ch4: workplace emotions, attitudes, stress Flashcards
emotions
physiological, behavioral and psychological episodes experienced toward an object, person, or event that create a state of readiness
o Episodes – very brief events, some lasting less than a second but usually around a couple of minutes
o Subtle – without our awareness
moods
not directed toward anything in particular, tends to be longer-term background emotional state
emotions are changes
in our physiological state (blood pressure, heart rate), psychological state (thought process), behavior (facial expression)
two features of emotions
o Level of activation – some emotions are strong enough to consciously motivate us to act, some aren’t – internal energy/effort
Negative emotions often have stronger levels of activation
o Valence (core affect) – evaluation that something is good/bad
attitudes
cluster of beliefs, assessed feelings, and behavioral intentions toward a person, object or event (attitude object)
o Judgements are often conscious, more stable over time
o Emotions are experiences related to the attitude objects, not necessarily about it
cognitive model of attitudes
o Beliefs – established perceptions about the attitude objects (has a valence)
o Feelings – conscious positive or negative evaluations of the attitude object
Calculated from beliefs and the associated feelings about those beliefs
o Behavioral intentions – planned effort to engage in a particular behavior regarding the attitude object
emotional markers
- Our brain tag incoming sensory information with emotional markers based on the evaluation of whether that information supports or threatens our innate drives
o Not calculated – automatic and nonconscious, based on thin slices of information
o Analyzed with other information about the attitude object – can sway conscious evaluation
o People often deliberately “listen in” on their emotions
can emotions and cognitive reasoning disagree
yes, logical analysis generates feelings that differ from the emotional reaction
o Ex: executives tend to make quick decisions based on their gut feelings, the best decisions occur when they spend time logically evaluating the situation
cognitive dissonance
an emotional experience caused by a perception that our beliefs, feelings, and behavior are incongruent with one another
o Attitude is inconsistent with behavior – most people think of themselves as rational and logical, but that’s not true
o Emotions also motivate consistency
how to reduce cognitive dissonance
o Reversing behaviors – impossible most of the time
o Changing beliefs and feelings – developing more favorable attitudes toward specific features of the decision that they didn’t notice earlier + discover subsequent problems with the alternative they didn’t choose
o Compensate by recognizing previous consonant decisions
what determines emotions
individual’s personality
o People with higher emotional stability and extraverted personalities – experience more positive emotions
o Higher neuroticism and introverted personalities – more negative emotions
emotional labor
the effort, planning, and control needed to express organizationally desired emotions during interpersonal transactions
emotions performance
display behaviors representing specific emotions and to hide observable evidence of other emotions
when’s emotional labor higher
o In jobs requiring a variety of emotions
o In jobs requiring more intense emotions
o In jobs where interactions with clients is frequent or longer
o When employees must precisely abide by display rules
what does incongruence result in
stress and exhaustion – produces an emotional tension, requires more mental effort
o Emotional labor may also require employees to act contrary to their self-concept – psychological separation from self, job dissatisfaction
cultural differences in emotional labor
- Several countries in Asia and Africa strongly discourage emotional expression – people are expected to be subdued, have relatively monotonic voice intonation, avoid physical movement and touching that display emotions – more stress, lower life satisfaction
o Several Latin and Middle Eastern cultures allow or encourage more vivid display of emotions, expect people to act more consistently with their true emotions - Ex: 81% of Ethiopians and 74% of Japanese agreed that it’s considered unprofessional to express emotions overtly in ther culture
o 43% of Americans, 33% of Italians, 19% of Spaniards, Cubans, Egyptians
two approaches to emotional labor
o Consciously engage in verbal and nonverbal behaviors that represent the expected emotions
Surface acting – consciously behaving in ways that are consistent with the expected emotions – pretend we’re experiencing emotions that we aren’t
Usually a poor strategy – can be stressful to pretend to feel particular emotions (also difficult) + true emotions tend to reveal themselves as subtle gestures usually without our awareness
o Actively change our emotional experiences so they are aligned with the expected emotions and emotional performance
We consciously change our emotions so they are aligned with the expected emotions performance – deep acting (reframing the situation and shifting attention are the most common, changing and modifying the situation can be applied when employees work alone, suppressing and amplifying emotions produces deep acting but these cognitive activities may actually involve reframing the situation and shifting attention)
five strategies of regulating behavior
o Changing the situation – moving out of or into work settings that affect our emotions
o Modifying the situation – people adapt their environment so it alters their emotional state
o Suppressing or amplifying emotions – consciously trying to block out dysfunctional emotions or to increase the intensity of expected emotions
o Shifting attention
o Reframing the situation – cognitive re-evaluation of a particular event that generates more appropriate emotions
emotional intelligence
a set of abilities to perceive and express emotion, assimilate emotion in thought, understand and reason with emotion, and regulate emotion in oneself and others
emotional intelligence
a set of abilities to perceive and express emotion, assimilate emotion in thought, understand and reason with emotion, and regulate emotion in oneself and others
components of emotional intelligence
- Awareness of our own emotions – the ability to perceive and understand the meaning of our own emotions
o People with higher emotional intelligence are better at making sense of their emotions - Management of our own emotions – keeping disruptive impulses in check
- Awareness of others’ emotions – the ability to perceive and understand the emotions of other people
o Empathy – having an understanding of and sensitivity to the feelings, thoughts and situations of others
o Being organizationally aware - Management of others’ emotions – managing other people’s emotions
what other skills do people with high EI have
more effective team members, perform better in jobs requiring emotional labor, make better decisions involving other people, maintain more positive mindset for creative work