Method Design and Procedure
One hundred sixty people (Mage = 37 years; 52% male)
from an online panel participated in the main study for a
small payment. The study was a single three-level factor
(emotion: sad, content, neutral) between-subjects design
with need for cognition as a measured factor. We conducted
the study using an online survey. Participants were told that
the purpose of the study was to examine people’s reactions
to different videos and commercials. Participants in the sad
condition were then asked to watch a music video that
played a sad song (“Gandalf’s Fall” from The Lord of the
Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring). Participants in the contentment
condition were asked to watch a music video that
played a song designed to induce a state of contentment
(Yanni’s “One Man’s Dream”). In the neutral condition,
participants did not watch a video, because it is difficult to
induce a neutral mood using music (Cohen, Pham, and
Andrade 2008)