Research has shown that mood may affect the perception of slant or steepness, seeming to show that people who are unhappy or somewhat depressed will tend to see hills as steeper than those who are not (Reiner et al, 2011). The present study was designed to extend this finding by comparing judgments of the steepness of hills to the subjective difficulty of carrying a heavy weight, and the height of buildings (rather than the steepness of hills). Each participant made judgments in all three conditions while listening to either affectively positive or negative music. It is hypothesized that participants in the negative mood condition will gauge the tasks as more difficult, higher and steeper than those participants in the positive mood condition
