Experimental Analysis of Behavior Commons^™

Effects Of Mood On Using Analogies To Solve Problems And Reduce Conflict, Erin Good

Undergraduate Honors Thesis Collection

Past research has shown that analogies and metaphors can be useful tools in problem solving tasks (e.g., Gick & Holyoak, 1980). In addition, mood has been shown to have an effect on a person’s ability to generate solutions to problems (Abele, 1992). The present study was designed to investigate how mood affects analogical problem solving, especially in relation to conflict resolution. I examined whether mood has the same effect on the use of analogies to solve interpersonal conflict problems as it does on the use of analogies to solve cognitive problems. In this experiment, participants began by writing about an …