Putting mood in context: Using smartphones to examine how people feel in different locations

- Personality and mood were self-reported via experience sampling on a smartphone app.
- Locations, representing different situations, were sensed from the phone's GPS.
- People reported more positive affect in social situations than at home or work.
- People experience more low arousal affect, both positive (e.g., contentment) and negative (e.g., sadness) at home than at work.
- People experience more high arousal affect, both positive (e.g., excitement) and negative (e.g., anger) at work than at home.

Does personality predict how people feel in different types of situations? The present research addressed this question using data from several thousand individuals who used a mood tracking smartphone application for several weeks. Results from our analyses indicated that people's momentary affect was linked to their location, and provided preliminary evidence that the relationship between state affect and location might be moderated by personality. The results highlight the importance of looking at person-situation relationships at both the trait- and state-levels and also demonstrate how smartphones can be used to collect person and situation information as people go about their everyday lives.