Lecture 2- Mechanisms, contingencies, and (dys)functionality of emotional influence, and the role of emotional intelligence

Social Functions of Emotions

individual perspective: emotions help individuals adapt to changing circumstances (e.g. responding to threats in the environment)

social perspective: emotions help coordinate social interactions and address relational problems (e.g. regulating social dynamics in dyads and groups)

EASI: Mechanisms of Emotional Influence

Emotional expressions provide information about the feelings, goals, and intentions of the expresser.

Such information helps coordinate social interaction (and is therefore potentially functional)

Two key processes mediate the social effects of emotional expressions:

• affective reactions (relatively quick and automatic)

• inferential processes (more deliberate and cognitively taxing)

EASI: Affective Reactions

Emotional display → Observer has affective reaction

• because of emotional contagion

  • primitive: mimicry and afferent feedback

  • non-primitive: perspective taking, social appraisal

the observer has one of two affective reactions

• reciprocal (anger → anger)

• complementary (sadness → compassion)

the observer has a behaviour response based on his affective reaction

• affect-as-information

• affect priming

• evaluative conditioning

• mood maintenance

• negative state relief

perspective taking vs. social appraisal

perspective taking is the cognitive act of placing yourself in the others’ shoes

social appraisal is the judgment of the person’s reaction, based on context, social norms. etc.

EASI: Inferential Processes

emotional display → observer’s inferential processes (inferrences)

the observation to inference process is done through reverse appraisal

• reverse appraisal: observing one’s emotional display, and inferring what is the cause of their behaviour

observer’s inferential processes → observer’s (behavioural) response

• the observer’s (behavioural) response depends on the nature of the situation (e.g. cooperative vs. competitive)

EASI: Contingencies of Emotional Influence

What determines whether and how emotional expressions influence others?

• Whether: general prerequisites

  • encoding (emotional expressivity) (do you have the meaning of that emotional expression encoded?)

  • decoding (emotional perception skills, emotional intelligence)

• How: process-related moderators

  • information processing

  • perceived appropriateness of the emotional expression

EASI: Information Processing, as a process-related moderator

emotional display → observer processes information → observer has a behavioural response

observer’s information processing, depends on:

• epistemic motivation:

  • individual characteristic (e.g. need for closure, need for structure)

  • situational characteristics: (e.g. time pressure, power)

• processing capacity

  • individual characteristics (e.g. intelligence, memory capacity)

  • situational characteristics (e.g. cognitive load, fatigue)

EASI: perceived appropriateness as a process-related moderator

expresser’s emotional display → perceived appropriateness → observer’s (behavioural response)

perceived appropriateness

• characteristics of situation (display rules, culture)

• characteristics of perceiver (agreeableness)

• characteristics of expressor (gender, status)

• characteristics of expression (authenticity, intensity)

EASI: relative influences

emotional expression → behaviour of perceiver

• behaviour of perceiver depends on affective/ inferential processes

• these are moderated by information processing and appropriateness in social context, which are affected by personality (of the perceiver) and by the situation

EASI: functionality

EASI emphasises the potential functionality of emotional expressions in social life

Important to think critically about whether, and when, emotional expressions are indeed functional

Determinants of Functionality

1. Accuracy of Appraisal: are perceptions, expectations, convictions, etc. accurate and realistic?

2. Appraisal of Importance: is the emotional reaction in accordance with the gravity of the situation?

3. Prioritisation of Goals: is the goal that is served by the emotion more important than any goals that may be thwarted by the emotion?

4. Suitability of the Emotional Response: is the emotional reaction fitting for the situation?

5. Emotional Regulation: is the emotion regulated such that it facilitates, rather than undermines, goal pursuit?

Parrott’s consequence of the functionality of emotions

Either accept that emotions sometimes are, and sometimes aren’t functional, or adopt a broader definition of emotion that includes intelligent emotion regulation.
- while broadening the definition of emotion seems unhelpful, it is important to consider emotional intelligence

Emotional Intelligence (Salovey & Grewal, 2005)

The ability to monitor one’s own and others’ feelings, to discriminate among them, and to use this information to guide one’s thinking and action.

Later expanded into the 4-branch model

4 branch ability model

1. Perceiving emotions

   1. Accurate recognition of own and others’ emotions

2. Using emotions

   1. knowledge about the relationship between emotion and cognition

   2. skill at applying that knowledge to facilitate performance

3. Understanding emotions

   1. being able to differentiate between emotions, understand relationships between emotions, and articulate how they develop over time

4. Managing emotions

   1. being able to regulate one’s own and others’ emotions to facilitate goal pursuit

Emotional Intelligence & Emotional Influence

“The ability to influence others via emotion display reflects variation in how effectively individuals can change the behaviors, attitudes, or emotions of other people by expressing emotions. This ability involves identifying the best emotion to display and choosing and implementing a strategy to display this emotion effectively” (Côté & Hideg, 2011).

Emotional intelligence is a prerequisite for successful emotional influence.

Test yourself

• What are the two key mechanisms underlying emotional influence?

• What determines the functionality of emotions?

• How is emotional intelligence related to emotional influence?