Sad mood reduces inadvertent plagiarism: Effects of affective state on source monitoring in cryptomnesia

In two experiments, we explored the influence of affective state, or mood, on inadvertent plagiarism, a memory failure in
which individuals either misattribute the source of an idea to themselves rather than to the true originator or simply do
not recall having encountered the idea before and claim it as novel. Using a paradigm in which participants generate word
puzzle solutions and later recall these solutions, we created an opportunity for participants to mistakenly claim ownership
of items that were, in fact, initially generated by their computer ‘partner.’ Results of both experiments suggest that participants
induced into a sad mood before solving the word puzzles made fewer source memory errors than did those induced into a happy
mood. Results of Experiment 2 also imply that sad mood reduces some item memory errors. Implications for appraisal theories,
such as the affect-as-information hypothesis, are discussed.