Moods and emotions have a personality trait component, meaning that some people have built-in, natural tendencies to experience certain moods and emotions more frequently than others do. People also experience the same emotions with different intensities; the degree to which they experience them is called their affect intensity.25 Affectively intense people experience both positive and negative emotions deeply: when they’re sad, they’re really sad, and when they’re happy, they’re really happy.

Moods vary by the time of day. A fascinating study assessed patterns by analyzing millions of Twitter messages from across the globe.26 The researchers noted the presence of words connoting positive affect (happy, enthused, excited) and negative affect (sad, angry, anxious). You can see the trends they observed in the positive affect part of Exhibit 4-3. Daily fluctuations in mood followed a similar pattern in most countries. These results are comparable to previous research. A major difference, though, happens in the evening. Whereas most research suggests that positive affect tends to drop after 7 p.m., this study suggests that it increases before the midnight decline. We have to wait for further research to see which description is accurate. The negative affect trends in this study were more consistent with past research, showing that negative affect is lowest in the morning and tends to increase over the course of the day and evening.

Are people in their best moods on the weekends? In most cultures that is true—for example, U.S. adults tend to experience their highest positive affect on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, and their lowest on Monday.27 As shown in Exhibit 4-3, again based on the study of Twitter messages, that tends to be true in several other cultures as well. For Germans and Chinese, positive affect is highest from Friday to Sunday and lowest on Monday. This isn’t the case in all cultures, however. As the exhibit shows, in Japan positive affect is higher on Monday than on either Friday or Saturday.

As for negative affect, Monday is the highest negative-affect day across most cultures. However, in some countries, negative affect is lower on Friday and Saturday than on Sunday. It may be that while Sunday is enjoyable as a day off (and thus we have higher positive affect), we also get a bit stressed about the week ahead (which is why negative affect is higher).

When do you think you would be in a better mood—when it’s 70 degrees and sunny, or on a gloomy, cold, rainy day? Many people believe their mood is tied to the weather. However, a fairly large and detailed body of evidence suggests weather has little effect on mood, at least for most people.28 Illusory correlation, which occurs when we associate two events that in reality have no connection, explains why people tend to think weather influences them. For example, employees may be more productive on bad weather days, a study in Japan and the United States recently indicated, but not because of mood—instead, the worse weather removed some work distractions.29

As you might imagine, stressful events at work (a nasty e-mail, impending deadline, loss of a big sale, reprimand from the boss, etc.) can negatively affect moods. The effects of stress also build over time. As the authors of one study noted, “A constant diet of even low-level stressful events has the potential to cause workers to experience gradually increasing levels of strain over time.”30 Mounting levels of stress can worsen our moods, as we experience more negative emotions. Although sometimes we thrive on it, most of us find stress usually takes a toll on our mood. In fact, when situations are overly emotionally charged and stressful, we have a natural response to disengage, to literally look away.31

U.S. adults report sleeping less than adults did a generation ago.32 According to researchers and public health specialists, 41 million U.S. workers sleep less than six hours per night and suffer from sleep deprivation. Sleep quality affects moods and decision making, and increased fatigue puts workers at risk of disease, injury, and depression.33 Poor or reduced sleep also makes it difficult to control emotions. Even one bad night’s sleep makes us more angry and risk-prone.34 Poor sleep impairs job satisfaction35 and makes us less able to make ethical judgments.36 On the positive side, increased regular sleep enhances creativity, performance, and career success.

You often hear that people should exercise to improve their mood. Does “sweat therapy” really work? It appears so. Research consistently shows exercise enhances people’s positive moods.37 While not terribly strong overall, the effects are strongest for those who are depressed.

Do young people experience more extreme positive emotions (so-called youthful exuberance) than older people? Surprisingly, no. What about age and satisfaction? Regarding life satisfaction, there is a cultural assumption that older people are more prone to depression and loneliness. Actually, a study of adults ages 18 to 94 found that positive moods increased with age. “Contrary to the popular view that youth is the best time of life, the peak of emotional life may not occur until well into the seventh decade,” researcher Laura Carstensen said.38

Many people believe women are more emotional than men. Is there any truth to this? Evidence does confirm women experience emotions more intensely, tend to “hold onto” emotions longer than men, and display more frequent expressions of both positive and negative emotions, except anger.39 One study of participants from 37 different countries found that men consistently reported higher levels of powerful emotions like anger, whereas women reported more powerless emotions like sadness and fear. Thus, there are some sex differences in the experience and expression of emotions.40

Let’s put together what we’ve learned about emotions and moods with workplace coping strategies, beginning with emotional labor.