depressed mood, increased appetite, and more sleep. This shows how nature can sometimes affect your mood in a bad way. The temperature of the season can also play a role in your mood.

What You Eat

Your diet can also affect your mood. Eating lots of vegetables, fruit, meat, fish, and whole grains is linked to a lower chance of having depression or anxiety disorders. This is different from a "Western diet" which has more processed foods, sugary items, and refined grains.

Some research suggests that Red meat might help protect against mood and anxiety problems. Fruits and vegetables are also linked to a positive mood, no matter your background or lifestyle. Studies also show that energy drinks can cause changes in mood.

Facial Expressions

Did you know that just making a facial expression, like smiling, can make your body feel similar to how it would if you were actually happy? Paul Ekman studied how facial expressions are linked to emotions. He found that each basic emotion has a unique facial expression. The way your face moves actually helps create the feeling of that emotion. Ekman also discovered that these expressions are the same and can be recognized by people all over the world, no matter their culture.

Hormones

Hormones are chemicals in your body that change as you get older. They can also affect your mood and how well you can control your feelings.

Mood Disorders

Conditions like depression, long-term stress, and bipolar disorder are called mood disorders. Some people think these disorders happen because of chemical imbalances in the brain's neurotransmitters. However, some newer research is looking into other reasons too.

Social Mood

The idea of "social mood" means a feeling that a whole group of people shares. This idea is often used in economics, especially when talking about investments.

In other fields like sociology and psychology, "crowd behavior" is when a group of people develops a shared mood about something they are all focused on.

Images for kids

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  This picture shows some common moods we experience.

See also

• Affect (psychology)
• Dysthymia
• Emotion
• Feeling
• Hypomania
• Mood swing

In Spanish: Estado de ánimo para niños