Individual Versus Social Mood

If our own mood is the manifestation of our own level of self-confidence, then social mood can be thought of as the aggregate outcome of all of our individual moods put together. That is to say, social mood is our collective confidence.

I’d note, though, that even our own moods are rarely ever truly our own. At both an individual and collective level, our moods reflect our own interconnectivity with the world around us. Your personal mood, for example, incorporates the mood of your family, your work associates, members of your church, your book club, and so on. Your partner’s mood picks up his or her network of family, friends, and professional and social affiliations. Together your collective mood, as a couple, folds in elements of them all.