Variations in the Circumplex Structure of Mood

Typically, researchers have emphasized the similarity of the semantic and self-report mood circumplexes. The purpose of the present study was to investigate systematic differences in these structures. The semantic circumplex is defined by two dimensions: valence and level of arousal. The present study demonstrated that when making judgments of their mood, people weigh the arousal dimension less than the valence dimension, whereas in the semantic structure the two mood dimensions are weighed equally. This reduction in the size of the arousal dimension was directly associated with increases in the correlation between self-reported anxiety and depression. The results are discussed with reference to the meaning of subjective mood ratings.