Week 1
Introduction to Emotional Influence
Social Influence: “The process whereby individuals’ cognitions, attitudes, emotions, and/or
behaviors are modified as a function of exposure to (information from) one or more other
individuals” (Van Kleef, Van Doorn, Heerdink & Koning 2011)
What is emotion?
“Everyone knows what emotion is, until asks to give an definition, then it seems, no one knows.”
Er bestaat geen definitie van emotie waar iedereen tevreden mee is, wat wel overeen komt is:
Emotie componenten (zouden dus onderdeel kunnen zijn van een definitie)
1. Appraisals: eigen interpretatie van een prikkel, stimulus, situatie, gebeurtenis
Je neemt deze waar met je eigen ogen, tegen het licht van eigen doelen en belangen
Mensen kunnen hierdoor dus ook verschillend reageren (interpretatie) op dezelfde
situatie
2. Subjective experiences: emoties kunnen positief of negatief voelen, voelt lekker of niet.
Deze positief/negatief zit in de subjectieve gewaarwording
3. (Non) verbal expressions: zoals lichaamshouding
Verbaal zijn de woorden en de stem
4. Physiological reactions: emoties brengen vaak een fysiologische verandering in het
lichaam met zich mee. Deze zijn ook meetbaar, zoals spiermeting in het gezicht
5. Action-tendencies: emoties zetten jou aan tot actie
boosheid, verdriet en blijdschap mobiliseren jou om bepaald gedrag te vertonen
boos agressief gedrag, verdriet in hoekje kruipen, blijdschap feest te vieren
Emotion Mood
Intentioneel: altijd ergens op gericht niet intentioneel: nergens op gericht
Relatief kortdurend relatief langduring
Relatief hevig relatief mild
Specifiek: appraisal, ervaring, fysiologie, expressie, non-specifiek
actie
Emotie: je bent boos omdat iemand iets heeft gedaan, je bent verdrietig omdat er iets stoms is
gebeurd. Je kunt emotie dus d.m.v. appraisal herleiden tot een bepaalde gebeurtenis.
Mood: meer een stemming, je bent met het verkeerde been uit bed gestapt en niemand weet
waarom (jijzelf ook niet). Goede stemming kan omdat de zon schijnt of omdat je goed geslapen
hebt. Duren meestal niet de hele dag (kortdurend).
,Appraisal
Appraisals differentiëren tussen verschillende emoties – het zijn onze interpretaties van
situaties.
Emotion as a social, rather than an individual phenomenon (Parkinson, 1996):
1. Social antecedents
2. Regulated by social context
3. Shaped by others
4. Directed at others
5. Impact on others
1. Social antecedents
- Emotions as result of social interactions
- Basic emotions (anger, joy/happiness, fear, sadness) arise in social situations
- Social relations are a relevant concern (Frijda, 1988)
2. Regulations by social context
- Dependent on the context
o Organizational culture
E.g., service with a smile
o Culture at large
E.g., Dutch: emotions of sadness at funeral
- There is a distinction between feeling rules and display rules
o Feeling rules: emotions you are expected to experience/feel
o Display rules: emotions you should show
These rules are relevant to the course as this is social
E.g., anger
US: acceptable, sign of assertiveness
Japan: unacceptable, threat to group harmony
Utku Inuit: childish, undesirable
3. Shaped by others
- Emotional contagion: unintentionally catch emotions of others and start feeling the
same.
- Reciprocal/complementary emotions
, o Reciprocal emotions: same emotions (anger/anger)
o Complementary emotions: different emotions (anger/fear)
4. Directed at others
- Emotional expressions are often targeted at an audience
- Participants show more pain/empathy when able to make eye contact (e.g., bowling)
o So, people express their emotions deliberately in attempt to communicate to
other people (emotions have the function to communicate)
5. Impact on others
- Social referencing: process wherein infants use the affective displays of an adult to
regulate their behaviour (experiment: baby and visual cliff)
Parkinson’s claim (1996)
‘’Our emotional expressions are often intended as communicative acts addressed to another
person rather than being simple and direct reflections of an underlying mental state.’’
Emotional influence
Traditional approach
- Antecedents (How do emotions arise?)
- Intrapersonal consequences (How do emotional experiences influence our own
thoughts and actions?)
Feeling thought action
But… emotions are social!
- There is a discrepancy between the social nature of emotions and most research on
emotions (intrapersonal)
- If we are to understand the role of emotions in social life, we must study their
interpersonal effects.
Emotions As Social Information (EASI) Theory
- Social life is ambiguous
o We have little information about other people’s goals, desires, intentions etc.
o We look for cues that help us interpret and understand (social) situations
- Emotion expression help people disambiguate fuzzy social situations by providing
critical information about how others relate to the situation.
Expressive Modalities
- Emotions may be expressed through different modalities:
o Face
o Body
o Voice
o Words
o Symbols
- Preferred modalities depend, in part, on affordances of the situation (e.g., physical
proximity, communication medium)
EASI on expressive modalities
