Chapter Four: Emotions & Moods

Positivity offset

tendency of most individuals to experience a mildly positive mood at zero input (when nothing in particular is going on)

Affect

broad range of feelings that people experience, including emotions & moods

Emotions

caused by a specific event; very brief in duration; intense, discrete, and short-lived feeling experiences

Moods

feelings that tend to be longer-lived and less intense than emotions and that lack a contextual stimulus.

Universal emotions

anger, fear, sadness, happiness, disgust, & surprise

Moral emotions

emotions that have moral implications because of our instant judgement of the situation that evokes them

Affective Circumplex

high negative, high positive, low positive, & low negative

Positive affect

affective dimension that consists of specific positive emotions such as excitement, enthusiasm, and elation at the high end

Negative affect

affective dimension that consists of emotions such as nervousness, stress, and anxiety at the high end.

Personality

moods and emotions have a trait component

Affect intensity

how strongly people experience their emotions

Sources of emotions & moods

sleep, exercise, gender identity, stress

Emotional labor

employee’s expression of organizationally desired emotions during interpersonal transactions at work

Felt emotions

individual’s actual emotions

Displayed emotions

emotions that are organizationally required and considered appropriate in a given job

Surface acting

Hiding one’s feelings and forgoing emotional expressions in response to display rules.

Deep acting

Trying to modify one’s true feelings based on display rules

Emotional dissonance

Inconsistencies between the emotions people feel and the emotions they project

Affective events theory

model suggesting that workplace events cause emotional reactions on the part of employees, which then influence workplace attitudes and behaviors.

Emotional intelligence

person’s ability to perceive emotions in the self and others; understand the meaning of these emotions; regulate one’s emotions accordingly in a cascading model

Emotional regulation

involves identifying and modifying the emotions you feel

Emotional regulation techniques

venting (social sharing), emotional suppression, or cognitive reappraisal

Emotional contagion

process by which peoples’ emotions are caused by the emotions of others

Implications for managers

emotions are natural, surface acting & emotional suppression are generally ineffective, and develop an understanding of the role of emotions and moods

Cognitive reappraisal

emotion regulation technique that involves the reframing of one's outlook on an emotional situation