Functions of Emotions

10 Key excerpts on "Functions of Emotions"

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  21st Century Management: A Reference Handbook

  • Charles Wankel, Charles B. Wankel(Authors)
  • 2007(Publication Date)
  • SAGE Publications, Inc

    (Publisher)

  In the next section, brief summaries of key research findings and applications of emotions in organizational behavior are offered. These short sections serve as introductions into our expanding knowledge and include, among others, discussions on the influence of emotion on aspects of or-ganizational life critical to 21st-century management (e.g., job performance, leadership, and stress). As the preceding sections establish, evidence continues to build regarding the importance of emotions in the workplace. As a result, numerous calls have been made to incorporate emotion into personnel management systems. The following two sections introduce readers to ways by which emotions can be incorporated into management practices and discuss cross-cultural considerations. In the final section, a sum-mary and a number of suggestions for future research are offered, along with suggested readings. It is the purpose of this chapter to provide readers with a starting point for understanding the critical role that emotion plays in 21st-century management. THEORETICAL FRAMEWORKS Defining Emotion The label of “emotion” encompasses a wide range of phenomena, including feelings, changes in behavior and cognitions, engagement in impulsive or involuntary be-havior and thoughts, relative tenacity of beliefs, changes in the relationship between a person and his or her environ-ment, and physiological changes not caused by physical conditions. Given this definition of emotion, it is impor-tant to distinguish what differentiates emotion from other widely used terms. Howard Weiss (2002) has provided a framework for understanding the different constructs that fall within this broad domain. In his framework, the term affective states refers to a family of related entities that he labels as “mood,” “stress,” and “emotion.” Affect is a broad term used to describe any emotion related term (e.g., mood, stress, and discrete emotions).

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  Addiction

  A Behavioral Economic Perspective

  • Shahram Heshmat(Author)
  • 2015(Publication Date)
  • Routledge

    (Publisher)

  4 Definition and Functions of Emotions DOI: 10.4324/9781315774541-4

  Introduction

  In the previous chapter, addiction was characterized as a complete absence of control when confronted with an object of desire. This characterization of addiction makes it important for studying the struggle between appetite (reason and desire) and emotion. The question is how emotions matter and how they influence individual actions.

  Traditionally, emotion is considered harmful to decision making. When we act under the influence of emotions and strong feelings (anger, fear, craving), they may cause us to deviate from plans laid in a cooler moment and act impulsively against our own best judgment. However, many thinkers now suggest that emotions can be very helpful in making decision with little or no conscious deliberation.

  This chapter provides a brief introduction to some basic concepts and mechanisms of emotions to provide an understanding on the nature and function of emotion. The purpose is to discuss such questions as, what are emotions, and why do we have emotions? What are the rules by which emotion operates? Are emotions beneficial, as essential to our rationality? The focus is on the role of emotions in information processing and decision making.

  The Importance of Emotion

  We organize our lives to maximize the experience of positive emotions and minimize the experience of negative emotions. Emotions determine the quality of our lives and are of interest to everyone. They set our priorities, make our lives meaningful, and communicate our intentions (Ben-Ze’ev, 2000 ). Emotions are motives that direct our attention by selecting what attracts and holds our attention. Without that sense, decision making and actions are derailed. A thorough understanding and exploration of any subject matter requires persistent motivation and curiosity. Without fascination and obsession, much of learning is unlikely to be above and beyond the ordinary.

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  Emotions at Work

  Theory, Research and Applications for Management

  • Roy L. Payne, Cary Cooper, Roy L. Payne, Cary Cooper(Authors)
  • 2003(Publication Date)
  • Wiley-Interscience

    (Publisher)

  Most of us do not experience real threat or danger, but a socially or individually created perception of threat, danger, or loss, the result of interpretive cognitive processes. Similarly many of the basic needs are met and activation of additional nurturing is above and beyond basic human requirements. Emotions and feeling states direct attention to relevant events, thoughts, or stimuli, organize perceptual and thought processes, as well as activating and motivating many, if not most, aspects of human behaviour. The central role of emotion in human functioning applies both to interpersonal (or social behaviours) and personal solitary behaviours. Whether in the social, work, family, or solitary sphere of human endeavour, human emotions and affects direct much of our functioning. The universal nature of the principal emotions and the presence of recognizable emotional states within animal behaviour underscore both the bio- logical and the adaptive Functions of Emotions. What are the functions served by emotions? Not all consequences of emotions are functional, some may be unintended and the long-term consequences may differ from those in the short term. Similarly, asking the question of the Functions of Emotions, we need to consider the differences between functions for the indi- vidual versus functions for the social group within which the individual operates. Emotion may be protective of an individual’s well-being, but also a form of communication as far as the social group is concerned. Asking ‘‘What are the Functions of Emotions?’’ may also lead to asking ‘‘When is emotion dysfunc- tional?’’ and ‘‘Where are the boundaries between functional and dysfunctional?’’ Emotions, when provoked by the interactions with the environment or from internal processes, organize attention toward the relevant events and away from others deemed to be less relevant.

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  Handbook of Approach and Avoidance Motivation

  • Andrew J. Elliot(Author)
  • 2013(Publication Date)
  • Psychology Press

    (Publisher)

  21 Functions of Emotions and Emotion-Related Dysfunction Eric Youngstrom

  DOI: 10.4324/9780203888148-46

  CONTENTS

  • Functionalist Perspective on Emotions
  • Emotions as Evolved Capacity: Three Levels of Analysis
  • Functions of Emotions
  • Specialization
  • Rapid Appraisal
  • Rapid Response
  • Survival Fitness
  • Reproductive Fitness and Sexual Selection
  • Affiliation
  • Competition
  • Runaway
  • Approach, Avoidance, and Sex
  • Social and Interpersonal Functions: Building, Maintaining, and Changing Networks
  • Intrapersonal Functions: Sculpting the Self
  • Runaway Software: Emotions, Memes, and Culture
  • Emotion-Related Dysfunction
  • Models of Emotion and Psychopathology
  • Conflict as Normative Development
  • Too Much of a Good Thing (Statistical Models of Extremity)
  • Dysfunction as Transaction: Right Feelings, But at the Wrong Place and Time
  • Mutation—Fractures in an Otherwise Good System
  • Sneaky Value Added (Subtle or Counterintuitive Adaptive Value)
  • Approach and Avoidance Emotional Models of Psychopathology: Behavioral Inhibition System and Behavioral Activation System
  • Conclusion
  • References

  The goal of this chapter is to review the function and dysfunction of emotions within an overarching framework of approach and avoidance. The discussion of emotions will adopt an explicitly functionalist perspective, as described in the first section. The function of emotions and emotion-related dysfunction are addressed in the second and third sections. Whereas most prior evolutionary treatments of the functionality of emotions have concentrated on the survival value of emotions, our discussion also adds the element of reproductive advantage. We will argue that much of the function and dysfunction of emotions in human culture has been affected by sexual selection as well as survival pressures. Finally, and perhaps most provocatively, we explore the idea of memetic replication with regard to emotion. We argue that emotions offer a powerful ally for the propagation of memes, and hopefully will offer some provocative ideas about the plasticity with which both culture and self are developing.

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  Language and Emotion. Volume 3

  • Gesine Lenore Schiewer, Jeanette Altarriba, Bee Chin Ng, Gesine Lenore Schiewer, Jeanette Altarriba, Bee Chin Ng(Authors)
  • 2023(Publication Date)
  • De Gruyter Mouton

    (Publisher)

  In the same manner, emotional displays of customers could also influence other customers in both positive and negative ways. The process of emotional contagion in groups might be influenced further by trait-like variables such as emotional intelligence (Kidwell, Hardesty, and Childers 2008 ; Mayer, Caruso, and Salovey 1999), and susceptibility to emotions (Hatfield et al. 1994) or the ability to affect the emotions of others (Sy, Côté, and Saavedra 2005). These variables determine how we perceive, process and manage emotional information that we receive from other individuals. As a marketing manager, it is necessary to understand the emotional dynamics and how they contribute to the overall customer experience. 5 Conclusion This chapter contributes to our understanding of the role of emotion in commercial contexts by outlining different mechanisms behind the impact of emotions in business settings. In particular, we emphasize that emotions are integral components of what marketing managers nowadays call experiences. This makes emotions the subject of management efforts, as managers in different industries aim to elicit, control, steer or hamper customers’ emotions at a certain touchpoint in the customer journey. Regarding consumer experiences, there are certainly varying degrees of how managers try to, and often succeed in, socially constructing emotions. We argue that the social perspective, which is an essential facet of why we buy and consume certain products or services, is as important as the individual perspective on emotions. More broadly, we point out that emotions can be experienced individually (and thus for instance shape reactions to advertising), but that they are also socially relevant: social factors with individual experience, and the experience of some emotions that are highly relevant in commercial contexts, even substantially depend on co-present others. 6 References Aaker, David Allen, Douglas M. Stayman & Michael R. Hagerty. 1986

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  Emotional Value

  Creating Strong Bonds with Your Customers

  • Janelle Barlow, Dianna Maul(Authors)
  • 2000(Publication Date)
  • Berrett-Koehler Publishers

    (Publisher)

  These are all motivations, but there is a strong emotional component to the objects themselves that motivates people to buy.” 12 Emotions Imply Obligations While adding excitement, emotions are also messy to manage and they carry implications. Unethical business practices are easily reinforced 19 when there is a lack of emotional sensitivity. Tobacco industry executives and employees do not have to feel responsible for the pain of smoking-related illnesses if they are able to convince themselves that the decision to smoke is a choice on the part of smokers, that addiction doesn’t occur with nicotine. Executives of companies that pollute don’t have to be concerned about human pain and suffering if they can convince themselves that business decisions are merely “logical” and necessary choices in a competitive world. Nor do medical personnel have to get involved with distraught parents if they stay focused on the technical side of a child’s health care. High-performing companies view emotional value as a necessity. Accepting the fact that emotions play a part in business transactions might make organizations more sensitive to a whole range of issues and actually make them stronger by integrating the human element in daily work. As we move into the twenty-first century, there is growing support for these ideas. The Hay Group’s benchmark of high-performing corporate cultures found them very different from ordinary companies. All the high performers recognize the priority of a strong corporate culture; in addition, they focus on “teamwork, customer focus, fair treatment of employees, initiative, and innovation.” 13 As a result, they attract the best employees. When high-performing company executives are emotionally aware, they are not afraid to add real emotional value to their internal cultures

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  Psychology of Emotion

  • Paula M. Niedenthal, François Ric(Authors)
  • 2017(Publication Date)
  • Psychology Press

    (Publisher)

  Research shows that people with high emotional intelligence are more successful in a number of domains of life (Mayer, Salovey, & Caruso, 2008). For instance, they are less likely to engage in bullying and violent behavior (Rubin, 1999) and less likely to abuse drugs and alcohol (Brackett, Mayer, & Warner, 2004). They also tend to have more successful relationships, be judged as more interpersonally sensitive (Brackett et al., 2006; Lopes, Salovey, & Straus, 2003), and be better managers in organizational settings than individuals with low emotional intelligence (Rosete, 2007).

  Disruptions in emotion-processing capacity cause bad outcomes and well-developed emotion skills yield good outcomes. These facts suggest that emotions are, on average, functional. But just how and for whom?

  Survival Function of Emotion for the Individual

  One of the questions we can ask, when considering the function of emotions for the individual, is whether our emotions aid our ability to survive and thrive in the face of challenges and opportunities. As a general principle, although a feeling may be subjectively unpleasant, or although the endocrine or autonomic part of the emotion may be costly to the body, on average, there is a beneficial survival function that emotions serve for most people, most of the time. Next we discuss three ways in which emotions are functional for the individual. In particular, we show how 1) the physiology of emotion supports adaptive action, 2) the feelings of emotion regulate the pursuit of goals, and 3) action tendencies of emotion promote the selective responses to the world that results in a broadening of the individual’s repertoire of cognitive and behavioral responses. The functionality of facial expression for the individual is discussed in detail in Chapter 5 .

  Physiology

  The emotions we experience vary in their degree of physiological arousal (Levenson, 2003). The main system of the body that regulates arousal and other relatively automatic biological processes (e.g., breathing, sweating, digesting) is the autonomic nervous system (ANS), which we also discussed in Chapter 3 . The ANS is composed of two subsystems that typically work in opposition. The sympathetic nervous system (SNS) is excitatory, augmenting activity in ANS-regulated systems (e.g., increase in heart rate). Activity of the SNS becomes dominant during physical or psychological stress, producing arousal to aid in mobilizing the energy needed to respond to the challenge. Due to its excitatory function, the SNS is commonly referred to as the “fight or flight” portion of the ANS. On the other hand, the parasympathetic nervous system

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  Managing and Leading People through Organizational Change

  The Theory and Practice of Sustaining Change through People

  • Julie Hodges(Author)
  • 2021(Publication Date)
  • Kogan Page

    (Publisher)

  Emotions are intense, short-lived reactions that are linked to a specific cause such as an event, issue, relationship or object (Frijda, 1986). For example, you might be delighted with your birthday gift, angry with your partner for forgetting your anniversary, or happy because you are on holiday. Our emotions can influence how we deal with a task at work, as well as the content of our thinking, such as what kind of information we recall, select, interpret and learn. Moreover our emotions can come and go quickly with some being intense, such as rage, others being more subdued, such as contentment, while others are mixed, such as anger with embarrassment. Since an emotion cannot be directly seen, we tend to communicate how we feel verbally and non-verbally. For instance, we may feel sad and show it by crying, or feel happy and show it by laughing. How we display an emotion consists of a complex combination of facial expressions, body language, spoken words and tone of voice (Rafaeli and Sutton, 1987). Within the context of organizational change an emotion is, therefore, a reaction that is shown externally and has a range of possible consequences in how an individual will behave.

  Types of emotions during organizational change

  Emotions tend to be commonly classified as positive or negative. Positive emotions include: excitement, enthusiasm, happiness, relief, confidence, exhilaration, eagerness and hopefulness, whereas so-called negative emotions comprise: guilt, anger, frustration, disappointment, sadness, grief, worry, fear, anxiety and helplessness. Positive emotions can stimulate the desire to generate broader ways of thinking, improve decision making, increase energy and create an open mind about organizational change, while conversely, negative emotions can create a narrow way of thinking, withdrawal from participating in meetings and decision making, and criticism about change (Barclay, Skarlicki and Pugh, 2005). On the one hand, some organizational members will react positively and view change as an opportunity for development and advancement. On the other hand, not everyone will see change as positive. Some organizational members may perceive it as threatening and unfair and consequently respond with negative emotions such as anger, resentment or anxiety, and/or withdraw from participating in the discussions and decisions about proposed change(s). Emotional reactions are not, however, always experienced merely as an either/or reaction, some individuals may experience types of emotions simultaneously. For example, the announcement of a departmental restructure might arouse mixed emotions in some individuals, such as fear related to the uncertainty about potential job losses, mixed with hope for the potential improvement that the restructure will bring to the department’s performance. So individuals may react with a mix of emotions to organizational change.

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  Business Communication Management

  The Key to Emotional Intelligence

  • Dr. Anna Rostomyan(Author)
  • 2020(Publication Date)
  • tredition

    (Publisher)

  Hence, any influence of incidental emotions would suggest that decisions are influenced by factors unrelated to the utility of their consequences. Yet, far too much of what happens in the process of communications occurs on the emotional level (Rostomyan, 2009). According to Hochschild there exist certain professions, economics included, in which the main actors at hand have to manage their emotions to sound proficient (Hochschild, 1983).

  As a matter of fact, by means of appropriately managing the verbal and non-verbal displays of positive or negative emotions the speaking partners stand a better chance of having an emotive influence on the audience and hence obtaining their target. All this comes to prove that emotions do play a very vital role in decision making processes (Rostomyan, 2013a,b, 2015).

  We have analyzed a number of cases and revealed that very often financial means do not necessarily bring happiness with them nor do they contribute to the development of individual spiritual calmness and mindfulness.

  In the book of Tony Hsieh “Delivering Happiness”, the author speaks about the main important factors which altogether shape a successful business within economic relations. He vividly Draws his assertions to the fact that in case your economic steps do not contain passion, energy and emotion, your business will most probably not prosper nor will you be satisfied with the results.

  The author speaks also about his commercial ups and downs and points out to the fact that spiritual calmness can be achieved by balancing our emotions, both on the psychological and speech levels, and developing a kind of culture inside of the financial and economical interrelations between the partners and colleagues. He very minutely describes the development of his business projects and economic decisions, revealing that there should be a kind of emotional co-relation inside the company to help blossom the overall project and satisfy everybody’s individual needs, by this means also contributing of the establishment of happiness in the mental world of the interactants which surely does cause better labour output (Rostomyan, 2015).

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  The Why of Consumption

  Contemporary Perspectives on Consumer Motives, Goals and Desires

  • Cynthia Huffman, David Glen Mick, S. Ratneshwar(Authors)
  • 2003(Publication Date)
  • Routledge

    (Publisher)

  et al. 1982). These and other findings justify independent and systematic research on the role of emotions in goal-directed behavior.

  Emotional influences on goal-directed behavior

  Our purpose in this section is to provide an overview of the psychological literature that is relevant to a consideration of the role of emotions in goal-directed behavior. We will focus on two Functions of Emotions. One is to provide feedback about the extent of goal attainment. This may be called the informational function of emotions in goal pursuit. The other is to direct and energize goal-directed behavior. This may be called the motivational function of emotions in goal pursuit. Some approaches focus more on the informational function, others on the motivational function, and still others on both. The theories covered in our review are quite varied, so it is necessary to impose some structure on the discussion. We will do this by classifying the frameworks along two dimensions. First, we will distinguish between approaches in which emotions are treated as broad underlying dimensions and approaches in which emotions are regarded as discrete categories. In the former approach, researchers have mostly studied the effects of positive versus negative emotions on behavior, although other dimensions such as degree of arousal have sometimes been discussed as well. In the latter approach, specific emotions such as happiness, sadness, anger, or fear are the focus of interest, and the idiosyncratic effects of these emotions on behavior are studied in greater detail. Second, we will differentiate between frameworks in which current (or past) emotional experiences have behavioral effects and frameworks in which the anticipation of future emotional experiences influences goal-directed behavior. In the former case, emotions are reactions to actual events that alert the organism to features of the environment that require attention. In the latter case, emotion-relevant events are imagined, but such mental simulations are assumed to have important effects on goal-directed behavior.

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