An Emerging Understanding of the Reflective (Meta-) Experience of Mood

The regulation of mood occurs at multiple conscious and unconscious levels. A conscious, self-reflective level of mood regulation is identified as one in which we are aware of both our mood and our thoughts about that mood. Thoughts such as "I shouldn′t feel this way′ and "I′m thinking good things to cheer up′ come to mind at that level. Study 1 employs a multiple-domain, factor-analytic approach to determine the dimensions that best describe such reflective experience. Study 2′s analyses cross-validate findings from Study 1 and correlate the major meta-experience factors with personality scales; several experiential styles of metaexperience are described.