PSYCHOLOGY MASTER'S THESIS ABSTRACT

Gail Harris

MA-Research
December 1995

The Effect of Mood States on Creativity

    An experiment was conducted to demonstrate that depressed mood states may enhance rather than inhibit creativity.  Forty-four subjects were recruited from the Psychology 100 pool at a major western university and randomly assigned to either a positive, neutral or depressed condition.  It was hypothesized that subjects would show higher creativity task scores in the elated and depressed condition than in the neutral condition.  Subjects were run in groups of 5.  Depression levels of subjects were initially assessed as a base line.  Subjects then participated in a mood induction procedure which consisted of self statements coupled with music.  A creativity task was then administered.  Results were analyzed through analyses of variance and covariance.  Although the depressed condition scored highest on the creativity task, these results should be viewed in terms of confounds in the initial screening process.

Psychology Department * CSULB * 1250 Bellflower Blvd. * Long Beach, CA  90840-0901 * 562-985-5001