Overview: It seems like quite a bit of research has been
conducted with experience sampling methodologies looking at
daily variations in mood and activity. It is an interesting
question as to how best tease out the effect on mood of time of
day per se and activities associated with time of day on
variations. It also seems like there are individual differences
in how time of day influences mood. Anyway, here are a few
studies I found on the topic: Csikszentmihalyi and Hunter (2003)
performed an experience sampling study of a large sample of U.S.
secondary school students. With regards to time of day they
found: During the weekdays, time is structured by work or school
requirements according to a circadian pattern. The ﬁrst part of
the day, spent at work or school, tends to be less happy, except
for a peak at lunch-time. There is a dip after lunch, followed
by higher reports of happiness in the afternoon when one is
again free (see Figure 2). However, day of the week was also
relevant with the greatest happines