Whistling while you work may help for Snow White's seven dwarfs, but a new study suggests being in a good mood can actually hurt productivity in some tasks.
Good moods can help in doing creative jobs, but bad moods can actually help in tasks that require more focus, according to a paper published earlier this week by University of Toronto psychologist Adam Anderson.
The study is the first to suggest the potential negative impact of a positive frame of mind.
Anderson asked 24 university students to take two kinds of tests after listening to music or words to alter their mood. Music was used to get users in a happy or sad mood, and to achieve a neutral mood the researchers recited a list of facts about Canada.
In one task designed to test their breadth of thinking and creativity, participants had to think of unusual words.
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