People in a negative mood provide more accurate eyewitness accounts than people in a positive mood state, according to new research.
The surprise finding, which is to be published in the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, is the first to assess the effect of mood on memory and human thinking.
People in a positive mood such as happiness were shown under experimental conditions to have relatively unreliable memories, and show poorer judgement and critical thinking skills.
By contrast, those who experienced a negative mood such as sadness were shown to provide more reliable eyewitnesses accounts and exercise superior thinking and communication skills…
“The finding makes sense in evolutionary terms,” says Professor Forgas. “Animals that are wary of their environment are more likely to perceive threats to their survival.
“This supports the idea that mood states are evolutionary signals about how to deal with threatening situations. That is, a negative mood state triggers more systematic, more attentive, more vigilant information processing.
“By contrast, good moods signal a benign, non-threatening environment where we don’t need to be so vigilant.”
You are a better eyewitness if you were in a bad mood when you saw the event