Cognitive-affective Processing Research Articles

Does extremes lead to opposites? The influence mechanism of specific ambivalent emotions on tourists’ travel intention

ABSTRACT Emotions are an important basis for decision making, and their influence is increasingly attracting attention from the academic community. However, existing research mainly focuses on the impact of a single emotion on people and lacks information on the impact of ambivalent emotions. Based on the Cognitive-Affective processing system theory, this study explores tourists’ willingness to travel, while experiencing the emotions of hope and anxiety through two situational experiments. This study used the Sojump platform to recover data, and a total of 200 valid samples were collected in Experiment 1 to explore the chain-mediating role of proactive coping and well-being. A total of 240 valid samples were collected in Experiment 2, which verified the boundary conditions of the interaction between hope and anxiety on tourists’ willingness to travel. The results broaden the theoretical research on tourism ambivalence and provide a reference source for tourism companies to use ambivalence in precision marketing.

The dynamic role of the left dlPFC in neurovisceral integration: Differential effects of theta burst stimulation on vagally mediated heart rate variability and cognitive-affective processing.

Adapting to the ever-changing demands of the environment requires a complex interplay between cognitive-affective, neuronal, and autonomic processes. Vagally mediated heart rate variability (vmHRV) is positively associated with both cognitive-affective functioning and prefrontal cortex (PFC) activity. Accordingly, the Neurovisceral Integration Model has posited a shared role of the PFC in the regulation of cognitive-affective processes and autonomic nervous system (ANS) activity. While there are numerous correlational findings in this regard, no study so far has investigated whether the manipulation of PFC activity induces changes in vmHRV and cognitive-affective processing in an inter-dependent manner. In a sample of 64 participants, we examined the effects of continuous (cTBS; n = 21) and intermittent theta-burst stimulation (iTBS; n = 20) compared to sham stimulation (n = 23) over the left dorsolateral PFC (dlPFC) on vmHRV and cognitive-affective processing within an emotional stop-signal task (ESST). Our results revealed that both resting vmHRV and vmHRV reactivity predicted cognitive-affective processing. Furthermore, we found a dampening effect of cTBS on resting and on-task vmHRV, as well as an enhancing effect of iTBS on ESST performance. Our results show no direct association between vmHRV changes and ESST performance alterations following stimulation. We interpret our results in the light of a hierarchical model of neurovisceral integration, suggesting a dynamical situation-dependent recruitment of higher-order cortical areas like the dlPFC in the regulation of the ANS. In conclusion, our results highlight the complex interplay between PFC activity, autonomic regulation, and cognitive-affective processing, emphasizing the need for further research to understand the causal dynamics of the underlying neural mechanisms.

Event-related potentials and behavioral correlates of emotional recognition memory in late pregnancy.

Research on cognitive and emotional functions during pregnancy challenges the prevalent perception of cognitive decline in pregnant women. This study investigates the behavioral and neural dynamics of cognitive-affective processing in third-trimester pregnant women, comparing them with non-pregnant controls. Using a 64-channel EEG-ERP system, we recorded brain activity as participants engaged in an emotional word recognition task. This task involved initially viewing a sequence of emotional and neutral words, followed by a recognition test where participants identified each word as 'new' or 'previously seen'. Contrary to widespread beliefs about diminished recognition ability during late pregnancy, our results revealed no significant differences in error rates between groups. However, pregnant participants demonstrated slower reaction times. In terms of neural responses, pregnant women exhibited increased amplitudes in the N1, P2, and N400 ERP components, suggesting that they may require additional brain resources compared with non-pregnant individuals to process perceptual information. A significant interaction was observed between pregnancy status and the emotional valence of stimuli. Pregnant women showed heightened N1 and N400 responses to negative words, indicating increased sensitivity to stimuli potentially representing threat. This enhanced response was not observed for positive or neutral words. Furthermore, there was an amplified N1 response to 'new' words, but not to 'old' words. These findings suggest that late pregnancy is characterized by heightened responsiveness to new and particularly negative stimuli, potentially leading to a more cautious behavioral approach. Heightened vigilance and sensitivity could offer evolutionary advantages, optimizing fetal development and enhancing maternal well-being.

The dual‐path mechanism underlying the influence of customers' negative feedback on the job crafting

AbstractAlthough previous studies have generally explored the important role played by customers' negative feedback in shaping employees' behaviour, these studies have only briefly discussed the one‐sided effects of such feedback on employees' cognition or emotions. In addition, previous studies have not discussed in depth whether customers' negative feedback has both positive and negative effects. Based on the theoretical background of the cognitive–affective processing system, we constructed a dual‐path model of the impact of customers' negative feedback on job crafting via both cognitive and affective paths and investigated the moderating effect of the error management climate in this context. A three‐stage survey design was used to examine these assumptions by referencing data collected from 382 frontline employees working in various tourism and hospitality companies. In line with our expectations, we found that customers' negative feedback can have a double‐edged sword effect via these two paths and that the error management climate moderates this dual‐path mechanism. We conclude this research by discussing the theoretical and practical implications of our findings.

Unscrambling the Dynamics of Danger: Scientific Foundations and Evidence for the Looming Vulnerability Model and Looming Cognitive Style in Anxiety

BackgroundA revised looming vulnerability model is described that updates the original conceptual model and synthesizes new findings and evidence. The revised model extends the notion of dynamic threat by describing the role of cognitive-perceptual distortions. Moreover, it suggests that dynamic threat perceptions, particularly that threats are approaching, serve as warning signals that lower the threshold for appraising threat, influencing negative emotional responses (primarily but not only anxiety and fear), cognitive-affective processing, behavior, and maladaptive coping. Individual differences in “looming cognitive style” can lead to transdiagnostic vulnerability to anxiety (and less so, to depression), maladaptive defensive reactions, cognitive-affective (experiential) avoidance, and stress generation.MethodsThis article reviews the conceptualization proposed by the revised looming vulnerability model, and comprehensively reviews its scientific foundation, and current supporting evidence that has accrued for the model across diverse research domains.ResultsThe revised conceptualization of the looming vulnerability model is amply supported by the accumulated research, which highlights the importance of dynamic stimuli for attention, memory, emotional, and neurological response. Likewise, the looming cognitive style is supported by a substantial number of studies, linking it to cognitive vulnerability to anxiety, biased threat processing, maladaptive coping and cognitive-affective avoidance, and developmental antecedents.ConclusionsThe review of evidence supports the revised looming vulnerability model's tenets about the importance of dynamic stimulusi features, which previous models have neglected, and of the looming cognitive style, which is proposed as a distinct cognitive vulnerability Clinical implications and future research directions are discussed.

How Does Digital Leadership Foster Employee Innovative Behavior: A Cognitive-Affective Processing System Perspective.

Employee innovative behavior is crucial for organizations to engage in innovative activities and gain competitive advantages in the context of digital transformation. Despite many studies having focused on the relationship between leadership and employee innovative behavior, the role of digital leadership and the underlying mechanisms for employee innovative behavior remain unclear. Using the cognitive-affective processing system framework, the study investigated the dual mediating role of psychological empowerment and affective commitment between digital leadership and employee innovative behavior and the moderating role of a proactive personality in such relationships. Employing data from 359 employees, the study conducted structure equation modeling to examine the hypotheses. The results show that digital leadership influences employee innovative behavior through psychological empowerment but not affective commitment. Furthermore, a proactive personality does not moderate the direct effect of digital leadership on psychological empowerment and affective commitment or the indirect effect of digital leadership on employee innovative behavior. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

Do office tyrants and centralized decision making drive workplace creative behaviours?

Based on affective events theory and the cognitive–affective processing system, this study explores indirect positive and negative effects of perceived abusive supervision on employee creativity through employees' affective reactions at work and how the centralization of decision making can moderate the associations between employee‐perceived abusive supervision and anxiety/anger. Using a cross‐lagged panel method to collect an effective sample of 200 employee participants which provided three‐week survey data, we tested causality between research variables with a structural equation modelling analysis using Mplus 8.0. The findings showed that a positive effect on employee creativity may occur when an employee experiences anxiety rather than anger when subject to abusive supervision. In addition, the influence of employee‐experienced abusive supervision on employee anger increases when the organization has highly centralized decision making, which hinders employees' creative performance. Theoretically and practically, this study contributes interesting and somewhat conflicting views to three areas of management literature—abusive supervision, employees' affective reactions and creativity management—including challenging the supposition that only uplifting styles of leadership can encourage employees to create new ideas.

Navigating autonomy: unraveling the dual influence of job autonomy on workplace well-being in the gig economy.

With the rapid rise of the gig economy globally, its characteristics of promoting employment and facilitating autonomy have supported its rapid growth and development in China. While the flexibility of gig work offers more employment options and income sources for workers, it also caused many problems and uncertainties. Workplace well-being is an important psychological factor that indicates the psychological state of workers and significantly predicts their behavior at work. However, previous studies on the gig economy rarely analyze gig workers' workplace well-being, which is of great significance to improving their individual emotions, promoting their physical and mental health, and maintaining the sustainable development of the gig economy and society in general. This study draws on the cognitive-affective processing system framework to construct a moderated dual-mediator model to explore the dual influence mechanism of job autonomy on gig workers' workplace well-being. Based on the data of 442 digital gig workers who were mainly engaged in manual labor. The survey results show that job autonomy positively affects employees' workplace well-being, and work alienation and positive emotion mediate this relationship. Perceived algorithmic control can moderate not only the influence of job autonomy on work alienation and positive emotion but also the indirect impact of job autonomy on workplace well-being through work alienation and positive emotion. The finding of this research contributes to expand the comprehension of the relationship between gig-worker job autonomy and workplace wellbeing and this relationship's underlying mechanism, holding significant implications for management practice.

Is misokinesia sensitivity explained by visual attentional orienting? ERP evidence from an emotional oddball task suggests no.

Misokinesia is a prevalent condition characterized by strong, negative emotional reactions to the sight of repetitive fidgeting movements in others. Here we present the results of a study designed to explore the relationship between misokinesia sensitivity (MKS) and attentional sensitivity to affectively-valenced visual stimuli. In particular, we asked participants with either high or low levels of MKS to perform an emotional oddball task that included responding to faces that had either angry or happy expressions, while we recorded event-related potentials. We found that there were no significant differences between the two MKS groups in attentional sensitivity to these faces, as indexed by the amplitude of the P300 ERP component they elicited. Importantly, we could not ascribe this null ERP finding to either low statistical power or the idiosyncrasies of our ERP analysis parameters. As such, our findings add to growing evidence that MKS may not be the simple result of heightened attentional orienting responses to visual events, but rather, it may be associated with other aspects of cognitive-affective processing.

(Don’t) mind the gap? Information gaps compound curiosity yet also feed frustration at work

Although information gaps frequently occur in the workplace, surprisingly little organizational research considered their psychological consequences for employees. We refine the information gap theory by integrating it with the cognitive-affective processing system (CAPS) framework to argue that work-related information gaps constitute a double-edged sword for work engagement because they elicit both specific curiosity and frustration. We find support for our cognitive-affective process model of information gaps across two experience-sampling studies and an experimental study. In Study 1 (74 employees, 270 days), we validated a work-related information gap scale to empirically disentangle information gaps from specific curiosity. In Study 2 (107 employees, 719 days), information gaps were positively associated with specific curiosity and frustration, which in turn had differential effects on work engagement. In Study 3 (405 employees across two conditions), we provide causal support for our model and rule out alternative cognitive (i.e., boredom) and affective (i.e., thriving) mechanisms.

Time course of attentional bias and its relationship with PTSD symptoms in bereaved Chinese parents who have lost their only child

ABSTRACT Background: The death of a child is a highly traumatic event for parents and often leads to posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Attentional bias has been demonstrated in the onset and maintenance of PTSD symptoms. Objective: This study aimed to investigate the time course of attentional bias among bereaved Chinese parents who have lost their only child (Shidu parents), and to examine its relationship with PTSD symptoms and symptom clusters. Methods: Shidu parents (n = 38; 50–72 years of age) completed a dot-probe task with negative (trauma-related), positive, and neutral images at four stimulus presentation times (250, 500, 750, and 1250 ms). PTSD symptoms were measured by the PTSD Checklist for DSM-5 (PCL-5). Results: We observed difficulty in disengaging from both negative and positive stimuli at 750 ms and attentional bias away from negative stimuli at 1250 ms. At 1250 ms, attentional avoidance of trauma-related stimuli was positively correlated with PCL-5 total and intrusion scores. Difficulty in disengaging from positive stimuli was negatively correlated with PCL-5 total and intrusion scores as well as negative alterations in cogniti and mood scores. Conclusions: These findings enhance our understanding of attentional bias and cognitive–affective processing in PTSD. This study provides evidence that attentional bias (difficulty in disengaging from positive stimuli and bias away from negative stimuli) are correlated with PTSD symptoms and certain symptom clusters.

Tonic and phasic cardiac vagal activity predict cognitive-affective processing in an emotional stop-signal task

Both the Neurovisceral Integration Model and the Vagal Tank Theory propose cardiac vagal activity (CVA) as proxy for self-regulatory or processing resources required for attentional and top-down control as key mechanisms in executive functioning or emotion-regulation. These resources have, according to the Dual Competition Model, limited capacity and are prioritized for processing the most salient of different competing stimuli. As such, emotional and especially negative or threatening stimuli attract these self-regulatory/processing resources, and may thus interfere with ongoing cognitive processes if not integrated adaptively. Here, we investigated whether tonic and phasic CVA represent self-regulatory/processing resources and thus predict response inhibition in an emotional stop-signal task as a measure of cognitive-affective integration. Thereby, we examined not only the independent effects of tonic and phasic CVA, but whether and how the interaction of both variables predicts response inhibition. We assumed that the effects of CVA on response inhibition would be more pronounced in negatively-valenced trials compared to positive or neutral ones. Our results show that CVA significantly predicted response inhibition, with higher tonic CVA predicting faster, and larger phasic withdrawal CVA predicting slower stop-signal reaction times. The interactive effects of tonic and phasic CVA revealed that high tonic CVA levels prevented the negative effects of CVA withdrawal on response inhibition. Contrary to our assumption, we did not find differential effects of tonic and phasic CVA on trials with different valences. Our results support the notion of CVA as index for self-regulatory/processing resources. However, further research is needed to investigate how CVA is related to specific neural processes of cognitive-affective processing.

How do idiosyncratic deals influence innovation performance? From the perspective of coworker.

In the hypercompetitive marketplace, contemporary organizations incorporate the diversity of talents into job design (i.e., offering idiosyncratic deals), in order to meet the unique needs of talented employees and achieve the purpose of attracting, motivating, and retaining them. Based on the cognitive-affective processing system framework, this study aims to explore the effect of coworkers' perceptions of employees' idiosyncratic deals (CPEID) on coworker innovation performance, the mediating role of thriving at work, and the moderating role of humility. Two-wave data were obtained from 248 employees of 15 China firms. The findings suggest that (a) CPEID increase coworker innovation performance by fostering coworker learning; (b) CPEID decrease coworker innovation performance by undermining coworker vitality; (c) Coworker humility not only positively moderates the relationship between CPEID and coworker learning, but also positively moderates the indirect effect of coworker learning between CPEID and coworker innovation performance; and (d) the moderating role of coworker humility is not significant in the relationship between CPEID and coworker vitality. This study provides a theoretical explanation for whether CPEID have both positive and negative effects on coworker innovation performance, and extends boundary conditions of idiosyncratic deals (i-deals). Besides, the findings inspire managers to make reasonable use of the positive role of i-deals.

Darkness within: The Internal Mechanism between Dark Triad and Malevolent Creativity.

The Dark Triad has been found to be associated with malevolent creativity (MC) in terms of trait level, and its underlying mechanism remains unclear. Based on the cognitive-affective processing system theory and the existing studies, the current study aimed to explore the internal mechanism between the Dark Triad and MC behavioral tendencies/performance. The results revealed that the Dark Triad is positively related to MC behavioral tendencies through trait aggression and general creativity behavioral tendencies. Regarding MC performance, the Dark Triad is positively related to the originality of malevolent ideas through MC behavioral tendencies, but this effect is only significant at low-to-medium levels of moral identity. In line with moral identity theory, a higher moral identity may prevent individuals from acting immorally due to their desire to maintain their moral image, which may further suppress malevolent idea generation. Therefore, cultivating moral identity may be an effective approach to weaken the Dark Triad-MC performance association.

The “Double-Edged Sword” Effects of LMX Ambivalence———An Integrated Model of Two Approaches Based on Cognitive Flexibility and Job Anxiety

Bootleg Innovation helps enterprises create unconventional innovation achievements, and has gradually become an important approach for radical innovation under the background of open innovation. Through the integration of the cognitive-affective processing system and conservation of resources (COR) theory, the present study takes integrative complexity as a moderator, and explores the mechanism of LMX ambivalence on employees' bootleg innovation. A total of 387 employees and 110 supervising managers participated in the two-wave dyadic survey. To test our hypotheses, we performed the hierarchical regression and conducted bootstrapping analyses to test our hypotheses. Findings indicated that LMX ambivalence not only improves employees' cognitive flexibility and promotes bootleg innovation, but also aggravates employees' job anxiety and hinders bootleg innovation. In addition, integrative complexity significantly moderates the above two mediating paths. Specifically, when integrative complexity was higher, the negative mediating effect of job anxiety was attenuated, and the positive mediating effect of cognitive flexibility was enhanced. Contrasting with previous research, this research analyzed the triggering mechanism of bootleg innovation combined with the dynamic interaction of environmental stimulus, emotion and cognition. The findings provide novel insight into how to achieve bootleg innovation.

Do illegitimate tasks undermine hospitality employees’ proactive customer service performance? A moderated dual-path model

ABSTRACT As hospitality firms face labor shortages, employees are asked to perform a greater range of tasks than ever before. However, employees may view certain tasks as outside the acceptable boundaries of their role, and consider them illegitimate. Illegitimate tasks can have a range of negative outcomes, yet we still do not understand how such tasks affect hospitality employees. Drawing on the cognitive-affective processing system framework, we investigate the effects of illegitimate tasks on proactive customer service performance (PCSP) of hospitality employees. In addition, we examine the intervening roles of harmonious work passion and perceived insider status, and the buffering role of traditionality. The results of two studies, using mixed methods, show that illegitimate tasks negatively affected proactive customer service performance (PCSP), and that perceived insider status and harmonious work passion mediate this relationship. Moreover, traditionality moderated these effects. These findings offer several theoretical and practical implications.

Helping But Also Deviance! Why Does Promotion-Oriented Job Crafting Lead to Two Distinct Behaviors?

Although the positive effects of job crafting on task performance have been documented, we know little about its detrimental impacts. Drawing from the cognitive-affective processing system framework, we propose an integrative model that simultaneously considers the beneficial and detrimental effects of promotion-oriented job crafting on employee outcomes. We test this model using a multi-wave data collected from 288 employees. We find that employees’ promotion-oriented job crafting is positively related to positive affect, but it also incurs the perception of psychological entitlement. Positive affect then mediates the influence of promotion-oriented job crafting on helping behavior. And psychological entitlement mediates the impacts of promotion-oriented job crafting on workplace deviance. The implications of this study for the job crafting literature are discussed.

Malleable character: organizational behavior meets virtue ethics and situationism

This paper introduces a body of research on Organizational Behavior and Industrial/Organizational Psychology (OB/IO) that expands the range of empirical evidence relevant to the ongoing character-situation debate. This body of research, mostly neglected by moral philosophers, provides important insights to move the debate forward. First, the OB/IO scholarship provides empirical evidence to show that social environments like organizations have significant power to shape the character traits of their members. This scholarship also describes some of the mechanisms through which this process of reshaping character takes place. Second, the character-situation debate has narrowly focused on situational influences that affect behavior episodically and haphazardly. The OB/IO research, however, highlights the importance of distinguishing such situational influences from influences that, like organizational influences, shape our character traits because they are continuous and coordinated. Third, the OB/IO literature suggests that most individuals display character traits that, while local to the organization, can be consistent across situations. This puts pressure on the accounts of character proposed by traditional virtue ethics and situationism and provides empirical support to interactionist models based on cognitive-affective processing system theories of personality (CAPS). Finally, the OB/IO literature raises important challenges to the possibility of achieving virtue, provides valuable and untapped resources to cultivate character, and suggests new avenues of normative and empirical research.

Why do consumers buy impulsively during live streaming? A deep learning-based dual-stage SEM-ANN analysis

The power of livestreaming commerce to rake in billions of revenues within hours has thrust this nascent commercial model into the global spotlight; that said, despite the prevalence of impulsive buying in livestreaming commerce, the existing knowledge regarding the phenomenon remains relatively scarce. This research seeks to unravel the critical determinants that influence consumers’ impulsive buying in livestreaming. Grounded in the Stimulus-Organism-Response paradigm, a framework is proposed to elucidate the underlying mechanism on how parasocial interaction, social contagion, vicarious experience, scarcity persuasion, and price perception translate into impulsive buying urge and behaviour in livestreaming commerce via the cognitive-affective processing system. A self-administered online questionnaire survey was conducted with 295 respondents. The data collected was validated empirically through a multi-analytical hybrid structural equation modelling-artificial neural network (SEM-ANN) technique. The results reveal that parasocial interaction, vicarious experience, scarcity persuasion, and price perception can drive cognitive and affective reactions, which in turn, induce impulsive buying urge, subject to the boundary condition of impulsive buying tendency. In sum, the findings have drawn some insightful theoretical and practical implications that can facilitate the advancement of livestreaming commerce in the modern business arena.

The influence of entrepreneurial leadership on employee improvisation in new ventures: based on cognitive-affective processing system framework

PurposeEmployee improvisation is valuable in seizing opportunities, creating radically new ideas and dealing with unexpected events. It is increasingly important for new ventures in unpredictable environments. However, as an important organizational factor, the mechanism of leadership style on employee improvisation has not been fully explored. Against this background, the purpose of this study is to examine the impact of entrepreneurial leadership on employee improvisation. Specifically, drawing on cognitive-affective processing system framework and regulatory focus theory, the study investigates the dual mediating role of workplace spirituality and positive affect between entrepreneurial leadership and employee improvisation and the moderating role of promotion focus in such relationships.Design/methodology/approachUsing time-lagged data from 327 leader–employee dyads from new ventures in China, the study tests all hypotheses using hierarchical multiple regression and bootstrapping analysis in IBM SPSS 26.0.FindingsThe results reveal that entrepreneurial leadership is positively related to employee improvisation, and this link is mediated by workplace spirituality and positive affect. Additionally, moderated path analysis indicates that promotion focus strengthens the direct effect of workplace spirituality and positive affect on employee improvisation and the indirect impact of entrepreneurial leadership on employee improvisation.Practical implicationsThe findings also provide some practical suggestions for managers on how to promote employee improvisation. Managers can promote employee improvisation by cultivating their entrepreneurial leadership. The results also constitute valuable information for new ventures in terms of suggesting steps that can be taken to promote employee improvisation in the workplace, particularly in regard to employees' cognition and affect. In addition, personality traits such as promotion focus should also be considered in recruitment.Originality/valueThe study makes an original contribution by showcasing the complex cognitive and affective mechanism of entrepreneurial leadership on employee improvisation. Through the dual mediating role of workplace spirituality and positive affect, the study expands the research results on employee improvisation and enriches the application of cognitive-affective processing system framework in the entrepreneurship field. The study also provides deeper insights into promotion focus research by exploring the boundary conditions of employee improvisation.