Memories of "bad" days are more biased than memories of "good" days: Past Saturdays vary, but past Mondays are always blue

Charles S. Areni, Mitchell Burger

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

21 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

In a survey of 202 participants, Monday was cited most frequently as the worst morning (65%) and evening (35%); whereas Friday (43%) and Saturday (45%) were the best evening and morning, respectively. Test-retest reliability was higher for worst morning (.89) and evening (.83) judgments, compared to best morning (.44) and evening (.61) judgments. In a second survey of 353 participants, ratings of typical moods were lowest on Monday, rising to a peak on Saturday, but actual momentary moods showed little or no variation by day. Remembered moods from the previous Monday were more strongly related to typical moods than to actual moods, but the reverse was true of remembered moods from the previous Friday and Saturday.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1395-1415
Number of pages21
JournalJournal of Applied Social Psychology
Volume38
Issue number6
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Jun 2008

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