Learning from academia is a crucial element of our research and in this article, we talk about what mood repair motivation is.
Feeling sad is as natural, normal, and even useful to the human spirit as breathing, sleep, and eating are to physical wellbeing. But there are times when sadness persists, overwhelming any sense of wellbeing and interfering with daily functioning. This is when people sometimes undertake a course of mood-repair. But to do so, they need sufficient motivation.
Concepts such as “think happy thoughts” and “don’t watch sad films” are commonly prescribed by friends or family to those suffering in negative moods. But sometimes, sufferers want a more structured approach to shift their mood from general sadness or clinical depression to a state of greater contentment or happiness. A mood repair strategy is a cognitive and behavioural psychological tool used to alter the mood regulation of an individual.
Specifically, although there are many tactics for motivating mood repair, they tend to sit within a relatively small number of topics:
- Increasing self-confidence
- Handling self-criticism
- Controlling negative thinking
- Making sadness less overwhelming
- Increasing energy levels to boost motivation
Different people are sensitive to the difference between avoidance-framed (“escape negative moods”) and approach-framed (“achieve positive moods”) messages advocating suggested mood repair strategies. And compared to people with high self-esteem, those with low self-esteem are less motivated to repair their negative moods.
Understanding cognitive biases, such as mood repair motivation, is crucial to understanding your customers better. To learn more about the brain, please click here for more articles on why we behave as we do or get in touch with us here.
One thought on “What is mood repair motivation?”