The Impact of Positive Mood on Learning

Abstract

The primary intent of this study was to examine the effects of a brief positive mood induction on a learning task that stimulates beginning reading acquisition. A secondary intent was to examine the durability of this effect across a period of two weeks. Sixty students, half average-achieving and half with learning disabilities, were randomly assigned to either a positive or a neutral mood induction condition. In an effort to control for the effects of prior knowledge, all students received instruction in elementary Hindi language on a series of five tasks. After two weeks, the instruction and tasks were readministered. The results of a MANCOVA indicated that both groups of students in the positive mood condition performed better than those in the neutral condition, although not statistically so. However, gain scores indicated that across a two-week period, students with learning disabilities in the positive condition performed significantly better than students with learning disabilities in the neutral condition.