Mood and achievement in a difficult driving task

Abstract

Ratings of mood, degree of involvement and probability of success were made before and after two varieties of a difficult driving task on a slippery road. Error scores were also obtained. Involvement and probability of success were related to mood, and error scores were consistently and negatively correlated with mood: subjects who felt more unpleasant, tired, tense and uncertain also made more errors. These trends were confirmed also when rated probability of success was held constant in partial correlation analyses.