Ever wondered why some people like to watch funny videos at work? Well, they may be putting themselves in a good mood so they can think more creatively.
Generally, positive mood has been found to enhance creative problem solving and flexible yet careful thinking, says Ruby Nadler, a graduate student at the University of Western Ontario.
For this study, Nadler and her colleagues Rahel Rabi and John Paul Minda looked at a particular kind of learning that is improved by creative thinking. Students who took part in the study were put into different moods and then given a category learning task to do (they learned to classify sets of pictures with visually complex patterns).
The researchers manipulated mood with help from music clips and video clips; first, they tried several out to find out what made people happiest and saddest.
The happiest music was a peppy Mozart piece, and the happiest video was of a laughing baby. The researchers then used these in the experiment, along with sad music and video (a piece of music from Schindlers List and a news report about an earthquake) and a piece of music and a video that didnt affect mood.
After listening to the music and watching the video, people had to try to learn to recognize a pattern.
Happy volunteers were better at learning a rule to classify the patterns than sad or neutral volunteers. If you have a project where you want to think innovatively, or you have a problem to carefully consider, being in a positive mood can help you to do that, Nadler says.
Similar Posts:
- Mozart’s symphonies grow ‘sweeter bananas, tastier sake’
- Keeping Cash on Hand for Emergencies
- Higher BMI increases death risk
- Culprits in life-threatening clotting disorder uncovered
- Cycling just five hours a week could damage a man’s fertility
