Talk:Mood ring

Untitled
Completely redid the page, and removed the cleanup tag. It was sort of done in a big sort of wiki-edit rush; I may have made some grammatical/wiki errors. Someone should look into this. Scytheml 03:17, 30 July 2006 (UTC)

Multi-colored
Why does a mood ring turn your finger green? What do the colors of a mood ring mean? i agree with him


 * If a ring is turning your finger green, that usually means it was made with a cheap metal. You'll often see this with imitation gold rings -- febtalk 01:34, 9 February 2007 (UTC)


 * It's Copper carbonate - possibly mixed with Copper(I) chloride. A cheap mood ring is very likely made of brass (which includes Gilding-metal, Chinese Silver, etc) - this is typical of cheap imitation gold jewellery.  Copper is a major component of all variations of brass - and when left exposed to the air, it gradually forms the carbonate and chloride forms - both of which are blue/green in color and rub off the surface of the ring and onto your finger. SteveBaker (talk) 01:26, 7 May 2008 (UTC)

Online Rings
How does a mood ring on your computer work? I got a google mood ring and it changes colors and stuff, but I have no clue how it works without contact with skin. --24.118.1.217 23:03, 27 January 2007 (UTC)
 * Most likely, it doesn't. -- febtalk 01:34, 9 February 2007 (UTC)


 * The Google mood ring button's state is based off of an RSS Feed located at: http://toolbar.google.com/buttons/feeds/moodring
 * I'm not really sure what it's actually based on, or how / why it updates though. Peaceoutside 20:51, 20 September 2007 (UTC)

the color on my mood ring stays blue, every so often it changes. other than that, it stays one color

well those usually don't work but i think it would check the temperature of you holding your mouse, so it gets readings from that

I have yet to see a computer mouse with a heat sensor so that seems doubtful. Jyuichi 00:22, 27 June 2007 (UTC)

I had to add that, because currently as stoned, the ring was blue.

My ring fluctuates, but it is not usually one color. It is usually blue with a purple or amber pupil. Is the ring working? User:Kiriam

I think that computer mood-rings are just for comical relief. Not really working (because a mouse can't detect your temperature), but just for fun. 201.170.64.109

Re-adding the color tags
Im a noob, so.... i read this article 5 mins ago, now its changed Just thought id re-add the color codes. This is partially because i installed a software gadget cool jewels mood ring, linking the color code to the wiki article. I dont have an account so ill just write my name and date manually. Headphoneguy, 21:22, 14 November 2007 (UTC)
 * That list is a direct copy from, and as such had to be removed as a copyright violation. Additionally, since those lists are made up by whoever makes the individual rings with little or no scientific basis, I don't believe one can really find a verifiable color list to cite as an acceptable source for this article - there's really nothing factual to verify.  The author of your software would probably be better off either including whatever data they want into the software itself, or linking that How Stuff Works page instead of this article.  Rob T Firefly 21:13, 14 November 2007 (UTC)

Color list
Lists of what the colors "represent" are constantly being added to this article, and being deleted as uncited, unverifiable, or copyright violations. Please do not re-add a list unless you can provide a citable, encyclopedic source for the info (which as I see it you really can't, since the lists are unscientific and made up by the manufacturers - there is no "real" list.) Personally, it seems to me that we really can't do more than perhaps linking to offsite lists such as the howstuffworks link already cited, and letting readers go there for the info. Does anyone have any better ideas for including this info that would suit Wikipedia? Rob T Firefly (talk) 15:37, 21 November 2007 (UTC)


 * One could contact a manufacturer and get an image licensed properly for Wikipedia (or have them add an image to Commons), then use that image in the article as an example of the marketing of the rings. -- SEWilco (talk) 21:07, 28 December 2007 (UTC)


 * I don't think a reliable source is needed as long as you give the list as an example of the manufacturer's claims, and cite the manufacturer as the source. WP:SELFPUB allows unreliable sources to be used to document claims made by the source about themselves. A manufacturer's statements about their own product are a common example of the application of this policy.--Srleffler (talk) 22:48, 30 October 2008 (UTC)

Full Revision
On May 16, 2008, the "mood ring" page was reformatted to include several sub-categories as originally written, before numerous variations (consisting of a range of vandalism to simple mis-information) compromised the data.

The "Shook Book", removed in early revisions, was placed there, not as an advertisement for the book (no longer in print), but as a citation to reference the verification of the inventor and the history of the mood ring DreamBeliever223802:53, 16 May 2008 (UTC)


 * You've introduced a load of uncited gibberish, though. Who says gren is stressed or blue is happy ... apart from being unsourced, it is nonsense on stilts. Your reversion will certainly be reverted for this reason. Please do not engage in a revert war over this but continue to discuss issues on this page. I'm not about to make the reversion now since I'm at work and want time to read through your changes before going off half-cocked. but I serve notice that we have established that there is no reasonable source for a flat-out assertion that this colour means this mantal state. The best we could allow is a cited reference that such and such a ring vendor or ring inventor has compiled this list of colour to mood lookups, whilst noting that there is no scientific basis whatsoever for the assertion being made.

And it is conventional to add new talk to the bottom of the page and not the top. --Tagishsimon (talk) 12:13, 16 May 2008 (UTC) (FIXED)


 * The deal with color charts is this: The mainstream scientific view is that these gizmo's are thermometers - and they measure some temperature between skin temperature and the ambient air temperature. Any conceivable changes in temperature due to mood would be at best negligable compared to air temperature fluctuations.  As I have shown, body temperature changes due to time of day and (in the case of women) menstrual cycle are the only possible things you might measure - but those are not exactly mood related and the temperature variations are too small for a crude liquid crystal thermometer to measure in the best of circumstances.  Hence these rings quite simply cannot work as advertised.  Anyone who says they do is a Fringe-theorist (per WP:FRINGE) and must be treated as such.  That means that no color/mood charts are admissible into the article unless they've been discussed in a proper peer-reviewed journal.  We cannot say "mood rings tell you what your mood is" because without properly peer-reviewed sources that say that, we have to take the mainstream view.  The most we can say is that the manufacturers CLAIM that this is true - but that the mainstream view is that this is untrue.  Worse still, we can easily provide sources to show that even within different manufacturers of these contraptions, there is little to no agreement on what colors mean what moods - so even on the (exceedingly remote) chance that the fringe theorists are right - they don't agree on what the color chart should be - so nothing that we would ever be able to put up would be "correct".   However, that's not an issue because mood rings simply don't work - period.  They are (at best) crude thermometers measuring an essentially random mix of body heat and ambient temperature.  This is an encyclopedia - no a sales brochure. SteveBaker (talk) 17:55, 16 May 2008 (UTC)
 * I agree with your main argument. A couple comments, however: the fact that different manufacturers make different claims about the meaning of the colours is not in itself evidence of the falsehood of the claims. Different manufacturers might well design their rings differently, producing a different color as a function of temperature. Also, while it's clear the mood rings measure temperature, it's not inconceivable that there might be some correlation between temperature and mood. Large changes in air temperature will certainly overwhelm this subtle effect, but it's not obvious that there couldn't be a correlation between body temperature changes and mood at any given ambient temperature. I agree entirely, though, that the article shouldn't go there unless there is a reliable source to back it up.--Srleffler (talk) 22:54, 30 October 2008 (UTC)

Conflict of Interest on History of Mood Ring
User:DreamBeliever2238 has admitted a conflict of interest in this article. To quote User talk:DreamBeliever2238:


 * "Dear Tagishsimon, As my father is the recognized inventor of the Mood Ring, I have posted what I know to be the history of the product as well as any additional information. The reason I requested that others contact me before making extensive changes is because it has been my perception here on Wiki that people just like to see their name in print and make changes to entries without having any substance behind them. After months of such changes, the entry and the information contained therein are essentially worthless. You, or anyone, certainly have every right to make any entries that they would like, but I wonder why one would feel it necessary, unless they are an expert in the field and have personal knowledge of such subjects. Respectfully yours, T.Wernick DreamBeliever2238 "

WP:COI says: "COI edits are strongly discouraged."

SteveBaker (talk) 13:37, 29 May 2008 (UTC)

Looks like this user is back at it again, on 21jan13 he removed all the well-cited information from the History section that was there before and replaced it with unsourced speculation about his father. Reverted changes. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 142.105.207.166 (talk) 22:44, 30 January 2013 (UTC)

A multidimensional problem surely?
A recent edit (mercifully, swiftly reverted) added the usual nonsense color-interpretation chart - vis:


 * violet blue - happy, romantic
 * blue - calm, relaxed
 * green - average, not much going on with you
 * yellow/amber - tense, excited
 * brown/gray - nervous, anxious
 * black - cold temperature or damaged ring

...of course it was reverted for the usual and well-established reason that no two suggested charts ever seem to be the same and we have no means to know which is 'authoritative' - and also because it's completely unsourced.

But it occurs to me that the whole concept of a 'mood ring' is really rather silly. Forget the physics explanation - let's accept the assertion that they really do change colour to match your mood according to this chart - and do a thought-experiment:

Suppose you're a guy taking a particularly drop-dead gorgeous babe out on a first date and she invites you home afterwards. You can quite easily be simultaneously extremely romantic (violet), very, very, excited (yellow) and probably just about as nervous/anxious (grey) as it's possible to be...in fact, if we're being honest, it would be unusual to feel any other way. So what is the mood ring supposed to show? We have three simultaneous yet completely different emotions - all being felt at 'off-scale' adrenaline levels - and all clearly identified with different colors in the chart. What color is the ring in this situation? Violet with yellow stripes and grey polkadots?

Or...imagine you're driving a really 'hot' sports car on an empty road at 120mph with the wind in your hair - how could you not be simultaneously happy and excited? So again...violet or yellow? The situation where you are both happy AND excited happens all the time. In fact, it's rather difficult to be excited by something that DOESN'T also make you happy.

You can rearrange the color scale (as many ring manufacturers seem to do) to put happiness and excitement on the same color - but then you are sometimes happy and romantic...or romantic and nervous...or relaxed and romantic. In fact, there are hardly any combinations of emotion that you can't somehow imagine feeling at one time or another. Hence you can't separate out any of the emotions as different colors if you can ever feel them both at the same time!

The bottom line is that humans are far too complex for emotion to be read on a simple linear scale...it's a multidimensional problem...ergo, these things can't possibly work...whether you believe in the physics or not.

SteveBaker (talk) 04:21, 13 July 2008 (UTC)


 * Of course a mood ring is silly: It is a gimmick and fun thing more akin to a decoder ring than e.g. an MBTI test. The basis is not entirely unsound, but it remains a toy, and has the limited correctness, differentiation, etc., that a toy does. Easy-bake-owen---not professional kitchen. (Notwithstanding that some young women, new agers, whatnot, may believe otherwise: There are always some complete dupes.)

94.220.246.220 (talk) 19:55, 21 November 2009 (UTC)


 * Let's not compare mood rings to decoder rings and easy bake ovens. The latter two are more practical —Preceding unsigned comment added by 72.64.4.153 (talk) 04:47, 1 June 2010 (UTC)

Factual error
In the article it states that "the average human skin temperature [...] is approximately 98.6 °F (37.0 °C)", which already sounds fishy, but even the linked source says that "The normal temperature of skin is about 33 °C or 91 °F." So, I don't know if I should just change the temperature values in the sentence or what. Apoyon (talk) 13:55, 7 April 2010 (UTC)


 * 98.6 Fahrenheit was the conventional commonly-accepted value for human body temperature in English-speaking countries for decades (including when the mood ring first came out). Not sure if an average skin temperature is very meaningful, since it would depend strongly on the surroundings (environment)... AnonMoos (talk) 18:42, 7 April 2010 (UTC)


 * Average body temperature is 36.6 °C (measured under arm) to 37 °C (measured in rectum). Skin on fingers can not be much cooler than 36 °C (you'd feel nerves refusing to work under 35), but due to slow heat transport in skin, fast in metal, and quite fast from metal to air (due to quite large contact area) I can believe skin on finger can heat the ring only up to 33 °C. It depends, however, on ring's material and shape. Any value from 30 to 36 °C seems possible average for some ring.
 * For what it's worth, the thermometer on my wristwatch reads 30.2 °C right now (in a room where the air is 20-ish), and it's not rare for it to go below 25 °C when I'm outside in coldish weather. --A. di M. (talk) 20:49, 7 March 2011 (UTC)
 * It's likely that a ring would have an even larger range because the fraction of it's surface that's in contact with the skin is much less than a wristwatch - and fingers tend to be cooler than more chunky bits of the body. However, all that matters is that the range it produces is significant compared to the range of possible healthy body temperatures.  If so, then the ambient room temperature is by far more important than any possible variation in body temperature due to mood changes...which means that (surprise, surprise) these things don't work.  SteveBaker (talk) 01:41, 8 March 2011 (UTC)


 * Agree with Apoyon following the relevant information on hypertextbook (and using discretion to weed out the less-relevant entries on that page), including "With normal clothing in a room at 15-20 °C, mean skin temperature is 32-35°C." Given the hands are not usually 'clothed', they could be expected to be a bit cooler than (say) the groin, although the presence of the ring would provide some 'protection' from the cooler ambient air.  Then again, most rooms would be set to about 20 to 25 °C for comfort (if practicable), not 15 to 20 °C.  I have amended the number to show 'roughly' 34 °C.  A range could also be stated, but 37 °C is core body temperature and clearly incorrect for typical skin temperature, as mentioned above. Any further changes should be supported with reliable citation(s).
 * —DIV (120.17.3.67 (talk) 14:07, 19 May 2017 (UTC))

Price in the past
ME AND MY SISTERS ALL HAD MOOD RINGS IN THE EARLY 70'S AND WE NEVER PAID MORE THAN $5.00 TO $8.00 FOR THEM. THEY WERE never $45.00 IN THOSE DAYS. MAYBE IF HALF OF YOU WERE ALIVE THEN YOU WOULD KNOW NOT TO JUST ARBITRARILY REPEAT WHAT YOU HAVE READ SOMEWHERE ELSE ON THE WEB. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 98.239.250.100 (talk) 02:36, 17 October 2013 (UTC)

I have to second this; I had one as early as '74 and they were cheap at that time. They had to come along prior to '75. I would put the date around '73 at the latest. They were fads for the average person. Any of them sold at a jewelry store for over $40 had to come along later, not earlier. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 184.0.121.254 (talk) 03:50, 15 August 2016 (UTC)


 * The problem is that we need a reliable source or piece of media that can prove it. Hextor26 (talk) 22:20, 31 October 2021 (UTC)

Mood rings
Actual experiences. 108.203.149.93 (talk) 00:39, 22 September 2018 (UTC)My name is Shelby Largent. I am 67 years old. I would challenge your article about the time mood rings where first used. In 1963 we had mood rings. I am not sure when they were first invented but long before 1975. It was quite a unique thing at the time.

Shelby Largent
 * Can you provide a reliable source? DonIago (talk) 13:43, 24 September 2018 (UTC)

Unsourced material
Below content was tagged for needing sources long-term. Feel free to reinsert with appropriate references. DonIago (talk) 13:23, 8 April 2022 (UTC)

History?
Whats the history of mood rings? (for the article) Inventor? Company?

Ted 2607:FEA8:4A2:4100:AD3B:1C68:D290:AD61 (talk) 04:02, 31 March 2023 (UTC)