Attitudes & Emotions in Organisations PDF

4.1C ATTITUDES AND EMOTIONS IN ORGANISATIONS 1 Theme 1: Attitudes and Emotions Literature Vignette 1 - Emotions Ekman (1994). Moods. Emotions and traits. In The nature of emotion: Fundamental questions. p. 56-58...

4.1C ATTITUDES AND EMOTIONS IN ORGANISATIONS 1 Theme 1: Attitudes and Emotions Literature Vignette 1 - Emotions Ekman (1994). Moods. Emotions and traits. In The nature of emotion: Fundamental questions. p. 56-58 Davidson (1994). On Emotion, Mood and Related Affective Constructs. In The nature of emotion: Fundamental questions. p. 51-55 Goldsmith (1994). Parsing the emotional domain from a developmental perspective. In The nature of emotion: Fundamental questions. p. 68-73 Frijda (1994). Varieties of affect: Emotions and episodes. In The nature of emotion: Fundamental questions. p. 59-67 Watson & Clark (1994) Emotions, moods, traits, and temperaments: Conceptual distinctions and empirical findings. In The nature of emotion: Fundamental questions. p. 89-93 Fredrickson & Barbara (2001) the role of positive emotions in positive psychology: The broaden-and-build theory of positive emotions. In American Psychologist, 56(3), p. 218-226 Cohn et al. (2009). Happiness unpacked: Positive emotions increase life satisfaction by building resilience. In Emotion, 9(3), p. 361-368 Vignette 2 - The complexity of attitudes and job satisfaction Eagly & Chaiken (1993). The nature of attitudes. In The psychology of attitudes. p. 1-16 Schleicher et al. (2004). Reexamining the job Satisfaction-Performance Relationship: The Complexity of Attitudes. In Journal of Applied Psychology, 89(1), p.165-177 Vignette 3 - Well-Being & JD-R Theory Bakker & Oerlemans (2011). Subjective well-being in organizations. In K. Cameron & G. Spreitzer (Eds.), Handbook of Positive Organizational Scholarship. p. 2-31 Bakker et al. (2014). Job Demands-Resources Theory. In Work and Wellbeing: A Complete Reference Guide. p. 1-28 Vignette 1 - Emotions Moods, Emotions, and Traits Ekman (1994) Features that distinguish moods and emotions Duration: Moods last much longer than emotions. There is no agreement about how long an emotion typically lasts, however most of those who distinguish moods from emotions recognise that moods last longer. According to Ekman (1984), emotions can be very brief and typically last a matter of seconds or at most minutes, while moods last for hours or sometimes days. ○ If an emotion lasts for hours, it is a sum of recurring emotion episodes within that time period. If a mood lasts for weeks or months, it is not a mood but an affective disorder. Lexical Distinction: Language is not always correctly used to clarify the distinction. For example, “irritable”may refer to a long-lasting mood related to the briefer emotion of anger, but it may also refer to low-intensity anger or the beginning of an anger episode. Link: Moods seem to lower the threshold for emotions related to the particular mood. For example, when a person is in an irritable mood, that person becomes angry more readily than usual. ○ Research has not been done to determine whether a person in a n irritable mood is in a continuous level of anger or if instead it is a difference in threshold. Modulation: the apparent difficulty in modulating an emotion if it occurs during a mood. For example, a person in an irritable mood will not be able to modulate an episode of anger as well as usual. Furthermore, the anger during the irritable mood is more intense, less controlled, and decays more slowly. Facial Expressions: Moods do not own their own unique facial expressions while many of the emotions do. Triggers: Emotions are triggered by distinct events, whereas moods have multiple causes. People can often specify the event that called forth an emotion, and often cannot do so for a mood. ○ Two different ways in which moods are triggered: 1) by changes in one’s neurohormonal, biochemical state. For example, lack of sleep or food. 2) by the experience of a very high intensity emotion. For example, intense anger may trigger an irritable mood. Intentionality: Unlike moods, emotions have a focus. JEFFREY VAN DER MARK 4.1C ATTITUDES AND EMOTIONS IN ORGANISATIONS 2 On Moods, Emotions, and Related Affective Constructs Davidson (1994) Criticism on Ekman (1994) Durations: Not all moods last longer than emotions. For example, a fearful walk home in the dark. Facial Expressions: Not all emotions are accompanied by distinctive facial expressions. Triggers: Brief emotional episodes can be produced that bypass conscious awareness. Emotions can be produced in the absence of recognisable antecedents Emotions and Moods: A Functional Account The essential difference between moods and emotions can be found through a functional analysis of each. ○ The primary function of emotion is to modulate or bias action. Emotions most often arise in situations where adaptive action is required. ○ The primary function of moods is to modulate or bias cognition. Mood serves as a primary mechanism for altering information-processing priorities and for shifting networks/nodes of information processing. For example, in a depressed mood the accessibility to sad memories is increased and the accessibility to happy memories is decreased. Moods may always be present in at least a weak sense. Moods provide the affective background or emotional colour to all that we do. It may be said that our cognitive processes are always biassed or modulated. Since emotions occur against a background of mood, they can be present or not. Moods are more subjective. Emotions appear to be precipitated by events that are perceived as occurring quickly and without warning, while moods may be more likely to follow events that are perceived as occurring over a slower time course. For example, losing control of your car on an icy road elicits fear, while it takes a grey, rainy day to invoke a depressed mood. ○ Moods can also be produced in a cumulative fashion over time. For example, a series of mild negative interactions. Emotions can lead to particular moods, and moods can alter the probability that particular emotions will be triggered. It is very complex to determine what elicits the other. On Temperament and Affective Style Affective Style refers to the entire domain of individual differences that modulate a person’s reactivity to emotional events. These individual differences are trait-like constructs that are consistent over time. Moods are not affective styles, but certain personality traits may reflect a particular affective style. ○ Certain patterns of central nervous system function that vary across individuals show consistency in reflecting the affective style of individuals. For example, research has repeatedly shown that asymmetric activation in anterior cortical regions (prefrontal and anterior temporal) has been found to reflect consistent differences in emotional reflectivity. Temperament refers to early consistent differences that are assumed to be at least in part under genetic control. Temperamental differences among children can lead to systematic biases in emotional reactivity. ○ Temperament in children and affective style in adults appear to be mediated through the same central circuitry, since similar patterns of anterior cortical activation are associated with each. It is likely that temperament and affective style are associated with differences in the nervous system that can persist over longer durations, for example differences in the receptor densities of particular neurotransmitters or neuromodulators. ○ In a study, generations of rats were bred to exhibit qualities of fearfulness. In a number of studies it has been revealed that those rats - who display heightened fearfulness - have fewer benzodiazepine receptors compared with those who are low in fearfulness. It is likely that individual differences that are present in early development are impacted significantly by learning. Parsing the Emotional Domain From a Developmental Perspective Goldsmith (1994) Temperament as Emotional Traits We may think of temperamental traits as characteristic individual differences in the way basic emotions are experienced and expressed Functionalist perspective, refers to the organism's "sense" (perception, appraisal, evaluation) that a significant change has occurred in the relation of the self (physical or symbolic), to social others (actual or implied), or occasionally to the world of objects.Thus, emotions are generally interpersonal, and phenomena we call thirst, sleepiness, and startle are not emotional. In a structuralist perspective, emotion involves not only a feeling state, but also an associated action tendency. Emotions are structured as families with common eliciting and expressive features, the latter including vocalic, facial, gestural, postural, and instrumental components. Lists of which emotion families should be considered basic vary among theorists. JEFFREY VAN DER MARK 4.1C ATTITUDES AND EMOTIONS IN ORGANISATIONS 3 There are two key expectations that personality theorists hold of a characteristic/trait: cross-situational consistency and temporal stability. ○ The property of cross-situational consistency is qualified in at least three ways: 1) the situations must have common incentive properties, 2) they must afford significant behavioural options, and 3) they must be relevant to the individual's goals. ○ Temporal stability is only expected between periods of major behavioural reorganisation, and the stability is not expected to override other sources of variation. Furthermore, temperamental continuity sometimes is apparent only under conditions of stress, novelty, or other extraordinary situations. ○ Sometimes a third expectation, that of constitutional or genetic origins is added. There is no necessary reason for stable and consistent traits to be rooted in the genetic code. However, consistencies can exist in cognitive structures, such as chronically accessible schemas, or from learning and generalisation, as in the case of classically conditioned fears Most contemporary research on temperament in the United States centres on infancy and early childhood. As the child develops, it becomes increasingly arbitrary to distinguish temperament traits from personality traits. Temperament is not the whole of personality and arguably not even the whole of emotional individuality. The personality characteristics that are distinguished from temperament include social attitudes, self-related characteristics, and other more complex personality structures. Goldsmith (1994) redefines temperament from a systems perspective, moving away from reductionist views. He proposes that temperament should be viewed as a system's sensitivity to initial conditions whenever the system becomes organised or undergoes transitions, so not just birth. ○ Transitions refers to significant changes or shifts that occur in a person's life or emotional state. These transitions can happen on a daily basis, like meeting a stranger or encountering a new situation, or they can be more substantial, such as starting school or going through a major life event. Goldsmith (1994) argues that temperament should be defined as variability in developing emotional systems, with a focus on how individuals navigate significant transitions. These transitions occur daily and across life stages, and consistent ways of managing these transitions reflect temperament. ○ This concept aligns with developmental approaches to emotionality, particularly in the study of emotional regulation. Distinguishing Temperament, Mood, and Emotional Reactions The table depicts conceptualisation of emotional reactions, moods, and temperamental traits. Distinguishing Feature Emotional Reaction Mood Temperament Entity type Coordinated event with Longer-term state Disposition or trait associated brief state Temporal properties Duration of seconds, unless Duration of minutes to days; Stability over periods the stimulus persists intensity varies; episodic ranging from months to quality years; activated in relevant contexts Cognitive components Some appraisal acquired; Includes Limited in early can be elementary or emotion-management development, but central as automatic processes, attribution, and temperament is transformed other complex cognitions into personality traits Antecedents Species-general relational Can be after-effects of Differences in genotype themes or perception of emotional reaction, or result and/or experience significant changes in the from other poorly environment understood processes Role of situations Confined to features of Help maintain or terminate Complementary to emotion-eliciting stimulus state temperaments as influence on behaviour Universality vs. individuality Universal in occurrence, if Features from both, Conceptualised as an not form individuality primarily in individual difference emotion management variable; traits vary in salience from person to person Developmental Distinctive reactions evident Seldom studied; moods Traits become organised considerations in first year of life for several expected to become longer and stable on different emotions, and in second lasting as cognitive schedules, beginning in first and third years for others capacities develop year; relative standing on traits can change during development JEFFREY VAN DER MARK 4.1C ATTITUDES AND EMOTIONS IN ORGANISATIONS 4 Trait concepts tend to be caricatured outside the field of personality. That is, traits are sometimes depicted as constantly operative and rigidly stable. emotional reactions are apparent before mood sates during development, and the behavioural indicators of temperament change gradually as the child ages Varieties of Affect: Emotions and Episodes, Moods, and Sentiments Frijda (1994) Intentional and Nonintentional States Emotions imply and involve relationships of the subject with a particular object, for example one is afraid of something, angry at someone, or happy about something. Intentionality applies to both emotional experience and emotional behaviour. For example, angry behaviour is directed at someone or something. ○ An emotion’s cause and its object may be different entities.For example, the cause of one’s anger is an insult, but the object of that anger is the antagonist who insulted that individual. Emotions - unlike affective states - have to have an object by definition. In some situations, one may be unaware of their cause. For example, one may not know where their irrational anger came from. On the other hand, it is possible for an affective state to have a cause and no object, or to have an object without one being aware of its cause. The domain of nonintentional affective state is different from the domain of intentional affective states. It roughly coincides with moods. Moods are often characterised as being global, as compared to emotions. In sum, moods are nonintentional states Naturally, moods have causes, and the cause of a particular mood may be a particular emotionally charged event. However, that event or person focal in that event does not become its object. Analysis of Emotions and Moods Differences between affective states consist of differences in affect, appraisal, action, readiness, and physiological response. ○ Affect: refers to feeling pleasant or unpleasant. ○ Appraisal: refers to the perception and evaluation of the emotional event, with regard to its valence (for example pleasant or unpleasant) and its properties for dealing with it conduciveness or obstructiveness, outcome certainty, other’s agency, controllability, etc. ○ Action readiness: refers to action tendencies or impulses to establish or disrupt relationships to the environment, and to states of activation in doing so. Affective states are composed of: a particular affect, a particular appraisal, and a particular state of action readiness, with or without corresponding motor involvement and a particular pattern of physiological response. In states of emotions affect, appraisal, and action readiness are object-focused, whereas in states of moods these elements lack such a focus. In short, unlike moods, emotions have a focus. Emotion Episodes Emotions tend to be of short durations, while moods may persist for a longer time. However, in our daily language it is not restricted to states that last only minutes to hours. The duration of an affective state is uncorrelated with whether the state is an intentional or nonintentional state, thus whether or not it relates to an object. Emotional events tend to lead to emotional episodes that usually last for an hour or more. Emotional episodes do not represent moods, evidenced by the fact that there is an object of focus. The extended duration of emotional episodes have various causes: ○ Duration: They may be due to the duration of the emotion-arousing event or event sequence. ○ Magnitude: Extended durations can arrive from the magnitude of the aroused amotion the event elicited Overall intensity fluctuates over the episode. The emotional state does not remain on the same level during the episode. The nature of the emotion usually also varies. In reports, incidents were described as sequences in which one emotion followed another. For example, annoyance is followed by anger, then by disgust, and later by upset. ○ This means that the action readiness also changes over time similarly to the emotions. Episodes are reported as wholes, as unbroken engagements with the emotion-arousing event, During episodes, more acute phases and less acute phases succeed one another. ○ During acute phases, motor readiness, physiological arousal, expressive activity, and interference with other activities are pronounced. ○ During less acute phases, feelings and thoughts are present either as foreground or as background for the other activities. During these phases, the individual’s state might be characterised as a mood except that an object may be the focus of attention or may be reinstalled as such at any moment. Are Emotions, Emotion Episodes, and Moods Distinct Processes? Frijda (1994) argues that they are distinct categories of affective processes using the distinction between processes of object-focused, intention affective activity and non-object-focused or nonintentional affective activity. She claims that every emotion tends to prolong itself into a mood or tends to entail a mood change. JEFFREY VAN DER MARK 4.1C ATTITUDES AND EMOTIONS IN ORGANISATIONS 5 Emotions and moods alternate or may even be active simultaneously. It is inadequate to say that during an emotion episode one motion succeeds another, because it is an unsolvable task to find out when one motion ends and the next one begins. ○ Instead, component processes (of appraisals, action readiness mechanisms, specific behaviours, and physiological responses) wax and wane, either successively or at overlapping periods simultaneously. Consequences of Emotions and Moods Unlike emotions, moods lead to generalised threshold changes and nonspecific changes in judgements. For example, research has demonstrated that negative moods tend to bias judgement of life satisfaction, or the probability estimates of negative events. Unlike moods, emotions lead to changes in beliefs. For example, anger enhances the attribution of blame, while an angry mood appears not to do so. According to Bower’s (1981) Network Theory, instances of mood and particular moods generally serve as memory nodes. Moods and emotions are sources of information, to the subject, with regard to their current global state of action readiness and evaluation of the life situation, or with regard to affectively important events. Sentiments Sentiments or emotional attitudes are affective dispositions that we attribute to individuals to account for their tendencies to respond affectively, and to account for individual differences in this regard. They are also referred to as likes or dislikes, or related emotion words such as hate, love, or despise. Most sentiments are acquired as a result of previous experience or social learning. However, certain sentiments may have an innate basis and be fairly common among human beings. For example, the dislike for seeing blood. Certain common emotion words tend to refer to sentiments rather than to emotions, “love” and “hate” are the most prominent. Both words usually refer to ways of seeing and treating a given object rather than to momentary response. The labels can apply both to some acute state and to some disposition. For example, the distinction between “I love dogs” and “I felt an upsurge of love”. The structure of sentiments can be described in two ways: ○ 1) Sentiments consist of cognitive dispositions to appraise an object in a particular way, and the mode of appraisal is similar to that of the corresponding emotion. ○ For example, “I love the music of that band” is accompanied by feelings of joy. ○ Sentiments can be understood as cognitive schemas whose informational content gives rise to the appraisal when meeting the object. The schema is activated when the subject consciously reflects on a sentiment, and is consequently followed by the eliciting of an emotion with the same content. ○ 2) Sentiments are dispositions to treat the object in a way corresponding to that of the action readiness during the emotions. Sentiments trigger dormant motivations that become acute on actual/possible confrontation with the relevant object. ○ For example, fearful sentiments lead to anticipatory avoidance of the object. "Emotions" and "moods" are terms we use to describe certain experiences or feelings that happen at specific times. In contrast, "sentiment" refers to a person's beliefs or thoughts about these phenomena, either predicting that they might happen or explaining why they happen in response to certain things, even if those things don't seem to directly cause those feelings at the time. Personality Dispositions Emotional personality dispositions are often referred to by emotion words, for example an anxious person, a happy person, or a fearful person. Emotional personality dispositions can be understood as low thresholds for the response patterns characterising different emotions. ○ For example, anger trait as a low threshold for aggressive behaviour, or trait anxiety as a low threshold for autonomic arousal and response inhibition. ○ Emotional personality traits are often referred to as traits of temperament. Personality traits carry the assumption of realistic temporal stability. Evidence exists that several emotional personality traits have some innate basis. However, life experience may be equally responsible. Biological changes may account for personality changes as well, for example hormonal changes. Emotions, Moods, Traits, and Temperaments: Conceptual Distinctions and Empirical Findings Watson & Clark (1994) Emotion vs. Mood An emotion represents an organised, highly structured reaction to an event that is relevant to the needs, goals, or survival of the organism.An emotion contains three differentiable components: 1) a prototypic form of expression (typically facial), 2) a pattern of consistent automatic changes, and 3) a distinct subjective feeling state. JEFFREY VAN DER MARK 4.1C ATTITUDES AND EMOTIONS IN ORGANISATIONS 6 ○ Other characteristics may also help define an emotion. Most notably, each emotion represents a response to a specific type of event, and each emotion gives rise to characteristic forms of adaptive behaviour. For example fear is a reaction to situations of perceived danger and motivates flight to eliminate that danger. Waking consciousness is experienced as a continuous stream of affect, such that people are always experiencing some type of mood. Much of the time they may be experiencing milder versions of classic emotions. For example, feeling annoyed or irritated rather than the full-blown emotion of anger. ○ On many occasions, people experience mixed states that represent complex combinations of basic emotions. For example, nostalgia is a mixed state that combines elements of joy and sadness. Structural approach that focuses on two broad mood factors: Negative Affect and Positive Affect. ○ Negative Affect (NA): the extent to which an individual is currently upset or distressed. Personals experiencing high NA typically report various negative mood states. Those experiencing low NA would describe themselves as calm and relaxed. ○ Positive Affect (PA): the extent to which an individual is currently experiencing pleasure or enthusiasm. Individuals with high PA typically experience a broad range of positive states. Those reporting low levels of PA typically report feeling sluggish. Unenergetic, and disinterested in their environment. The two mood factors are only mutually exclusive when individuals experience very high levels of affect. Individuals experiencing very high levels of Negative affect report low levels of Positive affect, and vice versa. ○ Exception to the rule: when the negative affective state is sought out or anticipated. For example, fear when one rides a roller coaster or watches a horror film with enthusiasm and excitement. At moderate levels of affect, which is most of the time, the two mood factors are largely independent of each other. For example, individuals who are currently experiencing low NA (thus are calm and relaxed) do not necessarily feel happy or enthusiastic. Individuals who are currently experiencing low PA (thus are disinterested and feel sluggish) are not necessarily upset, fearful, or angry. Trait Affect and Temperament Trait affect or emotional traits can be defined simply as stable individual differences in the tendency to experience a corresponding mood state. For example, individuals who are high in the trait of fearfulness are prone to more frequent or intense episodes of fear. Watson & Clark (1994) argue that NA and PA are the most important emotional traits, since extensive evidence indicates that both factors have a strong dispositional component such that individuals exhibit broad and consistent differences in their tendency to experience them. Evidence for this: ○ Stability over time: both NA and PA are strongly stable over time as confirmed by a two-phase study of 27 months and another interval study spanning across 7-8 years. Both analyses revealed impressive stability. ○ Consistency across life-situations: Individual differences in NA and PA are consistent across various life situations as confirmed in different studies. For example, individuals scored similarly during socialising and when they were alone. Furthermore, they also score similarly in work vs. recreational settings. Trait affect and temperament differ in two ways: ○ Origins: personality traits arise from hereditary influences, environmental factors, or some combination of the two. In contrast the concept of temperament implies that these individual differences are at least to some extent present at birth, thus heritable. ○ Construct level: Watson & Clark (1994) believe that temperament is a more general or broader dispositional construct that overarches various emotional traits and other associated cognitive and behavioural characteristics. Thus, NA and PA are components of more general dimensions of temperament. ○ Specifically, NA is a centrally defining feature of the personality dimension Neuroticism or Negative Affectivity, while PA is a core component of Extraversion or Positive Affectivity. Individuals who are high in Neuroticism are prone to experience a diverse array of negative mood states, and those low in Neuroticism tend to be content, secure, and self-satisfied. Extraverts tend to experience strong levels of positive mood and characterise themselves as cheerful, optimistic, and enthusiastic, while introverts experience relatively low levels of positive affect. ○ Consistent with the definitions of temperament, both Neuroticism/Negative Affectivity and Extraversion/Positive Affectivity are strongly heritable. The Role of Positive Emotions in Positive Psychology: The Broaden-and-Build Theory of Positive Emotions Fredrickson (2001) Perspectives on the Functions of Affect and Emotions Positive affect, according to numerous theorists, facilitates approach behaviour. From this perspective, experiences of positive affect prompt individuals to engage with their environments and partake in activities, many of which are adaptive for the individual, its species, or both. This link between positive affect and activity engagement provides an explanation for positivity offset, or the tendency for individuals to experience mild positive affect frequently, even in neutral contexts. JEFFREY VAN DER MARK 4.1C ATTITUDES AND EMOTIONS IN ORGANISATIONS 7 ○ Without such an offset, individuals most often would be unmotivated to engage with their environments. Yet with such an offset, individuals exhibit the adaptive bias to approach and explore novel objects, people, or situations. Because positive emotions include a component of positive affect, they too function as internal signals to approach or continue. For example, sensory pleasure motivates people to approach and continue consuming whatever stimulus is biologically useful for them at the moment. Discrete emotion theorists often link the function of specific emotions to the concept of specific action tendencies. For example, fear is linked with the urge to escape, and anger with the urge to attack. A key idea from this perspective is that a specific action tendency is what makes an emotion evolutionarily adaptive. For positive emotions, the action tendency is general instead of specific. For example, joy has been linked with contentment with inactivity, instead of specific urges such as to flee out of fear or attack out of anger. ○ This is troublesome: If the action tendencies triggered by positive emotions are vague, their effects on survival may be inconsequential. The Broaden-and-Build Theory of Positive Emotions The Broaden-and-Build Theory (BBT) states that certain discrete positive emotions (including joy, interest, contentment, pride, and love) all share the ability to broaden people's momentary thought-action repertoires and build their enduring personal resources, ranging from physical and intellectual resources to social and psychological resources. ○ In a life-threatening situation, a narrowed thought-action repertoire promotes quick and decisive action that carries direct and immediate benefit. Although positive emotions can occur in adverse circumstances, the typical context of positive emotions is not a life-threatening situation. Examples of how each of the positive emotions broaden habitual modes of thinking or acting: ○ Joy broadens by creating the urge to play, push the limits, and be creative. These urges are evident not only in social and physical behaviour, but also in intellectual and artistic behaviour. ○ Interest broadens by creating the urge to explore, take in new information and experiences, and expand the self in the process. ○ Contentment broadens by creating the urge to savour current life circumstances and integrate these circumstances into new views of self and of the world. ○ Pride broadens by creating the urge to share news of the achievement with others and to envision even greater achievements in the future. ○ Love broadens by creating recurring cycles of urges to play with, explore, and savour experiences with loved ones. In contrast to negative emotions, which carry direct and immediate adaptive benefits in situations that threaten survival, the broadened thought-action repertoires triggered by positive emotions carry indirect and long-term adaptive benefits. ○ Broadening builds enduring personal resources, which function as reserves to be drawn on later to manage future threats. It is important to note that the personal resources accrued during states of positive emotions are conceptualised as durable. In short, the broaden-and-build theory describes the form of positive emotions in terms of broadened thought-action repertoires and describes their function in terms of building enduring personal resources. In doing so, the theory provides a new perspective on the evolved adaptive significance of positive emotions. JEFFREY VAN DER MARK 4.1C ATTITUDES AND EMOTIONS IN ORGANISATIONS 8 Positive Emotions Broaden Thought-Action Repertoires Foundational evidence for the proposition that positive emotions broaden people's momentary thought-action repertoires comes from two decades of experiments conducted by Isen (2000). They have documented that people experiencing positive affect show patterns of thought that are notably unusual, creative, integrative, open to information, and efficient. They have also shown that those experiencing positive affect show an increased preference for variety and accept a broader array of behavioural options. ○ Frederickson & Branigan (2002): Participants in the two positive emotions conditions (joy and contentment) identified more things that they would like to do right then relative to those in the two negative emotion conditions (fear and anger) and, more important, relative to those in the neutral control condition. Those in the two negative emotion conditions also named fewer things than did those in the neutral control condition In short, it is suggested that PA produces a broad, flexible cognitive organisation and ability to integrate diverse material. Research provides evidence that positive affect broadens cognition. Whereas negative emotions have long been known to narrow people's attention Positive Emotions Undo Lingering Negative Emotions The undoing hypothesis: If negative emotions narrow the momentary thought-action repertoire and positive emotions broaden this same repertoire, then positive emotions ought to function as efficient antidotes for the lingering effects of negative emotions. In other words, positive emotions might correct or undo the after effects of negative emotions ○ Positive emotions (or key components) are incompatible with negative emotions. However, the precise mechanism ultimately responsible for this incompatibility has not been adequately identified. The broadening function of positive emotions may play a role. ○ Fredrickson (2001) used a time-pressured speech preparation task to test the hypothesis that positive emotions should speed recovery from or undo the increased cardiovascular reactivity associated with negative emotions. In just one minute, participants prepared a speech on the topic “Why you are a good friend” ” believing that their speech would be videotaped and evaluated by their peers. Participants were randomly assigned to view one of four films. Two films elicited mild positive emotions (joy and contentment), a third served as a neutral control condition, and the fourth film elicited sadness. ○ Results: In three independent samples, participants in the two positive emotion conditions (joy and contentment) exhibited faster cardiovascular recovery than did those in the neutral control condition. Participants in the sadness condition exhibited the longest lasting recovery. Positive Emotions Fuel Psychological Resiliency Positive affect and positive beliefs serve as resources for people coping with adversity. Evidence for the undoing effect of positive emotions suggests that people might improve their psychological well-being, and perhaps also their physical health, by cultivating experiences of positive emotions at opportune moments to cope with negative emotions. Resilient individuals are said to bounce back from stressful experiences quickly and efficiently, just as resilient metals bend but do not break. The BBT suggests that this ability to bounce back to the cardiovascular baseline may be fueled by experiences of positive emotion. ○ Tugade & Fredrickson (2001) measured psychological resilience using a self-report scale during the same time-pressured speech preparation task as before. Resilience did not predict the levels of anxiety participants reported experiencing during the speech task or the magnitude of their cardiovascular reactions to the stressful task. Resilience did, however, predict participants' reports of positive emotions. Before the speech task was even introduced, more resilient individuals reported higher levels of preexisting positive affect on an initial mood measure. ○ Results: more resilient participants exhibited significantly faster returns to baseline levels of cardiovascular activation following the speech task. Moreover, as predicted by the BBT, this difference in time needed to achieve cardiovascular recovery was mediated by differences in positive emotions Positive Emotions Build Psychological Resilience and Trigger Upward Spirals Towards Improved Emotional Well-Being BBT predicts that experiences of positive emotions build psychological resilience over time, and not just reflect it. ○ According to BBT, positive emotions broaden the scopes of attention and cognition, enabling flexible and creative thinking, and augment people's enduring coping resources. In turn, by building this psychological resource, positive emotions should enhance people's subsequent emotional well-being. One way people experience positive emotions in the face of adversity is by finding positive meaning in ordinary events and within the adversity itself. Not only does finding positive meaning trigger positive emotion, but also positive emotions, because they broaden thinking, should increase the likelihood of finding positive meaning in subsequent events. ○ Upwards Spiral: Positive emotions and the broadened thinking they cause influence one another reciprocally, leading to considerable increases in emotional well-being over time ○ Downwards Spiral: Depressed mood and the narrowed, pessimistic thinking it causes influence one another reciprocally, over time leading to ever-worsening moods and even clinical levels of depression ○ Fredrickson (2001) assessed broad-minded coping (through cognitive broadening, positive emotions produce an upward spiral towards enhanced emotional well-being) at two time points, five weeks apart. JEFFREY VAN DER MARK 4.1C ATTITUDES AND EMOTIONS IN ORGANISATIONS 9 Data revealed clear evidence for an upward spiral. Individuals who experienced more positive emotions than others became more resilient to adversity over time, as indexed by increases in broad-minded coping. In turn, these enhanced coping skills predicted increased positive emotions over time. ○ Results: Positive emotions and broad-minded coping mutually build on one another. Not only do positive emotions make people feel good in the present, but also, through their effects on broadened thinking, positive emotions increase the likelihood that people will feel good in the future. From the perspective of the BBT, positive emotions are vehicles for individual growth and social connection: By building people's personal and social resources, positive emotions transform people for the better, giving them better lives in the future. ○ For example, idle curiosity can become expert knowledge, or affection and shared amusement can become a lifelong supportive relationship. Positive Emotions Increase Life Satisfaction by Building Resilience Cohn et al. (2009) Abstract The BBT suggests that happiness (a composite of life satisfaction, coping resources, and positive emotions) predicts desirable life outcomes in many domains, due to positive emotions helping people build lasting resources. Study measured emotions daily for 1 month in a sample of 86 students and assessed life satisfaction and trait resilience at the beginning and end of the month. ○ Results: Positive emotions predicted increases in both resilience and life satisfaction. Negative emotions had weak or null effects and did not interfere with the benefits of positive emotions. Positive emotions also mediated the relation between baseline and final resilience, but life satisfaction did not. The results suggest that it is in-the-moment positive emotions, and not more general positive evaluations of one’s life, that form the link between happiness and desirable life outcomes. Change in resilience mediated the relation between positive emotions and increased life satisfaction, suggesting that happy people become more satisfied not simply because they feel better but because they develop resources for living well. Positive Emotions and Ego Resilience In the study, the relationship between positive emotions and change in ego resilience is examined. The study tested whether positive emotions are associated with growth in ego resilience, which in turn predicts subsequent positive emotions. Ego resilience is a fairly stable personality trait that reflects an individual’s ability to adapt to changing environments. These adaptive responses may include identifying opportunities, adapting to constraints, and bouncing back from misfortune. Ego resilience is related to a range of important life outcomes: 1) fewer behavioural problems in early childhood; 2) better interpersonal and intrapersonal adjustment across the life span; 3) faster cardiovascular recovery after a laboratory stressor; and 4) less depression and more thriving after a real-world tragedy. Method University students were recruited via newspaper ads and posters offering up to $100 (depending on the completeness of their data) for participation in a month-long study of psychological adjustment. Volunteers who were in their first or second year and above 18 were accepted. Out of 120 eligible respondents were randomly selected and 86 provided adequate daily responses. Measurements: ○ Daily emotions: Participants rated their strongest experiences of 18 emotions in the past day on a 5-point scale. ○ Ego resilience: The Ego-Resiliency 89 test was used. Participants responded on a 4-point Likert scale to 14 items. ○ Life satisfaction: The Satisfaction with Life Scale was used. Participants responded on a 7-point Likert scale to 5 items. Participants visited our lab, where an experimenter explained the significance of the project and the importance of consistent participation. They then completed T1 questionnaires, including ego resilience and life satisfaction. Participants were instructed to visit our website every evening for 28 days. Hypotheses and Results Hypothesis 1: Daily positive emotions measured throughout the month predict increases in both ego resilience and life satisfaction over the month. Daily negative emotions have no effect. ○ Confirmed: The study found that daily positive emotions throughout the month predicted increases in both ego resilience and life satisfaction. As expected, daily negative emotions did not have a significant effect on these outcomes. JEFFREY VAN DER MARK 4.1C ATTITUDES AND EMOTIONS IN ORGANISATIONS 10 Hypothesis 2: The relation between baseline ego resilience and ego resilience 1 month later is partially mediated by daily positive emotions. Although life satisfaction is similarly valenced, it will not similarly mediate. ○ Partially confirmed: Daily positive emotions partially mediated the relationship between baseline ego resilience and ego resilience 1 month later, as predicted. However, contrary to expectations, life satisfaction did show some mediation by daily positive emotions, even though it was expected that it would not mediate in the same way as ego resilience. Hypothesis 3: The relation between positive emotions and increased life satisfaction is mediated by increased resilience. ○ Confirmed: The study found that the relationship between positive emotions and increased life satisfaction was mediated by increased resilience. This supported the idea that positive emotions help build resilience, which in turn leads to greater life satisfaction. Hypothesis 4: Levels of negative emotions will not affect the associations among positive emotions, ego resilience, and life satisfaction. ○ Confirmed: Negative emotions did not significantly affect the associations among positive emotions, ego resilience, and life satisfaction. This supports the idea that positive emotions play a unique role in fostering resilience and life satisfaction, independent of negative emotions. Hypothesis 5: The models tested in Hypotheses 1-3 will not be improved by the addition of a variable reflecting change in positive emotions across the month. ○ Confirmed: Adding a variable for change in positive emotions across the month did not improve the models tested in Hypotheses 1-3. This suggests that the overall level of positive emotions is more important than any changes in positive emotions over time. Discussion This prospective study strengthens the evidence that positive emotions actively help people create desirable outcomes. As the BBT predicts, participants who experienced frequent positive emotions became more satisfied not simply because they were enjoying themselves, but because they built resources that help deal with a wide range of life’s challenges. Correlational evidence for the BBT: Daily positive emotions predicted growth in ego resilience, a psychological resource that has proven useful in dealing with both mild and severe stressors. Growth in ego resilience then accounted for the relation between daily positive emotions and increases in global life satisfaction. The finding that positive emotions predict growth better than does life satisfaction is crucial in supporting the BBT. ○ Cohn et al. (2009) expect that ego resilience and many traits and skills that help people generate positive emotions, will lead to broadened outlooks and new resources. In contrast, improvements in material wealth and living circumstances, which increase life satisfaction but produce relatively few positive emotions, will have no beneficial effects. These findings also suggest that life satisfaction is more than just the summation of good and bad feelings over time. JEFFREY VAN DER MARK 4.1C ATTITUDES AND EMOTIONS IN ORGANISATIONS 11 Positive and Negative Emotions Positive emotions also emerged as functionally distinct from an absence of negative emotions. Growth in life satisfaction was predicted specifically by feeling good, not by avoidance of feeling bad. Growth in ego resilience was predicted by both independently, disconfirming our hypothesis that negative emotions would not have an effect. Positive emotions, even at moderate levels, can counteract negative emotions and remain beneficial even in stressful situations. In this study, positive emotions predicted life satisfaction and resource-building better than negative emotions. Consistency over time: Someone with stable moderate positive emotions throughout the month showed similar increases in resilience and life satisfaction as someone with fluctuating positive emotions. This suggests that the broaden-and-build process is driven by consistent, ordinary experiences rather than extraordinary positive changes. Depression or other mental illnesses: This study excluded individuals with clinical or subclinical depression symptoms.A person with extremely strong negative emotions may need to relieve them before becoming able to benefit from positive emotions. Rejecting a Pollyanna-ish View: The findings counter the idea that happiness research promotes unrealistic denial of negative experiences. Stable, average levels of positive emotions still led to growth in resilience and life satisfaction, even in the presence of negative emotions. Prolonged stressors or psychopathology: While the study found that negative emotions had a smaller impact than positive emotions, this may not hold under prolonged stress or psychopathology, which can deplete resources like optimism, health, and social support Limitations Use of self report measurements Correlational analysis Short-term study of a month Lack of diverse sample JEFFREY VAN DER MARK 4.1C ATTITUDES AND EMOTIONS IN ORGANISATIONS 12 Vignette 2: The complexity of attitudes and job satisfaction The Nature of Attitudes Eagly & Chaiken (1993) Definition of Attitude Attitude: Attitude is a psychological tendency that is expressed by evaluating a particular entity with some degree of favour or disfavour. Attitude can be regarded as a type of bias that directs the individual towards evaluative responses that are positive or negative. ○ Evaluative responding can produce a psychological tendency to respond with a particular degree of evaluation when encountering the attitude object. When this tendency is established, the person has formed an attitude towards the object. ○ A mental representation of the attitude may be stored in memory and thus can be activated by the presence of the attitude object or cues related to it. Attitudes are not directly observable but can be inferred from observable responses. Attitudes as Tendencies Tendency is synonymous with disposition or predisposition. Referring to attitudes as tendencies implies that attitude is an internal state that lasts for at least a short time. Some researches used these terms in their definition of attitude ○ For example, Campbell (1963) treated attitude as an acquired behavioural disposition (or a learned state) that creates an inclination to respond in particular ways. Other instances of acquired behavioural dispositions are concept, habit and schema. A disposition is often used to describe personality; a state that endures for a relatively long period of time. Some attitudes however are relatively temporary and changeable, especially when deemed unimportant by the people who hold them. ○ McGuire (1985) suggested that some attitudes may arise from genetic sources. Twin studies supported this suggestion. In short, even though most studied attitudes probably are learned, it is unwise to rule out that some attitudes may have an unlearned component.The definition of attitude should allow for the possibility that some attitudes are unlearned Attitudes as Evaluative Referring to attitude as an evaluative tendency presumes that attitude is an evaluative stat that intervenes between certain classes of stimuli and certain classes of responses. This is shown in the image below. The observable responses are regarded as revealing or expressing evaluation. Evaluative responses are those that express approval or disapproval, favour or disfavour, liking or disliking, approach or avoidance, attraction or aversion, etc. Evaluative responses and the tendencies that underlie them differ in valency or direction and can be divided in positive and negative evaluations. Valence refers to the difference in intensity or extremity. For example, the distinction between very positive, moderately positive, and slightly positive evaluations. Utility view of attitudes: suggests that an evaluation can be seen as one aspect of ascribing meaning to entities in the environment. ○ Osgood et al (1957) did numerous studies researching participants' responses in rating large numbers of concepts on adjective-scales. For example, valuable-worthless, noisy-quiet, good-bad, hard-soft, etc. Statistical analyses showed that the dimension typically accounting for the largest proportion of the total variance was labelled evaluation. This research suggested that a large portion of the meaning that people assign to entities in their world is evaluative in nature. Attitude Objects An evaluation is always made towards some entity or thing. An attitude object can be abstract (e.g. Liberalism, Humanism) or concrete (e.g. a pair of shoes, a book). Types of attitudes: JEFFREY VAN DER MARK 4.1C ATTITUDES AND EMOTIONS IN ORGANISATIONS 13 ○ Some attitude objects are overrepresented in research; social policies (social attitudes), ideologies (political attitudes), and social groups such as minorities (prejudice). ○ Attitudes towards individual people are often called liking or interpersonal attraction and have also been studied a great deal. ○ Attitude towards oneself is often termed self-esteem. ○ Attitude towards relatively abstract goals or end states of human existence (e.g. freedom, equality) are usually termed values. Attitude is different from other concepts related to people's tendencies or dispositions because it is identified only when an attitude object triggers a response that shows some level of evaluation. For example, personality traits are considerably broader than attitude because they are triggered by more varied stimuli. Attitude and Latent Processes The latent process conceptualisation implies that attitudes are underlying, internal processes that cannot be directly observed. Instead, these attitudes are inferred from external behaviours or responses that are thought to reflect these internal states. In other words, attitudes are considered latent (hidden or not directly measurable) because they exist within a person’s mind. Researchers cannot observe these attitudes directly but infer them from how people react to attitude objects, such as their verbal expressions, facial expressions, or actions. These observable reactions serve as indicators of the underlying attitude. The latent process conceptualisation, therefore, treats attitudes as mental processes that manifest indirectly through these external responses. In summary, there is growing evidence for defining attitudes as latent cognitive and physiological processes.This view suggests that attitude is more than a conceptual term to describe broad stimulus-response correlations. It claims that an attitude is a mental and neural state of readiness. The Commonsense Concept of Attitude The commonsense concept of attitude is how attitudes are typically perceived in everyday life; as simple, stable likes or dislikes that guide people's responses to various things in their environment. This view of attitude is practical and intuitive, where attitudes are seen as relatively stable evaluations or feelings people hold towards objects, people, or issues. These evaluations can be positive, negative, or neutral and influence how people respond or behave towards the attitude object. ○ This view contrasts with more technical or nuanced definitions that social psychologists might use, which include more complex aspects like attitude structure, formation, and the processes underlying attitudes. Classes of Evaluative Responses Social scientists often assume that responses that express evaluation can be divided into three classes: ○ Cognitive: contains thoughts that people have about the attitude object. ○ These are often conceptualised as beliefs; associations or linkages that people establish between the attitude object and various attributes. In theory beliefs can be non-evaluative and fall in the middle of the positive-negative continuum, however virtually all beliefs express evaluation to some degree. ○ In general, people who evaluate an attitude object favourably are likely to associate it with positive attributes and are unlikely to associate it with negative attributes. People who evaluate an attitude object unfavourably are likely to associate it with negative attributes and are unlikely to associate it with positive attributes. ○ Affective: consists of feelings or emotions that people have in relation to the attitude object. ○ These responses range from extremely positive to extremely negative and therefore are of evaluative nature. ○ In general, people who evaluate an attitude object favourably are likely to experience positive affective reactions to it and are unlikely to experience negative affective reactions. People who evaluate an attitude object unfavourably are likely to experience negative affective reactions and are unlikely to experience positive affective reactions. ○ Behavioural: encompasses people’s actions with respect to the attitude object. ○ These responses also range from extremely positive to extremely negative. ○ In general, people who evaluate an attitude object favourably tend to engage in behaviours that foster/support it, and people who evaluate an attitude object unfavourably tend to engage in behaviours to hinder/oppose it. Responses within each of the three categories should relate more strongly to other responses within that same category than to responses in the other two categories ○ Evidence supports empirical separability of three classes of evaluative responses under some but not all circumstances. Some studies show weak support of the three-dimensional model, and even argue for a one- or two-dimensional model representing. JEFFREY VAN DER MARK 4.1C ATTITUDES AND EMOTIONS IN ORGANISATIONS 14 Classes of Antecedents of Attitudes According to Eagly & Chaiken (1993), there are different types of factors or influences that can lead to the formation or change of attitudes. These antecedents are the underlying causes or conditions that shape attitudes. Eagly & Chaiken (1993) categorise these antecedents into several broad classes, each representing different ways that attitudes can develop or be influenced. ○ Cognitive Antecedents: This includes information and beliefs that people have about the attitude object. For example, learning facts or forming beliefs about a person, issue, or product can shape attitudes towards it. ○ Affective Antecedents: This refers to emotions or feelings associated with the attitude object. People can develop attitudes based on their emotional responses to something, like feeling joy, anger, or fear towards it. ○ Behavioural Antecedents: Sometimes, attitudes can be shaped by past behaviours or actions. For instance, if someone has consistently engaged in a particular behaviour, they may develop an attitude that aligns with that behaviour. These different classes of antecedents recognise that attitudes are not formed by a single factor but can be influenced by various cognitive, emotional, and behavioural experiences. This categorisation helps explain the complexity of attitude formation and change. Implications of the Cognitive, Affective, and Behavioural Analysis Attitudes are manifested in cognitive, affective, and behavioural responses and are formed on the basis of cognitive, affective, and behavioural processes. JEFFREY VAN DER MARK 4.1C ATTITUDES AND EMOTIONS IN ORGANISATIONS 15 Older three-component theories suggest that attitudes must have all three components at either the point of formation or responding, however Eagly & Chaiken (1993) argue that this is not necessary. Attitudes can be formed primarily or exclusively on the basis of any of the three processes. ○ For example, a person might develop a positive attitude towards electric cars based primarily on information they have learned (cognitive); someone might develop a strong dislike for a certain type of food, like broccoli, based solely on its smell or taste (affective); A person might develop a positive attitude towards running simply because they start running regularly and notice the benefits over time (behavioural) It is also not necessary for people to respond to attitude objects by cognitive, affective, and behavioural reactions. People may hold beliefs about some attitude object but never engage in overt behaviours in reaction to these beliefs. Reexamining the Job Satisfaction-Performance Relationship: The Complexity of Attitudes Schleicher et al. (2004) Abstract Schleicher et al. (2004) argue that organisational researchers tend to adopt an overly simplistic conceptualisation and operationalisation of job satisfaction (and job attitudes in general). Specifically, past research has failed to examine the affective-cognitive consistency (ACC) of job attitudes and the implications this has for the strength of the attitude and its relationship with behaviour (for example job performance). Study 1 suggests ACC is a significant moderator of the job satisfaction-job performance relationship, with those employees higher in ACC showing a significantly larger correlation between job satisfaction and performance than those lower in ACC. Study 2 replicated these findings. The Nature of (Job) Attitudes In most research, an individual’s job satisfaction is operationalised as their score across several items of a job satisfaction scale or as scores for multiple facets of satisfaction. The underlying assumption in such an approach is that this single score (or set of facet scores) is a complete representation of how individuals feel about their jobs in terms of satisfaction. ○ Limitation: Two individuals with the same (facet) scores may differ in many other ways that affect the relation of the attitude score to the behaviour manifested by those individuals. Schleicher et al. (2004) suggest that attitudes should be understood as existing along an attitude-nonattitude continuum, where not all individuals have equally strong, consistent, or impactful attitudes towards a given object. The strength of an attitude is influenced by several factors, not just the score on an attitude measure. A key factor affecting attitude strength, and its influence on behaviour, is the consistency between the affective (emotional) and cognitive (thought-based) components of an attitude, which is especially relevant for measuring job satisfaction. ○ Whereas the affective component of an attitude refers to the individual’s general level of positive or negative feeling concerning the target, the cognitive component consists of the individual’s beliefs or thoughts concerning the target. These two components are often dependent on each other and reciprocally related. Rosenberg (1960) found that individuals with lower affective-cognitive consistency (ACC) are less invested in an issue and have less stable attitudes. His findings linked higher ACC with greater attitudinal stability. Research also suggests that ACC moderates the predictive power of attitude scales, with higher ACC leading to stronger attitude-behaviour relationships. ○ Higher ACC enhances the accessibility of attitudes from memory, making them more likely to guide behaviour. Thus, Schleicher et al. (2004) hypothesise that ACC in job satisfaction will moderate the relationship between job satisfaction and performance, with higher ACC leading to a stronger connection between the two. ○ ACC refers to the alignment between an employee’s emotional (affective) feelings towards their job and their logical (cognitive) evaluations of it. When ACC is high, an individual’s feelings and thoughts about their job are in harmony, leading to stronger and more consistent attitudes. Conversely, when ACC is low, there is a disconnect between how they feel emotionally and what they think logically, resulting in weaker and less stable attitudes. Study 1 Participants: 65 employees from various industries in California, on average 29 years old (SD = 7.7) Measures: ○ Job satisfaction: Two job satisfaction surveys were used for the study of ACC; the Overall Job Satisfaction Scale (OJS) and the Minnesota Satisfaction Questionnaire (MSQ). The OJS is more affectively based than the MSQ and the MSQ is more cognitively based than the OJS. Furthermore, the combined job satisfaction measure was used. ○ affective-cognitive consistency (ACC): ACC was defined as the absolute value of the discrepancy between the individual’s positions in the two rankings. The higher the absolute value of the discrepancy, the lower the ACC. JEFFREY VAN DER MARK 4.1C ATTITUDES AND EMOTIONS IN ORGANISATIONS 16 ○ Job performance: Five job performance ratings on 7-point Likert scale were gathered directly from the participants’ supervisors. Results: The results showed that while all three job satisfaction measures were significantly correlated with job performance, ACC (Affective-Cognitive Consistency) was not related to any other variables. The study provides evidence that ACC enhances the link between job satisfaction and performance. Discussion: The results highlight that individuals with high affective-cognitive consistency (ACC) showed a strong positive relationship between job satisfaction and performance (r =.57), while those with low ACC showed no relationship (r =.03). These findings support the hypothesis that ACC moderates the job satisfaction-performance relationship, and the effect sizes are consistent with previous research. Study 2 (replication study) Participants: 84 urban firefighters employed in a metropolitan area in the Southeast, on average 39.7 years old (SD = 6.4) Measures: ○ Job satisfaction: The same three measures of job satisfaction used in the first study were used in Study 2: the MSQ, the OJS, and the combined job satisfaction measure. ○ affective-cognitive consistency (ACC): ACC was computed with the same approach used in Study 1 ○ Job performance: Supervisors rated employees on “overall performance” and “contribution to training class” using a scale from 1 to 5. Results: The results indicated that none of the direct correlations between the job satisfaction measures and job performance were statistically significant, though their magnitude was similar to those found in the previous study and prior research. However, as in Study 1, ACC did not correlate with any other variables, including job satisfaction scores. When analysing the moderating effect of ACC on the job satisfaction-performance relationship, results mirrored those of Study 1. Thus, the results support that ACC significantly moderates the effect of job satisfaction on performance. ○ Employees with high ACC showed a much stronger positive correlation between job satisfaction and performance (r =.54) compared to those with low ACC (r =.11). This difference was statistically significant, confirming that ACC moderates the relationship. General Discussion and Conclusions The results suggest the value of assessing both the affective and the cognitive components of attitudes in identifying those whose verbal attitude reports have consequences for their behaviour. Limitations Small sample sizes Both studies relied solely on self-reports (may lead to common method bias) Cross-sectional study design was used; single point of time unlike a longitudinal study design Study 2 used a single organisation within the sample pool Only ACC was examined as potential moderator JEFFREY VAN DER MARK 4.1C ATTITUDES AND EMOTIONS IN ORGANISATIONS 17 Vignette 3: Well-Being & JD-R Theory Subjective Well-Being in Organisations Bakker & Oerlemans (2011) Abstract In this study, Bakker & Oerlemans (2011) use the circumplex model of affect as a theoretical framework to distinguish between specific types of work-related subjective well-being, including work engagement, job satisfaction, happiness at work, workaholism, and burnout. In addition, this study will link positive types of work-related Subjective Well-Being (SWB) to job performance. Specific attention is paid to capturing the dynamics of SWB in work settings on a daily basis. Defining subjective well-being Subjective Well-Being (SWB) refers to how people evaluate their lives. This evaluation may take the form of cognition when a person makes a conscious evaluative judgement about his or her satisfaction with life as a whole. The evaluation of one’s life may also be in the form of affect, for example as the experience of unpleasant or pleasant emotions in reaction to life. ○ For example, a person is said to have high SWB if he or she is satisfied with his or her life (cognition) and experiences frequent positive emotions such as joy and happiness, and infrequent negative emotions such as sadness and anger (affect). ○ In recent years, a growing number of researchers have focused on positive indicators of SWB, including job satisfaction, work engagement, and happiness at work. In this study, the Circumplex Model (seen in the image below) is used to understand and categorise different forms of SWB in the workplace. This model is a way of organising emotions along two primary dimensions: pleasure (or valence) and activation (or arousal). ○ Pleasure/Valence: This dimension represents how pleasant or unpleasant an emotion is. On one end, there are pleasant feelings like joy and satisfaction, and on the other end, there are unpleasant feelings like sadness and frustration. ○ Activation/Arousal: This dimension reflects the level of activation or energy associated with the emotion. High activation involves emotions that are energising or intense (e.g., excitement, anxiety), while low activation involves emotions that are calming or low-energy (e.g., relaxation, boredom). JEFFREY VAN DER MARK 4.1C ATTITUDES AND EMOTIONS IN ORGANISATIONS 18 Work-related subjective well-being An employee has high work-related SWB if he or she is (a) satisfied with their job and (b) experiences frequent positive emotions and infrequent negative emotions. In contrast, employees who experience mainly negative emotions at work may suffer from burnout or workaholism. Further on, employees may either experience (a) high activation levels (workaholism, engagement, happiness) or (b) low activation (satisfaction, burnout) at work. Positive Forms of Work-related SWB: ○ Work engagement: High levels of pleasure and activation. Refers to a positive, fulfilling, work-related state of mind that is characterised by vigour (high levels of energy and mental resilience), dedication (strongly involved in one’s work, and experiencing a sense of significance and enthusiasm), and absorption (being fully concentrated and happily engrossed in one’s work). ○ Research has revealed that engaged employees are highly energetic, driven individuals who exercise influence over events that affect their lives. Engaged employees often indicate that their enthusiasm and energy also appears outside work, for example in sports, creative hobbies, and volunteer work. ○ Happiness at work: High level of pleasure and moderate level of activation. Being happy refers to somewhat higher levels of activation as being satisfied or content and somewhat lower compared to being enthusiastic, or excited. ○ (1) One explanation could be that happy individuals are more active, approach-oriented, energetic, interested in their work, sympathetic to their colleagues and persistent in the face of difficulties compared to unhappy employees. (2) Another explanation is that employees‟ happiness may generate more job-related resources. ○ Job satisfaction: High level of pleasure and a low level of activation. Refers to a pleasurable emotional state resulting from the appraisal of one’s job. Employees who are satisfied with their jobs experience high pleasure, but may have limited energy or aspirations ○ It is important to distinguish between overall measures of job satisfaction that reflect an affective evaluation of the job, and facet-specific measures of job satisfaction that reflect a more cognitive evaluation of being satisfied with individual facets of the job. Overall job satisfaction is often assessed with a single item. Negative Forms of Work-related SWB: ○ Workaholism: low(er) level of pleasure and a high level of activation. Workaholism is defined as a strong inner drive to work excessively hard. Workaholics have the compulsion to work incessantly, and tend to allocate an exceptional amount of time to work. They work beyond what is reasonably expected to meet organisational or economic requirements. ○ Due to over allocation of resources to work (for example time), they have fewer resources leftover to devote to their family and other facets of their non-work life. ○ Indeed, survey studies have shown that workaholism is positively related to working overtime and work-family conflict. Furthermore, research shows a negative relationship between workaholism and relationship quality. There is also accumulating evidence that workaholism is related to poorer psychological and physical well-being. ○ Burnout: Low levels of pleasure and activation. The two core burnout dimensions can be observed in virtually any occupational group: emotional exhaustion (a general feeling of extreme chronic fatigue, caused by continuous exposure to demanding working conditions) and cynicism (a callous, distanced and cynical attitude towards the work itself or the people with whom one works). Of these two burnout dimensions, emotional exhaustion appears to be the central variable in the burnout process, and it is even proposed that cynicism should be seen as a consequence of emotional exhaustion. Positive work-related SWB and job performance Work engagement ○ There are at least four reasons why engaged workers perform better than non-engaged workers: (1) engaged employees often experience active positive emotions, including joy and enthusiasm, which seem to broaden people’s thought-action repertoire. (2) engaged workers experience better health. Thus can focus and dedicate all their energy sources to their work. (3) engaged employees create their own job and personal resources. If needed, they ask for performance feedback or they ask colleagues for help. (4) engaged workers transfer their engagement to others in their immediate environment. Happiness and Job satisfaction ○ Happiness can be distinguished from satisfaction as an emotion that reflects higher levels of activation. Job satisfaction or happiness may either cause good performance, follow from good performance, or both. A meta-analysis of 10 longitudinal studies suggested that happiness precedes job performance. Bakker & Oerlemans (2011) addressed the question whether high levels of job satisfaction would coincide with high levels of job performance or whether more is needed than job satisfaction alone. ○ Results show that positive affective states of SWB besides job satisfaction that are characterised by high levels of pleasure and higher levels of activation (work engagement and happiness at work) are positively related to high levels of job performance. ○ Overall job satisfaction (high pleasure, but low activation) is also associated with job performance, while facet-specific job satisfaction (reflecting a more cognitive evaluation of various job features) appears to be only weakly to or not associated with job performance. JEFFREY VAN DER MARK 4.1C ATTITUDES AND EMOTIONS IN ORGANISATIONS 19 Daily SWB Two new ways to capture the link between positive forms of SWB at work and job performance on an intra-individual and daily basis: the Diary Study and the Day Reconstruction Method. Diary Study: ○ Description: A diary study involves participants recording their daily experiences, moods, and feelings over a specific period. This method provides detailed, real-time data on how individuals experience their workday and their emotional states. ○ Advantages: Diary studies offer rich, context-specific information about individuals’ emotions and well-being on a daily basis. They allow researchers to capture fluctuations in mood and work-related experiences as they happen, providing a nuanced understanding of daily SWB. ○ Application: In organisational research, diary studies can help identify patterns and triggers of positive or negative emotions in the workplace. For example, researchers can use diary data to examine how specific work tasks or events affect employees’ mood and satisfaction. Day Reconstruction Method (DRM): ○ Description: The DRM is a structured approach to reconstructing and analysing daily activities and experiences. Participants are asked to recall and report their activities and associated emotions for each segment of their day. This method is designed to provide a comprehensive view of individuals’ experiences and well-being over a given day. ○ Advantages: DRM combines the strengths of real-time and retrospective assessments. It minimises memory biases associated with broad retrospective surveys by focusing on discrete episodes or activities. It also allows for the examination of how different activities and events impact SWB. ○ Application: In organisational research, DRM can be used to assess how various work activities and events influence employees' well-being. It can help researchers understand how different aspects of the workday, such as meetings, tasks, or interactions with colleagues, contribute to overall job satisfaction and emotional experiences. Diary studies offer immediate, detailed insights into daily emotional experiences, while DRM provides a structured way to reconstruct and analyse daily activities and associated emotions. Together, these methods offer a robust framework for capturing and analysing how daily work experiences impact employees' well-being. Limitations and Future Research Need more longitudinal data Correlational research, thus experimental research is necessary to establish a causal relationship. Bakker & Oerlemans (2011) suggest that integrating different research methods, such as combining qualitative and quantitative approaches, can provide a more comprehensive understanding of SWB. Context-specific and personal factors should also be considered in future research. Future research should make use of advanced measurement techniques, such as real-time data collection methods and sophisticated statistical analyses, to capture and analyse SWB more accurately. Bakker & Oerlemans (2011) suggest investigating the broader implications of SWB for organisational outcomes, such as productivity, employee turnover, and overall organisational performance. Job Demands-Resources Theory Bakker & Demerouti (2014) Early Models Two-factor theory: This theory suggests that there are two independent sets of circumstances that drive employee satisfaction and motivation, namely hygiene factors and motivator factors. Whereas hygiene factors (also called dissatisfiers) make employees unsatisfied at work if absent, motivator factors (also called satisfiers) make employees feel good about their jobs. Examples of these factors are: ○ Hygiene factors: company policies, supervision, salary, interpersonal relations, and working conditions. ○ Motivator factors: achievement, recognition, nature of work, responsibility, and advancement. ○ According to the two-factor theory, without motivators, employees will perform their jobs as required, but with motivators, employees will increase their effort and exceed the minimum requirements Job Characteristics Model: This model examines individual responses to jobs as a function of job characteristics, moderated by individual characteristics. The core job characteristics are: skill variety (breadth of skills used at work), task significance (impact that the work has on the lives or work of others), task identity (opportunity to complete an entire piece of work), feedback (amount of information provided about effectiveness of job performance), and autonomy (degree to which the job provides substantial freedom, independence, and discretion in determining goal directed behaviour at work). ○ Core job characteristics are expected to influence job satisfaction and intrinsic work motivation through the attainment of three critical psychological states (CPS): experienced meaningfulness of the work, experienced responsibility for outcomes, and knowledge of the results of work activities. JEFFREY VAN DER MARK 4.1C ATTITUDES AND EMOTIONS IN ORGANISATIONS 20 ○ Meta-analyses have demonstrated that the presence of the core job characteristics, in particular job autonomy, leads to positive employee attitudinal outcomes. Research on the mediating role of the three CPSs in the relationship between job characteristics and attitudinal outcomes offers only partial support The Demand-Control Model (DCM): This model states that strain will be highest in jobs characterised by the combination of high job demands and low job control, such jobs are called high-strain jobs. In contrast, the DCM states that task enjoyment, learning, and personal growth will be highest in jobs characterised by the combination of high job demands and high job control, such jobs are called active-learning jobs. ○ There is very weak research support for the DCM, it was shown that 9 out of 90 tests provided support for the model’s effect. The Effort-Reward Imbalance Model (ERI): This model emphasises the reward, rather than the control structure of work. The ERI model assumes that job stress is the result of an imbalance between effort (extrinsic job demands and intrinsic motivation to meet these demands) and reward (in terms of salary, esteem reward, and career opportunities, etc.). The basic assumption is that a lack of harmony between effort and reward (for example high effort/low reward conditions) will lead to arousal and stress. ○ Unlike the DCM, the ERI model introduces a personal component in the model as well. Overcommitment is defined as a set of attitudes, behaviours, and emotions reflecting excessive striving in combination with a strong desire for approval and esteem. According to the model, overcommitment may moderate the association between effort-reward imbalance and employee wellbeing. Critique on Early Models One-sidedness: Early models focused too heavily on the negative aspects of work, such as stress and burnout, without considering the positive aspects of work, like engagement and motivation. Simplicity: Early models were overly simplistic and often focused on a few specific factors, such as job demands and control, ignoring the broader range of variables that can influence employee well-being. Static character: Early models were static, assuming that job characteristics and their effects on employees remained constant over time. They did not account for changes in job demands and resources that occur as work environments evolve. Changing nature of jobs: Early models did not adequately account for the changing nature of jobs in modern work environments, such as the rise of technology, the increasing complexity of work, and the growing need for flexibility and adaptability. Jobs Demands-Resources Theory (JD-R) The Jobs Demands-Resources Theory (JD-R) has been used to predict job burnout, organisational commitment, work enjoyment, connectedness, and work engagement. Furthermore, the JD-R model has been used to predict consequences of these experiences, including sickness absenteeism and job performance. With JD-R theory, we can understand, explain, and make predictions about employee wellbeing (e.g., burnout, health, motivation, work engagement) and job performance. The most important building blocks of JD-R theory: ○ Flexibility: According to the theory, all working environments or job characteristics can be modelled using two different categories, namely job demands and job resources. Thus, the theory can be applied to all work environments and can be tailored to the specific occupation under consideration. Job demands and resources vary across occupations and may even be unique at times. For example, whereas physical demands are still very important job demands nowadays for construction workers and nurses, cognitive demands are much more relevant for scientists and engineers. ○ Job demands: Refers to those physical, psychological, social, or organisational aspects of the job that require sustained physical and/or psychological effort and are therefore associated with certain physiological and/or psychological costs.