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emotion
You are a more accurate judge when you feel sad.
In a 2009 study, participants in a negative mood were significantly less susceptible to the misinformation effect than those in a positive mood.
Positive affect signals that the environment is safe, leading to reliance on heuristics and existing mental shortcuts. Sadness triggers a more vigilant, systematic style of processing that pays closer attention to peripheral information. The discomfort you feel in a negative mood forces you to double-check the accuracy of what you are seeing.
Your optimism might be making you less observant.
Where this comes from
- Study
- Forgas, 2009, The influence of affect on cognition
- What the check found
- Joseph Forgas's 2009 study 'Can negative affect eliminate the power of suggestion?' confirms that negative mood increases eyewitness accuracy and reduces the misinformation effect.
- Confidence
- Solid, with limits
Related
One of these every day, and every one names the study it came from. When a finding is contested, it says so.