# Is there a term for this psychological phenomena?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-term-for-this-psychological-phenomena/467225>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [October 9, 2008, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-term-for-this-psychological-phenomena/467225 "2008-10-09T20:42:54Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 8\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![petew83](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7bcc69/32.png) [@petew83](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/petew83)\
**Post date:** [October 9, 2008, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-term-for-this-psychological-phenomena/467225/1 "2008-10-09T20:42:54Z")

</div>

is there a term for this? : Your current mood influences cognitive interpretations of the world in general.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![diggleblop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ac91a4/32.png) [@diggleblop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/diggleblop)\
**Post date:** [October 10, 2008, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-term-for-this-psychological-phenomena/467225/2 "2008-10-10T01:16:05Z")

</div>

Life?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Cagey\_Drifter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b2d939/32.png) [@Cagey\_Drifter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cagey_Drifter)\
**Post date:** [October 10, 2008, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-term-for-this-psychological-phenomena/467225/3 "2008-10-10T03:16:45Z")

</div>

this is close, but perhaps not quite:

> **[Affect heuristic](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Affect_heuristic)**
>
> The affect heuristic is a heuristic, a mental shortcut that allows people to make decisions and solve problems quickly and efficiently, in which current emotion—fear, pleasure, surprise, etc.—influences decisions. In other words, it is a type of heuristic in which emotional response, or "affect" in psychological terms, plays a lead role. It is a subconscious process that shortens the decision-making process and allows people to function without having to complete an extensive search for info Th...

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Lust4Life](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ecc23a/32.png) [@Lust4Life](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lust4Life)\
**Post date:** [October 10, 2008, 11:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-term-for-this-psychological-phenomena/467225/4 "2008-10-10T11:42:28Z")

</div>

> [@petew83](#):
>
> is there a term for this? : Your current mood influences cognitive interpretations of the world in general.

Bi-polar disorder,what used to be known as manic depression.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\
**Post date:** [October 10, 2008, 12:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-term-for-this-psychological-phenomena/467225/5 "2008-10-10T12:15:14Z")

</div>

It sounds like a sort of cognitive bias, albeit a very general and smoothed-out one.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![tiltypig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/dbc845/32.png) [@tiltypig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tiltypig)\
**Post date:** [October 10, 2008, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-term-for-this-psychological-phenomena/467225/6 "2008-10-10T13:50:48Z")

</div>

> [@Lust4Life](#):
>
> Bi-polar disorder,what used to be known as manic depression.

I don’t think this is what he meant. I think he meant that when you’re in a bad mood, the world looks like shit, people are assholes, life sucks; and when you’re happy, everything is right in the world, you love everyone, life is wonderful.

Actually, I guess that does sort of sound like bi-polar disorder. But manic depression emphasizes the extremes. What about a heuristic (or perhaps bias) that could allow for moods that aren’t extreme? And what about when your mood affects your interpretation of the world at a given time, but you’re not really mentally ill?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\
**Post date:** [October 10, 2008, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-term-for-this-psychological-phenomena/467225/7 "2008-10-10T19:29:07Z")

</div>

Cognitive schema.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![aldiboronti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc348/32.png) [@aldiboronti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aldiboronti)\
**Post date:** [October 10, 2008, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-term-for-this-psychological-phenomena/467225/8 "2008-10-10T23:07:41Z")

</div>

That’s _phenomenon_.

Sorry to do that, but this is the Dope. 🙂