Effects on mood of activating the private versus the collective self

The effect on exergamers’ postgame mood of activating the private versus the collective self was investigated in 2 experiments. In Experiment 1 I found that group playing induces greater pleasure than individual playing. In Experiment 2 I used a 2 (chronic independent self-construals: high versus low) x 2 (activated self: private versus collective) between-subjects factorial design, and found a significant interaction between chronic self-construals and the activated self. Exergamers high in independent self-construals displayed more negative affective responses to defeat when the private self was activated than when the collective self was activated. In contrast, those low in independent self-construals showed no difference regardless of the activated self.