The Effects of One Members' Anger on Team Emotion

Anat RafaeliArik CheshinRoy Israely

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Emotion Contagion Time 1 Time 2

(c) Technion, 2009 -- Slides and Paper available at http://Anat.Rafaeli.Net

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What Creates Emotion Contagion?

An unconscious process based on mimicking of others’ non verbal cues. (Hatfield, Cacioppo, & Rapson, 1994; Neumann & Strack, 2000)

Non verbal cues include:Tone of voice, Facial expression, Body language, and so on..

(c) Technion, 2009 -- Slides and Paper available at http://Anat.Rafaeli.Net

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Research Question So what happens in teams where non

verbal cues are not present? Will emotion of one member spread to rest of the group?

(c) Technion, 2009 -- Slides and Paper available at http://Anat.Rafaeli.Net

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SHAPE FACTORY TASK Simulates an interdependent team of 4 players

(shapes)

Each player can produce and sell a shape

Team members have to fill orders for shapes

Reward based on individual and group performance

(c) Technion, 2009 -- Slides and Paper available at http://Anat.Rafaeli.Net

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Experiment Time Line

PANAS

Instructions

~1 min ~ 20 min

Task

3 R X 12 min

DV

Payment

~10 min ~3 min

Arrival

~3 min

N=49 groups (25 happy)

51% female

Average age 24.7

Practice R

12 min

(c) Technion, 2009 -- Slides and Paper available at http://Anat.Rafaeli.Net

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Manipulation Confederate acted Angry or Happy; based on past

research.(Kopelman, Rosette, Thompson, 2006; Van Kleef et al, 2004; Barsade, 2002)

HappyUse words that express happiness: “It’s a pleasure doing business with you :-)”

Be flexible:“Accept any offer as long as not below your production cost”

AngryUse words that express anger: “Your offer makes me really ANGRY!"

Be tough:“Always ask for higher sell price and lower purchase price.”

(c) Technion, 2009 -- Slides and Paper available at http://Anat.Rafaeli.Net

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Manipulation Check

3.68

2.01

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

Angry Condition Happy Condition

 

To what degree did express anger?

T(145) = 6.0

p<0.0001

3

4.53

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

Angry Condition Happy Condition

To what degree did express happiness?

T(145) = 6.9

p<0.0001

Angry Confederate

Happy Confederate

(c) Technion, 2009 -- Slides and Paper available at http://Anat.Rafaeli.Net

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Individual Emotion PANAS

1.52

3.2

1.68

2.75

1

1.5

2

2.5

3

3.5

NA1 NA2

F (1, 145) = 8.561

P<0.01

Repeated Measures NA

3.693.54

3.864.12

1

1.5

2

2.5

3

3.5

4

PA1 PA2

F (1, 145) = 3.696

P<0.06

Repeated Measures PA

(c) Technion, 2009 -- Slides and Paper available at http://Anat.Rafaeli.Net

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Group Emotion

3.2

2.15

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

angry condition happy condition

Aggregated Anger Ratings

T(47) = 6.46

p<0.001

Angry

RWG=0.83

Happy

RWG=0.9

3.42

4.22

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

angry condition happy condition

Aggregated Happy Ratings

T(47) = 4.19

p<0.001

+

+

+

G E

(c) Technion, 2009 -- Slides and Paper available at http://Anat.Rafaeli.Net

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Mimicking??6.6

2.79

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

Angry Condition Happy Condition

   

Number of negative messages sent

T(145) = 6.30

p<0.0001

2.36

7.05

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

Angry Condition Happy Condition

Number of positive messages sent

T(145) = 5.57

p<0.0001

Cohen’s Kappa =0.78

(c) Technion, 2009 -- Slides and Paper available at http://Anat.Rafaeli.Net

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Discussion

Emotion contagion occurs without non verbal cues!

Emotions spreads in virtual teams without face-to-face communication.

How far do these effects go?

(c) Technion, 2009 -- Slides and Paper available at http://Anat.Rafaeli.Net

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Performance

The Episodic Process Model - emotional episodes at work influence performance as they distract workers (Beal, Weiss, Barros, & MacDermind, 2005).

Mixed results regarding performance and

emotion, but more evidence that positive affect improves performance

(c) Technion, 2009 -- Slides and Paper available at http://Anat.Rafaeli.Net

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Anger and Group Performance?

+

_

GroupPerformance

Happy/ Angry

Research Question: Will anger expressed by an individual member of a work team influence performance of other team members and of the team as a whole?

IndividualPerformance

Happy / Angry

+

_

(c) Technion, 2009 -- Slides and Paper available at http://Anat.Rafaeli.Net

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Performance

128.15

222.13

0

50

100

150

200

250

Angry Condition Happy Condition

T(145) = 4.22

p<0.0001

208.33

228.96

195

200

205

210

215

220

225

230

235

Angry Condition Happy Condition

T(47) = 2.97

p<0.001

Group Performance

Individual Performance

(c) Technion, 2009 -- Slides and Paper available at http://Anat.Rafaeli.Net

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Summary Emotion of ONE member spreads to group

with minimal or no non-verbal cuesEmotion of ONE member effects performance of other members and of the team.

What is “a happy” vs. “angry” member? Need to distinguish between behavior (flexible / rigid) and emotion (anger / happy)

(c) Technion, 2009 -- Slides and Paper available at http://Anat.Rafaeli.Net

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Current Directions Emotion and Behavior separated to create:

Angry / Flexible

Happy /Flexible

Angry /Resolute

Happy /Resolute

(c) Technion, 2009 -- Slides and Paper available at http://Anat.Rafaeli.Net

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Thank you!!!

(c) Technion, 2009 -- Slides and Paper available at http://Anat.Rafaeli.Net