Mood awareness refers to individual differences in attention directed toward one's mood states. It is measured by the Mood Awareness Scale (MAS; Swinkels & Giuliano, 1995), a reliable 10-item measure composed of two related but distinct dimensions: mood labeling and mood monitoring. Mood labeling refers to the ability to identify and categorize one's mood states, whereas mood monitoring refers to the tendency to focus on, evaluate, or scrutinize one's mood.
The processes of mood labeling and mood monitoring may be better understood by an analogy. There is a marked difference in the approaches used by a physician and by a hypochondriac when trying to assess states of health. The physician, because of training, experience, or insight, is usually successful in making an accurate diagnosis of an illness and recommending some course of treatment. In other words, the medical condition is diagnosed or categorized fairly readily, and steps are then taken to remedy the complaint (e.g., "take two aspirin and call me in the morning") or maintain the state of health (e.g., "keep jogging to work every day"). In contrast, hypochondriacs are quite concerned about the state of their physical health, and in fact may become preoccupied with keeping track of their health status. A process of monitoring physical symptoms and checking for the onset of illness may become an ongoing ritual. The problem, of course, is that although hypochondriacs may be vigilant in checking their health, they are apt to be misled many times about their condition. In other words, they check on their physical states often, but may not reach a satisfactory or final judgment about their health, concluding instead that they are suffering from some vague bodily complaint.
Several studies have demonstrated that labeling and monitoring exert different influences on other mood-relevant variables. For example, in comparison with low mood labelers, high mood labelers tend to seek and be satisfied with social support, experience positive affect, have higher levels of self-esteem, be extraverted, be less socially anxious or neurotic, and express greater global life satisfaction. High (as compared with low) mood monitors, by contrast, tend to experience more intense affective states, experience greater negative affect, have lower self-esteem, and report neurotic tendencies. Various other studies have investigated the role of mood awareness in: depression; self-views; reactions to life stress; self-reported physical symptoms; intelligence and cognitive abilities; and numerous other personality dimensions.
More importantly, mood monitoring and mood labeling play a role in the process of mood regulation. Most people are motivated to sustain a positive mood (mood maintenance) or change a negative one (mood repair), although monitors and labelers might be more or less successful at this task. One study (Swinkels & Giuliano, 1995, Study 4), for example, found that although high mood monitors agreed that their moods influenced their behavior and were important to them, they reported less success at regulating their negative mood states. Another study (Giuliano, 1995) found that the ability of mood labelers and mood monitors to repair their negative moods over time differed. High labelers were able to take relatively quick action to alter their mood states, whereas high monitors tended to wallow in their negative moods for a longer period of time.
