Friday (and Monday) on our minds

FORGETTING what day of the week it is may be the result of associating Monday with misery and Friday with fun, say psychologists.

The two ends of the working week both have strong identities, pushing “non-descript” Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday to the back of our minds.

Asked what words they strongly associated with different days, study volunteers attached more mental representations to Monday and Friday.

While Mondays mainly prompted negative words such as “boring”, “hectic” and “tired”, Fridays were associated with positive words including “party”, “freedom” and “release”.

Almost 40% of the participants said they sometimes confused the current day with the previous or following day, mostly during midweek.

Even more confusion reigned during a Bank Holiday week, with people often feeling they were a day behind.

Dr David Ellis, from the University of Lincoln’s School of Psychology, said: “The seven day weekly cycle is repeated for all of us from birth, and we believe this results in each day of the week acquiring its own character. Indeed, more than a third of participants reported the current day felt like a different day.”