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Influences of mood on qualitative aspects of cognitive processing are examined within a semantic priming paradigm. The priming effect reflects the reduction of latency for a lexical decision task when a target word is presented in combination with an associatively related prime word. The effect was higher for subjects in whom positive affect had been induced than for a control group, if prime and target were high-associatively related. There was no effect of mood on priming for low-associatively related prime-target pairs. The results are interpreted in terms of a general facilitating influence of mood on spreading activation independent of the affective quality of the processed material.

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Two hundred and thirty-four persons were surveyed to assess personality aspects (action versus state orientation, need for cognition, faith in intuition) and emotional aspects of their attitudes towards the NATO military intervention in the Kosovo war in the spring of 1999. Additionally, in an imagined scenario they were asked to decide whether they would sign a petition addressed to the German government protesting against military intervention. Three ways of dealing with this decision were differentiated: (1) decisive action, (2) avoiding the decision con¯ict, and (3) elaborating the decision problem with the goal of building up feelings to guide action (ampli®cation). Correlations between the variables were evaluated using path analysis in order to predict the decision strategy from personality dimensions and attitude variables (ambivalence, involvement). High action orientation caused low attitude ambivalence and high personal involvement in the topic. Strong ambivalence prevented swift action and supported a tendency towards elaboration and ampli®cation of feelings. Involvement had a favorable effect on action readiness and a negative effect on con¯ict-avoiding strategies. Moreover, it moderated the effects of ambivalence on the preference for con¯ict management strategies. The results con®rm theoretical approaches that stress the importance of affect for acting and deciding.

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Results show a meaningful increase in the benefits of cooperation through the training in transactive communication. Furthermore, findings indicate that students benefit from both elaborating on their partner's ideas and having their own ideas elaborated on.

Mood effects on automatic and controlled components of semantic priming were examined. After a neutral or positive mood manipulation, subjects underwent two blocks of a priming task. Automatic and strategic priming processes were operationally differentiated by the assumption that automatic priming remains constant during the task, whereas controlled priming develops slowly during the course of the experiment. In the first block the priming effect was greater for happy than for neutral mood participants. In the second block the priming effect was greater for neutral mood than for happy participants. The results confirm the hypothesis of a mood-dependent processing change: During early trials priming is based on automatic processing facilitated by positive mood. This processing mode is later superseded by controlled processes aided by neutral mood.

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