Introduction to Emotions and Moods in Organizational Behavior

Copyright ©2010 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice HallCopyright ©2010 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall
Chapter 4
Emotions and Moods

Copyright ©2010 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall
1. Differentiate emotions from moods and list the
basic emotions and moods.
2. Identify the sources of emotions and moods.
3. Discuss the impact emotional labor has on
employees.
4. Contrast the evidence for and against the existence
of emotional intelligence.
5. Apply the concepts of emotions and moods OB
issues.
6. Contrast the experience, interpretation, and the
expression of emotions across cultures.

Myth of rationality –
emotions were the antithesis of
rationality and should not be
seen in the workplace
Belief that emotions of any
kind are disruptive in the
workplace

Affect
A generic term that encompasses a broad range of
feelings that people experience
Emotion
Intense feelings that are directed at someone or
something
Short termed and action-oriented.
Mood
Feelings that tend to be less intense and longer-lasting
than emotions and often lack a contextual stimulus

Most experts believe emotions are more fleeting than
moods.
For example, if someone is rude to you, you’ll feel angry.
That intense feeling probably comes and goes fairly
quickly, maybe even in a matter of seconds. When you’re
in a bad mood, though, you can feel bad for several hours.
Emotions are reactions to a person (seeing a friend at
work may make you feel glad) or an event (dealing with a
rude client may make you feel frustrated). You show your
emotions when you’re “happy about something, angry at
someone, afraid of something.”
Moods, in contrast, aren’t usually directed at a person or
an event. But emotions can turn into moods when you
lose focus on the event or object that started the feeling.
And, by the same token, good or bad moods can make you
more emotional in response to an event.
7-6

First, as the exhibit shows, affect is a broad term that
encompasses emotions and moods. Second, there are
differences between emotions and moods. Some of these
differences—that emotions are more likely to be caused by a
specific event, and emotions are more fleeting than moods.
Other differences are subtler. For example, unlike moods,
emotions like anger and disgust tend to be more clearly
revealed by facial expressions. Also, some re-
searchers 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, the exhibit shows that
emotions and moods are closely
connected and can influence
each other. Getting your dream
job may generate the emotion of
joy, which can put you in a good
mood for several days. Similarly,
if you’re in a good or bad mood,
it might make you experience a
more intense positive or
negative emotion than
otherwise. In a bad mood, you
might blow up in response to a
co-worker’s comment that
would normally have generated
only a mild reaction.
7-9

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 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.
Other researchers, even philosophers, say there are universal
emotions common to all. René Descartes, often called the
founder of modern philosophy, identified six “simple and
primitive passions”— wonder, love, hatred, desire, joy, and
sadness—and argued that “all the others are composed of
some of these six or are species of them.”
7-10

It’s unlikely 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. In
addition, cultural factors can also
influence interpretations.
7-11

• Classifying Moods: Positive and Negative Affect
• Mood States: General groupings of affective emotions
• Positivity Offset: Generally, at zero input, people are
in a positive mood

One way to classify emotions is by whether
they are positive or negative. Positive emotions—
such as joy and gratitude—express a favorable
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. When we group emotions into
positive and negative categories, they become mood
states because we are now looking at them more
generally instead of isolating one particular emotion
7-13

Positive affect: a mood dimension consisting of positive
emotions such as excitement, self-assurance, and
cheerfulness at the high end and boredom,
sluggishness, and tiredness at the low end.
Negative affect: a mood dimension consisting of
nervousness, stress, and anxiety at the high end and
relaxation, tranquility, and poise at the low end. (
Note:Positive and negative affect are moods. We’re using
these labels, rather than positive mood and negative
mood, because that’s how researchers label them.)
Positive affect and negative affect play out at work and
beyond in that they color our perceptions, and these
perceptions can become their own reality.
7-15

One flight attendant posted an anonymous blog on the
Web that said, “I work in a pressurized aluminum tube
and the environment outside my ‘office’ cannot sustain
human life. That being said, the human life inside is not
worth sustaining sometimes . . . in fact, the passengers
can be jerks, and idiots. I am often treated with no
respect, nobody listens to me . . . until I threaten to kick
them off the plane.” Clearly, if a flight attendant is in a
bad mood, it’s going to influence his perceptions of
passengers, which will, in turn, influence his behavior.
7-16

Negative emotions are likely to translate into negative
moods. People think about events that created strong
negative emotions five times as long as they do about events
that created strong positive ones. So, we should expect
people to recall negative experiences more readily than
positive ones. Perhaps one reason is that, for most of us,
negative experiences also are more unusual. 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. So, for most people,
positive moods are somewhat more common than negative
moods. The positivity offset also appears to operate at work
7-17

Emotions and Rationality
Emotions are critical to rational
thought: they help in understanding
the world around us.
Evolutionary Psychology
Theory that emotions serve an
evolutionary purpose: helps in
survival of the gene pool
The theory is not universally accepted

Does the degree to which people experience emotions
vary across cultures?
Do people’s interpretations of emotions vary across
cultures?
Do the norms for are the expressions of emotions differ
across cultures?
“YES” to all of the above!

Understand the role of emotions and moods
to better explain and predict behavior
Emotions and moods do affect workplace
performance
While managing emotions may be possible,
absolute control of worker emotions is not

Positive emotions can increase problem-solving skills
People with high EI may be more effective in their
jobs
Managers need to know the emotional norms for
each culture they do business with

1. Differentiated emotions from moods and listed the basic
emotions and moods.
2. Identified the sources of emotions and moods.
3. Discussed the impact emotional labor has on employees.
4. Contrasted the evidence for and against the existence of
emotional intelligence.
5. Applied the concepts of emotions and moods OB issues.
6. Contrasted the experience, interpretation, and the
expression of emotions across cultures.

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States of America.

Introduction to Emotions and Moods in Organizational Behavior

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