Public mood

Entry prepared for the Encyclopedia of Quality of Life Research,

2nd Edition
Author: Sergiu Bltescu, Associate Professor, PhD.

Email: bsergiu@uoradea.ro

First draft: 10 May 2013

Synonyms

Social emotions

Definition

Public mood is originally defined as "diffuse affective state, having distinct positive and negative
components, that citizens experience because of their membership in a particular political community"
(Wendy M. Rahn, Kroeger, & Kite, 1996, pp. 31-32)

Electronic copy available at: http://ssrn.com/abstract=2687320

Public Mood / Sergiu Baltatescu

Description

Structure and etiology

The concept of public mood was introduced by the political scientists Wendy M. Rahn, Brian
Kroeger and Cynthia M. Kite, as a conceptual solution to a series of problems concerning the individual
and collective judgments on political issues, and short term and long term determinants of political
behavior.

Public moods are different than individual moods, although they keep the diffuse state
character. While the individual moods are effects of personal experiences, public mood is the result of
the membership in national groups/communities, and is associated with processes such as collective
memory. Thus, public moods are "social emotions" (which are triggered by appraisals of events or
situations linked to social identity - see Smith (1993)). Public events such as winning a medal by a
national sport team may trigger changes in these collective affects. As such, the etiology of public mood
is closely linked with national or collective identity, and also fits the independent/interdependent self
thesis, as well as the controversial affective contagion thesis.

Similar to Watson and Tellegen's (1985) bipolar structure of individual mood (see Affect balance
scale), Rahn, Kroeger and Kite (1996) suggest that there are two independent dimensions of public
mood: positive and negative.

As such, the concept was measured by asking the respondents how

frequently experiences positive (happy, pride, hopeful, and secure) and negative (angry, afraid, sad, and

Electronic copy available at: http://ssrn.com/abstract=2687320

Public Mood / Sergiu Baltatescu

frustrated) moods when thinking about their national community (in this case United States).

While correlating with individual-level characteristics such as personality and position in society,
public moods are influenced by mediated public events (e.g. victories of the national teams, national
disasters), sociotropic evaluations (e.g. of the state of national economy, crime, public schools) and
policy dissatisfaction (Wendy M. Rahn et al., 1996). Thus, methodologically, public mood is not a simple
aggregation of the personal moods. What links these states is that they are inspired by collective events
and concerns, and have similar qualities (intensity and types) in many individuals. This sends to
Durkheim's (1893) thesis of collective conscience.

Public mood as a determinant of subjective well-being

Rahn (2000) proves that public mood has a strong informative effect on the individual choice in
what concerns political affairs. Apparently paradoxical, the effect is lower for those more informed.
Thus, public mood has the same role of bringing affective information that individual mood has. This fits
the Schwartz and Strack (1999) model on the influence of momentary mood on subjective well-being.
Instead of compiling a myriad of sources when asked to judge their life as a whole, they maintained that
people use just the most accessible information at that moment in time. Mood is one of the
momentarily accessible source of information.
May collective events influence the subjective well-being of a nation by mediation of public
moods? Research results suggest a positive answer, at least on short term.
In what concerns the sport events influence on subjective well-being, this was proved by
Schwarz et al. (1987), who measured life satisfaction of a sample of German males before and after an
important football match won by their national team. They found that increased levels of subjective

Public Mood / Sergiu Baltatescu

well-being had only those respondents who watched the match in which their national team won and
were interested in the football.
Subjective well-being of Australians slightly increase over the period of 2004 Athens Olympics,
when their national athletes had astonishing performances (Cummins, 2012).
Political events also raise the moods, causing changes in SWB. In South Africa, the fall of
apartheid was followed by an increase with one point with a point on a scale from 1 to 10 (which was
caused by the boost in average levels of life satisfaction of the black population). After two years the
average levels dropped back to the initial levels (Moller, 1998). These moods have

on both dimensions

of affect, as the research conducted at NORC showed (Bradburn & Noll, 1969). The follow-up survey
(after the assassination of President Kennedy) organized by the team showed an increase in negative
affect levels which was compensated by the increase in the levels of positive affect. The given
explanation was that that this event boosted simultaneously the negative (grief and the shock of the
death of a President) but also the positive moods generated by the increase in activation (people
became more politically active, more interested by the social events) and the reaffirmation of the social
solidarity (for example citizens stopped at the streets and discussed with persons they didn't knew).
In the light of the above presented results, public mood is not necessarily national. Instead, it
may affect particular groups (such as football fans). Also the direction of causality is not straightforward.
Public mood may influence people's subjective well-being, by mediation of individual mood (Baltatescu,
2007). On the other hand, subjective well-being as affective individual disposition may conduce to
actions such as stock market investments that influence affect public mood {Murgea, 2013 #5468}.
Positive social changes are followed by boosts in public mood which go beyond levels of
perceived quality of life than the objective living conditions would predict (such as, for example, the
effect of 'initial feel-good' discussed by Delhey (2001) in the case of the population of the countries that
recently entered EU).

Public Mood / Sergiu Baltatescu

Public mood in the national accounts of well-being

Public mood measures are informative for all national accounts of well-being. However, as
Richard Eckersley (2000, p. 23) observed, most of researches on which national indicators of well-being
are based are composed of questions framed at individual level. The result is that they fail to catch
contemporary sociological processes such as "erosion of faith in society". Methodologically, this
approach is insufficient also because does not explain the changes in evaluation dynamics of this
phenomena. Elisabeth Noelle-Neumann (1987) suggests the introduction of the climate of opinion as a
social indicators that reflects perceptions of opinions of others on public issues. She suggests that to the
questions about the respondent own feelings or own opinion to add questions on how do most people
feel or think about this public issue. This will complete the picture. The methodological problems of this
approach should be carefully taken into consideration. It was found that the individual evaluations of
what other feel or think can be biased. They are, for instance, dependent on psychological distance.

Cross-References

Affect balance scale - Affective contagion - Affects - Climate of opinion - Collective identity - Collective
memory - Homeostasis -independent/interdependent self - Moods - National accounts of well-being Psychological distance - Subjective well-being

References

Public Mood / Sergiu Baltatescu

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the PhD thesis Happiness in the Social Context of Post-Communist Transition in Romania,
University of Bucharest, July 2007, pp. 209-225. Translated by the author. SSRN eLibrary.
Bradburn, N. M., & Noll, C. E. (1969). The structure of psychological well-being. Chicago: Aldine.
Cummins, R. A. (2012). The determinants of happiness. International Journal of Happiness and
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Durkheim, . (1893). De la division du travail social: tude sur l'organisation des socits suprieures.
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Eckersley, R. (2000). The State and Fate of Nations: Implications of Subjective Measures of Personal and
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