Chapter 4

Emotions and Moods

A. What are Emotions and Moods?

In our analysis, we’ll need three terms that are closely intertwined:
affect, emotions, and moods.

Affect is a generic term that covers a broad range of feelings people

experience, including both emotions and moods. Emotions are intense
feelings directed at someone or something.

Moods are less intense feelings than emotions that often arise without a
specific event acting as a stimulus. Exhibit 4-1 shows the relationships
among affect, emotions, and moods. First, as the exhibit shows, affect is
a broad term that encompasses emotions and moods. Second, there are
differences between emotions and moods. Emotions are more likely to
be caused by a specific event, and emotions are more fleeting than
moods. Also, some researchers speculate that emotions may be more
action-oriented—they may lead us to some immediate action—while
moods may be more cognitive, meaning they may cause us to think or
brood for a while.

Finally, as the exhibit shows, emotions and moods are closely connected
and can influence each other. A specific emotion may lead to a generally
bad or good mood, and moods can influence how particular events
stimulate specific emotions. Affect, emotions, and moods are separable
in theory; in practice the distinction isn’t always crystal clear. When we
review the OB topics on emotions and moods, you may see more
information about emotions in one area and about moods in another.
This is simply the state of the research. Let’s start with a review of the
basic emotions.

The Basic Emotions

How many emotions are there? There are dozens, including anger,
contempt, enthusiasm, envy, fear, frustration, disappointment,
embarrassment, disgust, happiness, hate, hope, jealousy, joy, love, pride,
surprise, and sadness. Numerous researchers have tried to limit them to a
fundamental set. But some scholars argue that it makes no sense to think
in terms of “basic” emotions because even emotions we rarely
experience, such as shock, can have a powerful effect on us.
Psychologists have tried to identify the basic emotions by studying
facial expressions but have found the process difficult. One problem is
that some emotions are too complex to be easily represented on our
faces. Cultures also have norms that govern emotional expression, so the
way we experience an emotion isn’t always the same as the way we
show it. People in the United States and Canada recognize a smile as
indicating happiness, for example, but in the Middle East a smile is
more likely to be seen as a sign of sexual attraction, so women have
learned not to casually smile at men. In collectivist countries, people are
more likely to believe another’s emotional displays have something to
do with the relationship between them, while people in individualistic
cultures don’t necessarily think others’ emotional expressions are
directed at them.

It’s unlikely that psychologists or philosophers will ever completely

agree on a set of basic emotions, or even on whether there is such a
thing. Still, many researchers agree on six essentially universal
emotions—anger, fear, sadness, happiness, disgust, and surprise. Some
even plot them along a continuum: happiness–surprise–fear–sadness–
anger–disgust. The closer two emotions are to each other on this
continuum, the more likely people will confuse them. We sometimes
mistake happiness for surprise, but rarely do we confuse happiness and
disgust.

Emotions can be fleeting, but moods can endure · · · quite a while.

Because moods can last longer and be more durable, they are studied
differently than are emotions. In order to understand the impact of
emotions and moods in organizations, we next classify the many distinct
emotions into broader mood categories.

The Basic Moods: Positive and Negative Affect

As a first step toward studying the effects of moods and emotions in the
workplace, it will be helpful to classify emotions into two categories:
positive and negative.

Positive emotions—such as joy and gratitude—express a favourable

evaluation or feeling. Negative emotions—such as anger or guilt—
express the opposite. Keep in mind that emotions can’t be neutral. Being
neutral is being nonemotional.

The two categories of emotions now represent overall mood states,

known as positive and negative affect. We can think of positive affect as
a mood dimension consisting of positive emotions such as excitement,
enthusiasm, and elation at the high end (high positive affect), and
boredom, depression, and fatigue at the low end (low positive affect, or
lack of positive affect). Negative affect is a mood dimension consisting
of nervousness, stress, and anxiety at the high end (high negative affect),
and contentedness, calmness, and serenity at the low end (low negative
affect, or lack of negative affect).

Experiencing Moods and Emotions

As if it weren’t complex enough to consider the many distinct emotions

and moods a person can identify, the reality is that we all experience
moods and emotions differently. Our broader categorizations (positive
and negative) can thus be helpful in finding commonalities. For most
people, for instance, positive moods are somewhat more common than
negative moods. Indeed, research finds a positivity offset, meaning that
at zero input (when nothing in particular is going on), most individuals
experience a mildly positive mood. This appears to be true for
employees in a wide range of job settings. One study of customer-
service representatives in a British call centre revealed that people
reported experiencing positive moods 58 percent of the time. Another
research finding is that negative emotions are likely to become negative
moods. Perhaps this happens because people think about events that
created strong negative emotions five times as long as they do about
events that created strong positive ones.

Does the degree to which people experience positive and negative

emotions vary across cultures? Yes. In China, people report
experiencing fewer positive and negative emotions than people in other
cultures, and the emotions they experience are less intense.

Compared with Mainland Chinese, Taiwanese are more like U.S.

workers in their experience of emotions: in one study, they reported
more positive and fewer negative emotions than their Chinese
counterparts. This isn’t because people of different cultures are
inherently different: People in most cultures appear to have certain
positive and negative emotions in common, and people interpret
negative and positive emotions in much the same way worldwide. We
all view negative emotions such as hate, terror, and rage as dangerous
and destructive, and we desire positive emotions such as joy, love, and
happiness. However, an individual’s experience of emotions appears to
be culturally shaped. Some cultures value certain emotions more than
others, which leads individuals to change their perspective on
experiencing those emotions. There is much to be learned in exploring
the value differences. For instance, Canadian culture values enthusiasm,
while the Chinese consider negative emotions—while not always
pleasant—as potentially more useful and constructive in workplace
settings than do people in Canada.

In this value, the Chinese may be right. Recent research has

suggested that negative affect has many benefits. Visualizing the
worst-case scenario often allows people to accept present
circumstances and cope, for instance. Negative affect can allow
managers to think more critically and fairly, other research
indicates.

Now that we’ve identified the basic emotions, the basic moods, and our
experience of them, we will next explore the function of emotions and
moods, particularly in the workplace.

B. The Function of Emotions and Moods

In some ways, emotions are a mystery. What function do they serve? As

we discussed, researchers and managers determined for many years that
emotions serve no purpose in the workplace. Psychologists have always
said otherwise, insisting that emotions serve a function in any human
situation. Organizational behaviourists have been finding that emotions
can be critical to an effectively functioning workplace. Let’s discuss two
critical areas—rationality and ethicality—in which emotions can
enhance performance.

Do Emotions Make Us Irrational?

How often have you heard someone say, “Oh, you’re just being
emotional”? You might have been offended. Observations like this
suggest that rationality and emotion are in conflict and that if you
exhibit emotion, you are likely to act irrationally. The perceived
association between emotionality and irrationality is so strong that some
researchers argue that displaying emotions such as sadness to the point
of crying is toxic to a career and we should leave the room rather than
allow others to witness it. This perspective suggests the demonstration
or even experience of emotions can make us weak, brittle, or irrational.
However, this is wrong.

Research is increasingly indicating that emotions are critical to rational

thinking. Brain injury studies in particular suggest we must have the
ability to experience emotions to be rational. Why? Because our
emotions provide a context for how we understand the
world around us. For instance, a recent study indicated that individuals
in a negative mood are better able to discern truthful information than
people in a happy mood.

Therefore, if we have a concern about someone telling the truth,

shouldn’t we conduct an inquiry while we are actively concerned, rather
than wait until we cheer up? There may be benefits to this, or maybe
not, depending on all the factors including the range of our emotions.
The keys are to acknowledge the effect that emotions and moods are
having on us, and to not automatically discount our emotional responses
as irrational or invalid.

Do Emotions Make Us Ethical?

A growing body of research has begun to examine the relationship

between emotions and moral attitudes. It was previously believed that,
like decision making in general, most ethical decision making was based
on higher-order cognitive processes, but research on moral emotions
increasingly questions this perspective. Examples of moral emotions
include sympathy for the suffering of others, guilt about our own
immoral behaviour, anger about injustice done to others, contempt for
those who behave unethically, and disgust at violations of moral norms.
Numerous studies suggest that moral judgments are largely based on
feelings rather than on cognition, although assessments of fairness
(which frequently influence moral judgments), do have a cognitive
component. We tend to see our moral boundaries as logical and
reasonable, not as emotional. We therefore must be careful to
objectively analyze our ethical decisions.

When we study emotions and moods in relation to ethics and

organizational behaviour, it is tempting to focus on the categorization
and work outcome aspects, which might lead us to some useful
conclusions for managers. However, the sources of emotions and moods
should not be overlooked, because when we identify sources, we are
better able to predict behaviour and manage people well.

C. Sources of emotions and moods

Have you ever snapped at a coworker or family member for no

particular reason? Have you ever felt like being silly even when in a
serious situation? If you have, you probably wonder where emotions and
moods come from. Here we discuss some of the primary influences.
They can be grouped into two main types: influences based on who you
are (such as age and personality) and influences based on your
circumstances at the time (such as time of day, your blood sugar level,
etc.)

Potential Influences on Moods and Emotions

The first three that we will examine are influencers that are based on
who you are. They include personality, age, and gender; although the
latter is considered controversial due to disputes about whether
emotional differences are ingrained or learned.

Personality. Moods and emotions have a personality trait component:

Most people have built-in tendencies to experience certain moods and
emotions more frequently than others do. People also experience the
same emotions with different intensities, which is called affect intensity.
Affectively intense people experience both positive and negative
emotions more deeply: when they’re sad, they’re really sad, and when
they’re happy, they’re really happy.

Age. Do young people experience more extreme positive emotions (so-

called youthful exuberance) than older people? If you answered yes, you
were wrong. One study of people ages 18 to revealed that negative
emotions seem to occur less as people get older. Periods of highly
positive moods lasted longer for older individuals, and bad moods faded
more quickly.

Sex. Many people believe women are more emotional than men. Is there
any truth to this? Evidence does confirm women are more emotionally
expressive than men, experience emotions more intensely, tend to “hold
onto” emotions longer, and display more frequent expressions of both
positive and negative emotions, except anger. Many of these findings
may, however, be due to differences in socialization and gender roles
rather than sex.

The remaining influences on mood relate more to the circumstances of

the moment and include time of day, day of the week, weather, stress
level, the nature of the activity, amount of sleep and exercise the person
has had, and blood sugar levels. We will examine each in more detail.
While some, such as day of the week, are not under our control, others,
such as getting adequate sleep and eating regularly, are. Controlling
them may allow for better emotional regulation during the workday.

Time of Day. People vary in their moods by the time of day. However,
research suggests most of us actually follow the same pattern, and the
nature of this pattern may surprise you. Exhibit 4-2 illustrates moods
analyzed from 509 million Twitter messages posted by 2.4 million
individuals across 84 countries. As you see, levels of positive affect are
greatest in the evening, and lowest in the early morning, on most days of
the week. Levels of negative affect are also highest in the overnight
hours, but the lowest point is later in the morning than for positive
affect.

Day of the Week. Are people in their best moods on the weekends? In
most cultures that is true—for example, U.S. adults tend to experience
their highest positive affect on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, and their
lowest on Monday. As shown in Exhibit 4-3, the trend tends to be true in
several other cultures as well.

Weather. Many people believe their mood is tied to the weather.

However, a fairly large and detailed body of evidence conducted by
multiple researchers suggests weather has little effect, at least for most
people. Some people do experience a medical condition called seasonal
affect disorder, in which depressive moods are associated with the
lowered light levels of the winter months. This occurs most frequently at
northern latitudes and can often be addressed with the use of special
lights. For others, however, the link between weather and mood is an
illusory correlation, which occurs when we associate two events that in
reality have no connection. This phenomenon explains why people tend
to think nice weather improves their mood.

Stress. As you might imagine, stressful events at work (a nasty e-mail,

an impending deadline, loss of a big sale, a reprimand from the boss)
negatively affect moods. Even positive changes, such as planning a
wedding or getting a promotion, can substantially increase overall stress
levels. The effects of stress also build over time. Mounting stress can
worsen our moods such that we experience more negative emotions.
Although sometimes we thrive on stress, most of us find stress takes an
emotional toll.

Social activities. For most people, social activities increase positive

moods and have little effect on negative moods. The type of social
interaction does appear to matter. Research suggests activities that are
physical (skiing or hiking with friends), informal (going to a party), or
epicurean (eating with others) are more strongly associated with
increases in positive mood than events that are formal (attending a
meeting) or sedentary (watching TV with friends). The personality of
the individual is also relevant. Introverts, for example, may find large
parties stress-inducing rather than stress relieving. They often prefer
quieter social venues and interacting with fewer people, sometimes as
few as two or three, at one time.

Sleep. Sleep quality affects mood, and increased fatigue puts workers at
health risks of disease, injury, and depression. According to one study,
poor sleep impairs job satisfaction because people feel fatigued,
irritable, and less alert. This is a big problem, since according to
researchers and public health specialists, 41 million U.S. workers are
able to sleep less than six hours per night. Interestingly, Canadians seem
somewhat better off. Data collected by Statistics Canada in 2005
indicated that adult men averaged 8 hours and 7 minutes of sleep while
women average 8 hours, 18 minutes.

Exercise. You often hear that people should exercise to improve their
mood. Does “sweat therapy” really work? Apparently. Research
consistently shows exercise enhances people’s positive mood. While
not terribly strong overall, the effects are strongest for those who are
depressed.

Blood sugar Levels. Low blood sugar occurs when someone has not
eaten for too long. It has been strongly associated with irritability,
disagreeableness, and even combative behaviours. Excessively high
blood sugar, too, most common among untreated diabetics, has been
linked to depression. Avoiding long periods without food, monitoring
health, and keeping small snacks such as dried fruits and nuts handy
can head off disruptive behaviour that is due to blood sugar levels.

It might seem by now that we all—leaders, managers, and employees

alike—operate as unwitting slaves to our emotions and moods. On an
internal experiential level, this may be true. Yet we know from our
workplace experiences that people aren’t expressing every brief emotion
that flits through their consciousness. On the way toward applying what
we’ve discussed to specific OB applications, let’s put together what
we’ve learned about emotions and moods with workplace behaviours,
beginning with emotional labour.

D. Emotional Labour

Natasha works at a Tim Hortons summer camp as a rock climbing

instructor. The camps, provided free to underprivileged kids, focus on
providing a positive summer experience for children who otherwise
would have few opportunities for outdoor recreation. Being upbeat and
enthusiastic is part of the job. Normally this is no problem for Natasha,
but this week she just found out her grandmother is ill and requires
surgery. She is so worried that she finds it very hard to be upbeat and
encouraging. But she knows the kids deserve her best so she forces
herself to do it anyway.

Employees expend physical and mental labour by putting body and

mind, respectively, into the job. But jobs also require emotional labour,
an employee’s expression of organizationally desired emotions during
interpersonal transactions at work. Emotional labour is a key component
of effective job performance. We expect flight attendants to be cheerful,
funeral directors to be sad, and doctors emotionally neutral. But
emotional labour is relevant to almost every job. At the least your
managers expect you to be courteous, not hostile, in your interactions
with coworkers and customers.

The way we experience an emotion is obviously not always the same as

the way we show it. To analyze emotional labour, we divide emotions
into felt or displayed emotions. Felt emotions are our actual emotions. In
contrast, displayed emotions are those that the organization requires
workers to show and considers appropriate in a given job. They’re not
innate; they’re learned, and they may or may not coincide with felt
emotions. For instance, research suggests that in U.S. workplaces, it is
expected that workers should typically display positive emotions like
happiness and excitement, and suppress negative emotions like fear,
anger, disgust, and contempt. The same is true for Canadian workers.
Effective managers have learned to be serious when giving an employee
a negative performance evaluation and to hide their anger when they’ve
been passed over for promotion.

Displaying fake emotions requires us to suppress real ones. Surface

acting is hiding inner feelings and emotional expressions in response to
display rules. A worker who smiles at a customer even when he doesn’t
feel like it is surface acting. Deep acting is trying to modify our true
inner feelings based on display rules. Surface acting deals with
displayed emotions, and deep acting deals with felt emotions.

Displaying emotions we don’t really feel can be exhausting. When

employees have to project one emotion while feeling another, this
disparity is called emotional dissonance. Emotional dissonance is like
cognitive dissonance (discussed in Chapter 3), except that it concerns
feelings rather than thinking. Bottled-up feelings of frustration, anger,
and resentment can lead to emotional exhaustion. Long-term emotional
dissonance is a predictor for job burnout, declines in job performance,
and lower job satisfaction.
Circumstances and the attitudes of those around us can impact our
ability to cope with emotional labour and associated dissonance. In
Natasha’s case she probably finds it easier to “put on happy face”
because the children she is working with at her summer camp are
generally well behaved and happy to be there. She might find it more
difficult to do the same if she worked at a customer service desk in a
grocery store, where many customers come because they are angry or
frustrated and need help.

It is important to counteract the effects of emotional labour and

emotional dissonance. Research in the Netherlands and Belgium has
indicated that surface acting is stressful to employees, while mindfulness
(learning to objectively evaluate our emotional situation in the moment,
akin to deep acting) is beneficial to employee well-being. It is also
important to give employees who engage in surface displays a chance to
relax and recharge. A study that looked at how cheerleading instructors
spent their breaks from teaching found those who used the time to rest
and relax were more effective after their breaks. Instructors who did
chores during their breaks were only about as effective after their break
as they were before.

The concept of emotional labour makes intuitive and organizational

sense. Affective events theory, discussed in the next section, fits a job’s
emotional labour requirements into a construct that leads to work events,
emotional reactions, and, finally, to job satisfaction and job
performance.

E. Affective Events Theory

We’ve seen that emotions and moods are an important part of our
personal lives and our work lives. But how do they influence our job
performance and satisfaction? A model called affective events theory
(AET) demonstrates that employees react emotionally to things that
happen to them at work, and this reaction influences their job
performance and satisfaction.

We’ve seen that emotions and moods are an important part of our
personal lives and our work lives. But how do they influence our job
performance and satisfaction? A model called affective events theory
(AET) demonstrates that employees react emotionally to things that
happen to them at work, and this reaction influences their job
performance and satisfaction.
Work events trigger positive or negative emotional reactions, to which
employees’ personalities and moods predispose them to respond with
greater or lesser intensity. People who score low on emotional stability
are more likely to react strongly to negative events, and our emotional
response to a given event can change depending on mood. Finally,
emotions influence a number of performance and satisfaction variables,
such as organizational citizenship behaviour, organizational
commitment, level of effort, intention to quit, and workplace deviance.

AET provides us with valuable insights into the role emotions play in
primary organizational outcomes of job satisfaction and job
performance. Employees and managers therefore shouldn’t ignore
emotions or the events that cause them. Emotional intelligence is
another framework that helps us understand the impact of emotions on
job performance, so we will look at that next.