Mood

mood or mode, in verb inflection, the forms of a verb that indicate its manner of doing or being. In English the forms are called indicative (for direct statement or question or to express an uncertain condition, e.g., If they do not send it, we cannot go), imperative (for commands), and subjunctive (for sentences suggesting doubt, condition, or a situation contrary to fact, e.g., If I were king … , or He asked that it be done). The infinitive (nonpersonal, generalizing) is sometimes considered an example of mood, as are phrases formed with the auxiliaries may, might, can, and could (termed the potential mood); should and would (conditional); and must and ought (obligative). These names of moods are often used for similar categories in other languages, and many languages are far richer in analogous patterns than Romance languages; moods commonly found in other languages are narrative, quotative, mythical, desiderative, optative, and negative. In standard English the verb to be has special modal inflections.

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mood

 or mode

In grammar, a category that reflects the speaker's view of an event's reality, likelihood, or urgency. Often marked by special verb forms (inflections), moods include the indicative, for factual or neutral situations (e.g., “You did your work”); the imperative, to convey commands or requests (“Do your work”); and the subjunctive. The subjunctive's functions vary widely. It may express doubt, possibility, necessity, desire, or future time. In English it often indicates a condition contrary to fact (e.g., “If he were to work here, he would have to learn to be punctual”).

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mood

Logic one of the possible arrangements of the syllogism, classified solely by whether the component propositions are universal or particular and affirmative or negative

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Mood 

the grammatical category of the verb that expresses the relationship of the content of an utterance to reality. The number of moods varies in different languages. The unmarked (not formally expressed by specific mood markers) mood, which signifies that a speaker regards an action or state as positive or negative and as real, is called the indicative.

The most noteworthy of the marked moods is the subjunctive, which is used to express the relationship of a denoted action or state to reality, and the feasibility or desirability of an action or state; in the subjunctive mood, denoted actions or states may be unreal, potential, conditional, or desirable. Moods used by a speaker to arouse some other participant in the speech situation to perform or refrain from an action include the imperative mood, the optative mood, and the prohibitive mood.

Mood may be expressed by special verb forms, affixes, prosodic means (stress or tone), and combinations with particles. In a number of languages, there is agreement according to mood.

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Mood 

in music, the quality of a mode that is determined by the kind of third—major or minor—that is formed between the first and third steps. There are two basic kinds of mood: major (having a major third as the interval between the first and third steps) and minor (minor third).

The mood of a mode is associated with a specific emotional character: the major mood gives the mode a bright coloring suitable for conveying a happy, cheerful condition; the minor, on the contrary, imparts to the mode a gloomy coloring and is used to convey a sad, melancholy feeling, a tragic spiritual state.

The distinction in moods pertains not only to the two basic modes of European music but also to a number of other diatonic and nondiatonic modes. For example, the Lydian and Mixolydian modes are modes of the major mood; modes of the minor mood include the Phrygian and the Dorian. Mood can be retained and remain dominant in the modern chromatic mode, with its typical mixing of different modal features.

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Mood 

a person’s general disposition toward life at a particular moment; his emotional state or the tendency of his spirits. In a person’s mood, his attitude toward life and his specific way of reconciling the life situation with his personal needs find their profoundest expression and realization in unique, “symptomatic” form.

Mood is a broad concept that extends from a person’s undifferentiated experience of a general life “tone” (”elated” or “depressed” disposition) to specifically expressed forms of response, such as boredom, sadness, sorrow, melancholy, fear, and despair or, on the contrary, enthusiasm, rejoicing, happiness, delight, hope, and cheerfulness. Seemingly acting as the general meaningful context of the entire emotional life and conscious activity of the individual, mood deeply penetrates and determines all of an individual’s actions and emotional experiences.

In spite of its importance, for example, in the psychopathology of the individual, mood has received little attention in contemporary psychology.

REFERENCES

Rubinshtein, S. L. Osnovy obshchei psikhologii. Moscow, 1946.
Parygin, B. D. Obshchestvennoe nastroenie. Moscow, 1966.
Zeigarnik, B. V. Lichnost’ i patologiia deiatel’nosti. Moscow, 1971.
Scheler, M. Wesen und Formen der Sympathie, 3rd ed. Bonn, 1926.
Bollnow, O. F. Das Wesen der Stimmungen, 3rd ed. Bonn, 1956.

A. A. PUZYREI