Can mood‐inducing videos affect problem‐solving activities in a web‐based environment?

Abstract

Abstract The purpose of this study was to examine whether a video‐induced positive and negative mood has a differential effect on subsequent problem‐solving activities in a web‐based environment. The study also examined whether task conditions (task demands) moderated the mood effect. As in traditional experimental mood‐effect studies, the affective video materials were not related to the tasks. The results show that affective video clips did impact performance on an insight task but not on a divergent‐thinking task. This provides evidence that in some cases affective video has an effect on the performance of unrelated tasks in a web‐based environment.