THE PROFILE OF MOOD STATES IS A 65-ITEM RATING SCALE DEVELOPED TO ASSESS AFFECTIVE STATES. THE PROFILE RESULTS FROM REPEATED FACTOR ANALYSIS AND COMPRISES SIX PRIMARY FACTORS: (1) TENSION-ANXIETY; (2) ANGER-HOSTILITY; (3) DEPRESSION-DEJECTION; (4) VIGOR-ACTIVITY; (5) CONFUSION AND BEWILDERMENT; ANDD (6) FATIGUE-INERTIA. THE RATING SCALE HAS BEEN CLINICALLY AND EXPERIMENTALLY APPLIED TO VARIOUS INSTITUTIONS AND NORMAL POPULATIONS TO ASSESS TRANSIENT MOODS (AFFECTS) AND IDENTIFY MOOD CHANGES OCCURRING FROM CLINICAL OR EXPERIMENTAL INTERVENTION. THUS, THE PROFILE OF MOOD STATES WAS USED TO ASSESS THE RESPONSE OF BLACKS AND WHITES TO PRISON. AVERAGE INTELLIGENCE WAS 103 FOR BLACKS AND 105 FOR WHITES; ALL PRISONERS AVERAGED SEVENTH OR EIGHTH GRADE EDUCATIONS. THE SCALE WAS ADMINISTERED TO ALL SUBJECTS WITHIN 3 WEEKS OF BEING IMPRISONED. EXPLANATIONS FOR THE RELATIVELY HIGHER SCORES IN TENSION, CONFUSION, ETC., FOR WHITES ARE THAT THEY ARE HIGHLY UNCOMFORTABLE AND ALIENATED IN A PRISON WITH A POPULATION THAT IS, 72 PERCENT BLACK. MANY FEEL THREATENED BY SO MANY BLACKS AND HAVE COME FROM RURAL OR SUBURBAN COMMUNITIES MOST UNLIKE THE CROWDED PRISON. IN ADDITION, MOST WHITES, UNLIKE THE BLACKS, DID NOT SEEK THERAPEUTIC PROGRAMS. IT IS NOTED THAT WHITES IN AN ALL-BLACK PRISON SUFFER THE SAME MOODS AS BLACKS WORKING OR LIVING IN WHITE COMMUNITIES. IT IS RECOMMENDED THAT GREATER BLACK-WHITE COOPERATION AND MUTUAL SUPPORT SHOULD BE ENCOURAGED AMONG PRISONERS. (PAP)