Assessing Workplace Emotional Intelligence: Development and Validation of an Ability-based Measure

Existing measures of Emotional Intelligence (EI), defined as the ability to perceive, understand, and manage emotions for productive purposes, have displayed limitations in predicting workplace outcomes, likely in part because they do not target this context. Such considerations led to the development of an ability EI measure with work-related scenarios in which respondents infer the likely emotions (perception) and combinations of emotion (understanding) that would occur to protagonists while rating the effectiveness of ways of responding (management). Study 1 (n = 290 undergraduates) used item-total correlations to select scenarios from a larger pool and Study 2 (n = 578) reduced the measure—termed the NEAT—to 30 scenarios on the basis of structural equation modeling. Study 3 (n = 96) then showed that the NEAT had expected correlations with personality and cognitive ability and Study 4 (n = 85) demonstrated convergent validity with other ability EI measures. Last, study 5 (n = 91) established that the NEAT had predictive validity with respect to job satisfaction, job stress, and job performance. The findings affirm the importance of EI in the workplace in the context of a valid new instrument for assessing relevant skills.     

Inertia of negative emotions at work: Correlates of inflexible emotion dynamics in the workplace*

Emotional inertia is a central feature of emotion dynamics and it refers to the degree to which emotional states are self-predictive and linger over time, describing their resistance to change. It is related to several indicators of maladjustment, yet there is limited research on its correlates in the workplace, where it may be particularly relevant as emotional experiences deeply influence organizational life. In two experience-sampling studies, we studied temporal dependency of negative emotional states at work in terms of emotional inertia. In a first study (n = 128), we investigated the association between exhaustion, the core dimension of burnout, with inertia of negative emotions. In a second study (n = 116), we aimed to replicate findings from the first study and additionally examined the moderating role of inertia of negative emotions in the relationship between negative emotions at work and counterproductive work behaviour. The findings show that exhaustion is consistently associated with inertia of negative emotions, and that inertia of negative emotions aggravates the relation between negative emotions and workers' counterproductive work behaviour.     

网络学习中师生交互与大学生学习投入的关系：自主动机与学业情绪的序列中介作用

为了探索大学生在网络学习中师生交互与学习投入的关系,以及自主动机和学业情绪在其中的中介作用,本研究采取问卷调查法,使用师生交互问卷、自主动机问卷、大学生学业情绪量表、学习投入量表,对563名大学生开展调研。结果发现:网络学习中的师生交互既可以直接显著正向预测学习投入,也可通过积极情绪间接影响学习投入,还可依次通过自主动机和积极情绪的链式中介作用正向预测学习投入,而消极情绪在其中的中介作用不显著。研究结果表明,高质量的师生交互能激发大学生网络学习的自主动机,让大学生体验到更多积极情绪,从而提高其学习投入水平。     

Typical performance measures of emotion regulation and emotion perception and frontal EEG asymmetry in an emotional contagion paradigm

In order to replicate and extend previous observations of validity of the self-reported habitual regulation of one’s affect and the perception of other people’s emotions, prefrontal electroencephalographic (EEG) asymmetry was recorded during and after social-emotional stimulation. After stimulation with other people’s vocal expression of anxiety, individuals with lower scores on emotion regulation did not show recovery of asymmetry changes but even increased changes in the direction that had been adopted during the stimulation. Whether this was to the right or to the left depended on their scores on emotion perception. Participants high on perception showed the expected changes to the right during the anxiety stimulation (indicating increased withdrawal motivation) and to the left during the cheerfulness stimulation (indicating increased approach motivation), whereas individuals low on perception showed the opposite pattern. During the anxiety stimulation, participants low on perception only showed the unexpected change to the left if they were also low on regulation. Individual differences in regulation did not play a role when participants were confronted with other people’s laughter. The findings demonstrate the validity of the self-report measures by using EEG measures, and moreover support the usefulness of differentiated and process-oriented approaches in the field of trait emotional intelligence.     

Emotions induced by operatic music: psychophysiological effects of music, plot, and acting: a scientist's tribute to Maria Callas

Operatic music involves both singing and acting (as well as rich audiovisual background arising from the orchestra and elaborate scenery and costumes) that multiply the mechanisms by which emotions are induced in listeners. The present study investigated the effects of music, plot, and acting performance on emotions induced by opera. There were three experimental conditions: (1) participants listened to a musically complex and dramatically coherent excerpt from Tosca; (2) they read a summary of the plot and listened to the same musical excerpt again; and (3) they re-listened to music while they watched the subtitled film of this acting performance. In addition, a control condition was included, in which an independent sample of participants succesively listened three times to the same musical excerpt. We measured subjective changes using both dimensional, and specific music-induced emotion questionnaires. Cardiovascular, electrodermal, and respiratory responses were also recorded, and the participants kept track of their musical chills. Music listening alone elicited positive emotion and autonomic arousal, seen in faster heart rate, but slower respiration rate and reduced skin conductance. Knowing the (sad) plot while listening to the music a second time reduced positive emotions (peacefulness, joyful activation), and increased negative ones (sadness), while high autonomic arousal was maintained. Watching the acting performance increased emotional arousal and changed its valence again (from less positive/sad to transcendent), in the context of continued high autonomic arousal. The repeated exposure to music did not by itself induce this pattern of modifications. These results indicate that the multiple musical and dramatic means involved in operatic performance specifically contribute to the genesis of music-induced emotions and their physiological correlates.     

On receiving what has gone astray, on finding what has got lost

Disturbing emotions that act as bodily cryptograms waiting to be deciphered are currently understood as intra-psychic trauma. The author briefly discusses Fordham's concepts of deintegration and primitive identity, as well as early patterns of mother-infant attunement to describe how the empathic capacity of the analyst is dramatically challenged in helping patients to give birth to unbearable emotions that remain an undifferentiated entity. Referring to Ogden's understanding of the mechanism of projective identification, the author will explore how unconscious mental processes in the analyst and the patient can work at re-activating failures in the deintegrative process. Clinical material is presented to show how unconscious psychic events that affect the patient but cannot be known consciously can be born into mind by the analytic couple.     

Who finds neutral pictures pleasant and relaxing?

Valence and arousal are independent dimensions of consciously experienced affect. The former refers to pleasantness; the latter to the degree of excitement or stimulation. The present research explores some of the predictors of these dimensions through the hypothesis that valence relates to positive affect and lack of negative affect, while arousal is tied to negative affect, and that both are predicted by personal wellbeing, considered as a way of achieving happiness. The occurrence of depressive symptoms is also considered within the hypothesis: as a facet of negative affect, as lack of wellbeing, or as an independent dimension placed at the same level as wellbeing, and which relates to both positive and negative affect (considered as mediators). Sixty-one participants were asked to view on a computer screen a series of 20 neutral pictures, having medium valence and low arousal, and complete self-report questionnaires to assess affect, personal wellbeing, and the occurrence of depressive symptoms. After picture viewing, valence and arousal judgments were requested. In the analysis, three competing models with latent variables were tested, to assess at best the role depressive symptoms have. They confirmed that valence is predicted by high positive and low negative affect, arousal by negative affect and even directly by the occurrence of depressive symptoms, and that personal wellbeing and depressive symptoms are the starting point. They are negatively correlated and predict positive (both) and negative affect (just the occurrence of depressive symptoms). The discussion focuses on both theoretical and practical implications. Suggestions for future research are given.     

The Human Message in Politics: The Impact of Emotional Slogans on Subtle Conformity

The present work directly tests the persuasive potential of emotions in political slogans. Previous research that distinguished emotions on the human dimension found that individuals conform differently to the opinion of members of the in-group or the out-group when these targets expressed themselves in terms of uniquely human emotions (Vaes, Paladino, Castelli, Leyens, & Giovanazzi, 2003 Vaes, J., Paladino, M. P., Castelli, L., Leyens, J-Ph. and Giovanazzi, A. 2003. On the behavioral consequences of infrahumanization: The implicit role of uniquely human emotions. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 85: 1016–1034. [Crossref], [PubMed], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]). In line with these findings, the present experiment tested the hypothesis that political slogans that express a uniquely human emotion and that are associated with the campaign of a political candidate who has the same political affiliation as participants (i.e., in-group) will induce more conformity reactions than a candidate of the opposing coalition (i.e., out-group) who presents similar kinds of slogans. Results confirmed this hypothesis on a subtle conformity measure and are discussed as a consequence of an infrahumanization process. Finally, possible applications of the presented findings and new avenues for future research are proposed.     

Testing the BIAS Map Model: The Positive Effects of Perceiving Weakness and Harmony in Powerful Out-Groups

ABSTRACT

Two experimental studies were used to test predictions derived from the BIAS map model. While the first experiment manipulated the perception of power in the out-group (the USA), the second manipulated the perceived harmony of the relationships between this out-group and the participants' own national group. The results confirmed the hypotheses derived from the model. The manipulation of power affected the perception of competence, thus affecting emotions and behavioral dispositions towards out-group members. The manipulation of perceived harmony of intergroup interests had a similar effect, but was not mediated by changes in the attribution of competence, but of warmth. Attitudes did not play a significant role in the prediction of emotions and behavioral intentions.