Disarming darkness: Effects of ambient lighting on approach motivation and state anger among people with varying trait anger

Lotte Veenstra; Sander L. Koole

doi:10.1016/j.jenvp.2018.07.005

Disarming darkness: Effects of ambient lighting on approach motivation and state anger among people with varying trait anger

Lotte Veenstra
, Sander L. Koole^*

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article › Academic › peer-review

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Abstract

The present research examined the influence of ambient lighting on approach-oriented motivation and emotion. Because darkness is associated with inactivity, the authors hypothesized that dark (vs. bright) environments would lower approach motivation. Consistent with this, participants in Experiment 1 (N = 80) reported less approach motivation in a dark (vs. bright) room. In Experiment 2 (N = 112), state anger –an approach-oriented emotion-was reduced among participants high (vs. low) on trait anger when participants were interviewed in a dark (vs. bright) environment. Subtle variations in ambient lighting may thus moderate approach-oriented motivations and emotions. These findings could have broad implications for understanding how environmental conditions may regulate human motivation and emotion.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	34-40
Number of pages	7
Journal	Journal of Environmental Psychology
Volume	60
Early online date	25 Jul 2018
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvp.2018.07.005
Publication status	Published - Dec 2018

Funding

We gratefully acknowledge the support of funding from a Consolidator Grant from the European Research Council ( ERC-2011-StG_20101124 ). Correspondence regarding this article should be addressed to Sander L. Koole, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Department of Clinical Psychology, Van der Boechorststraat 1, 1081 BT Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Email: [email protected] .

Keywords

Approach/avoidance motivation
Emotion regulation
Situated social cognition

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Disarming darknessFinal published version, 645 KBLicence: Article 25fa Dutch Copyright Act

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abstract = "The present research examined the influence of ambient lighting on approach-oriented motivation and emotion. Because darkness is associated with inactivity, the authors hypothesized that dark (vs. bright) environments would lower approach motivation. Consistent with this, participants in Experiment 1 (N = 80) reported less approach motivation in a dark (vs. bright) room. In Experiment 2 (N = 112), state anger –an approach-oriented emotion-was reduced among participants high (vs. low) on trait anger when participants were interviewed in a dark (vs. bright) environment. Subtle variations in ambient lighting may thus moderate approach-oriented motivations and emotions. These findings could have broad implications for understanding how environmental conditions may regulate human motivation and emotion.",

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N2 - The present research examined the influence of ambient lighting on approach-oriented motivation and emotion. Because darkness is associated with inactivity, the authors hypothesized that dark (vs. bright) environments would lower approach motivation. Consistent with this, participants in Experiment 1 (N = 80) reported less approach motivation in a dark (vs. bright) room. In Experiment 2 (N = 112), state anger –an approach-oriented emotion-was reduced among participants high (vs. low) on trait anger when participants were interviewed in a dark (vs. bright) environment. Subtle variations in ambient lighting may thus moderate approach-oriented motivations and emotions. These findings could have broad implications for understanding how environmental conditions may regulate human motivation and emotion.

AB - The present research examined the influence of ambient lighting on approach-oriented motivation and emotion. Because darkness is associated with inactivity, the authors hypothesized that dark (vs. bright) environments would lower approach motivation. Consistent with this, participants in Experiment 1 (N = 80) reported less approach motivation in a dark (vs. bright) room. In Experiment 2 (N = 112), state anger –an approach-oriented emotion-was reduced among participants high (vs. low) on trait anger when participants were interviewed in a dark (vs. bright) environment. Subtle variations in ambient lighting may thus moderate approach-oriented motivations and emotions. These findings could have broad implications for understanding how environmental conditions may regulate human motivation and emotion.

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Disarming darkness: Effects of ambient lighting on approach motivation and state anger among people with varying trait anger

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