Mood Short Form

What it measures

The MSF is an ultra-brief three-item measure of global mood state developed for survey research where brevity is paramount and mood is a control variable rather than a primary construct. Peterson and Sauber (1983) argued that mood at the time of survey completion can systematically bias responses on satisfaction, quality, and other evaluative measures, and that a brief but reliable mood measure should be routinely included as a covariate. The MSF operationalises mood as a unidimensional pleasant-unpleasant dimension using three globally worded bipolar questions. Despite its brevity, the MSF demonstrates acceptable internal consistency and has been shown to relate to response biases in consumer satisfaction measures.

Representative items

• Considering all things, how does life seem to you right now? (1=very unpleasant to 4=very pleasant)
• Do you feel good or bad right now? (1=very bad to 4=very good)
• How does everything seem to you right now? (1=very negative to 4=very positive)

Citation

Peterson, R.A., & Sauber, M. (1983). A mood scale for survey research. In P.E. Murphy et al. (Eds.), AMA Educators' Proceedings (pp. 409–414). American Marketing Association.