Affect‐congruency in message content: A preliminary evaluation of two accounts

This study was an investigation of two possible theoretical accounts for affect‐congruency in the verbal content of message output during emotional states. One account (e.g., Isen, 1984) suggests that messages would maintain affect‐congruency with positive but not negative states. A second account (e.g., Clark, Milberg & Ross, 1983) proposes that messages would tend to maintain a semantic congruency with the hedonic tone and intensity of both positive and negative emotional states. Participant essays written after exposure to an emotional stimulus were analyzed to determine which account might best capture the hedonic tone and semantic intensity of adjectives used in essays. Results revealed that neither the number of positive and negative adjectives nor the semantic intensity of adjectives varied with positive states experienced by the participants. Both the number of negative adjectives and the semantic intensity of negative adjectives, however, increased significantly with increases in intensity of negative emotional states.

Key concepts:

• Mood
• emotion
• cognition
• goals
• contextual cues
• message production