TIME FRAMES FOR MOOD - RELATIONS BETWEEN MOMENTARY AND GENERALIZED RATINGS OF AFFECT

A computerized diary method was used to investigate relations between momentary and generalized affect reports. Thirty participants rated cu rrent mood at 2-hourly intervals and gave retrospective reports of dai ly and weekly mood for a 2-week period. Average momentary ratings prov ided a closer estimate of daily mood than either peak or most recent m omentary ratings. Similarly, average daily mood indexes tended to give the best estimates of weekly mood. However for positive (bat not nega tive) mood, daily reports were consistently higher than average moment ary ratings, and weekly reports were consistently higher than average daily ratings. Regression analyses suggested that daily ratings were i nfluenced mainly by average momentary mood but that independent effect s of peak and most recent momentary mood were detectable too. Retrospe ctive reports of daily mood were also influenced by current mood. In g eneral, however memory for affect was rather better than previous rese arch has implied.