What is the role of affect in language use, and the production of requests ini particular? Two experiments predicted and found that (a) sad moods increase and happy moods decrease request politeness, and (b) these mood effects are greater when considering more risky and unconventional requests that require more elaborate processing. In Experiment 1, sad persons preferred more polite requests, and decisions about unconventional requests were particularly sensitive to affective influences. Experiment 2 used an unobtrusive method to elicit natural requests in a conversation. Negative affect produced greater politeness and longer delays in posing requests. Recall data and mediational analyses confirmed that greater mood effects were linked to the more extensive processing recruited by unconventional requests, consistent with the Affect Infusion Model (AIM). The cognitive mechanisms that mediate mood effects on language production are discussed, and the implications of the findings for strategic communication and for theories of affect and cognition are considered.
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