Deep Acting Research Articles

The mediating role of surface and deep acting and the moderating effect of occupational identity in workplace violence and sleep quality among psychiatric nurses: a cross-sectional study.

Psychiatric nurses often encounter patients with mental health disorders and consequently experience prolonged periods of high stress, increased workload, and frequent incidents of workplace violence. These aspects can lead to a higher incidence of poor sleep quality. This study examined the interplay between workplace violence and emotional labour (surface and deep acting) to suggest measures for enhancing sleep quality among psychiatric nurses. A total of 300 completed and valid online questionnaires were collected. The Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index was used to measure sleep quality, Workplace Violence Scale (WVS) to measure the occurrence of workplace violence, and Emotional Labour Scale to measure surface and deep acting. The data were analysed using Hayes' PROCESS macro with SPSS. Independent samples t-tests and one-way ANOVA were used to compare differences in sleep quality and emotional labour (surface and deep acting) between psychiatric nurses with different demographics. The prevalence of poor sleep quality (PSQI > 5) was 55% among the nurses. Surface acting in emotional labour partially mediated the relationship between workplace violence and sleep quality(a1*b1=0.035,95%CI: 0.002, 0.079), whereas deep acting had a suppressive effect(a2*b2=-0.033,95%CI: -0.071, -0.003). Occupational identity had a positive moderating effect on the relationship between workplace violence and surface acting(Effect=0.091,95%CI: 0.004, 0.179). The relationship between workplace violence and poor sleep quality was partially mediated by surface acting and suppressed by deep acting. Moreover, nurses with higher occupational identity engaged in more surface acting after workplace violence. Workplace violence, surface acting, and deep acting emerged as significant factors influencing sleep quality among psychiatric nurses. Deep acting can reduce the impact of workplace violence on sleep quality. The results provide a new and expanded view of the interplay between workplace violence and emotional labour concerning sleep quality. Interprofessional collaboration with clinicians, administrators, educators, and spiritual leaders can contribute to the development of related education and training. Chinese Clinical Trial Registry ChiCTR2200062347. https://www.chictr.org.cn/showproj.html?proj=173264.

Multi-attribute dynamic attenuation learning improved spiking actor network

Deep reinforcement learning (DRL) has shown promising results in solving robotic control and decision tasks, which can learn the high-dimensional state and action information well. Despite their successes, conventional neural-based DRL models are criticized for low energy efficiency, making them laborious to be widely applied in low-power electronics. With more biologically plausible plasticity principles, spiking neural networks (SNNs) are now considered an energy-efficient and robust alternative. The most existing dynamics and learning paradigms for spiking neurons with a common Leaky Integrate-and-Fire (LIF) neuron model often result in relatively low efficiency and poor robustness. To address these limitations, we propose a multi-attribute dynamic attenuation learning improved spiking actor network (MADA-SAN) for reinforcement learning to achieve effective decision-making. The resistance, membrane voltage and membrane current of spiking neurons are updated from a fixed value into dynamic attenuation. By enhancing the temporal relation dependencies in neurons, this model can learn the spatio-temporal relevance of complex continuous information well. Extensive experimental results show MADA-SAN performs better than its counterpart deep actor network on six continuous control tasks from OpenAI gym. Besides, we further validated the proposed MADA-LIF can achieve comparable performance with other state-of-the-art algorithms on MNIST and DVS-gesture recognition tasks.

Teachers’ Emotional Labor: A Systematic Review

Emotional labor refers to the process by which employees are required to regulate their emotions in accordance with professionally specified requirements, rules, and guidelines. In the context of teaching, a significant portion of work is dedicated to the emotional labor of the teachers. Teaching, as a multifaceted profession, encompasses cognitive as well as emotional dimensions. Teachers consistently engage in emotional labor as an essential component of achieving pedagogical objectives and fostering positive learning outcomes. This review aimed to examine the emotional labor of elementary and high school teachers. The study was guided by four key questions: (1) What are the emotional labor levels of the teachers? (2) How do teachers engage in emotional labor in terms of surface acting and deep acting? (3) What is the relationship between naturally felt emotions and surface acting and deep acting? (4) What are the remaining gaps in the literature regarding the study of emotional labor, surface acting, and deep acting among teachers in elementary and high schools? We systematically selected ten articles relevant to our objective to confirm the components related to teachers’ emotional labor, with a specific focus on surface acting, deep acting, and naturally felt emotions in elementary and high school teachers. A comprehensive database search was conducted, in adherence to the PRISMA statement, to locate relevant studies investigating “teachers’ emotional labor” and synthesizing surface acting and deep acting. The PICOS approach was used to refine research inquiries and formulate search terms. Overall, the literature review highlights notable associations between surface acting and deep acting. However, there is no conclusive evidence that shows the correlation between deep acting and naturally felt emotions. There is considerable room for improving our understanding of emotional labor, including study methodologies, explored variables, and the recognition of historical and cultural influences that moderate and mediate the dynamics of emotional labor. This systematic review sought to delineate and consolidate existing research insights on teachers’ emotional labor.

Psychological hardiness, social support, and emotional labor among nurses in Iran during the COVID-19 pandemic: A cross-sectional survey study

BackgroundOur study of nurses in Tehran was conducted in June of 2020, when the lockdown from the pandemic had been implemented. Nurses had been faced with how to effectively manage their own emotion responses during patientcare. ObjectivesOur study aims to evaluate how psychological and social resources were jointly related to the use of emotional labor through surface acting and deep acting among nurses at public hospitals. DesignThe study design was a single-wave, cross-sectional self-report questionnaire survey containing validated measures where the nurses reported on their work experiences during the pandemic. SettingsThe participants came from five out of 50 public hospitals within Tehran. ParticipantsOf the 250 nurses chosen by using multi-stage randomly sampling, 224 were retained after listwise deletion of missing data and outliers. MethodThrough a survey questionnaire, participants responded to scale measures of psychological hardiness, social support, and emotional labor to investigate the joint impact of hardiness and social support on emotional labor. Their responses provided information on the (1) validity and reliability of all variables, and (2) the hypothesized structural relations, using SPSS-AMOS 22 software. ResultsChallenge and control were related to social support; coworker sympathy and supervisory support were related to surface acting; coworker sympathy was related to deep acting. Under strong support, high hardiness was most negatively related to surface acting and positively related to deep acting. ConclusionThrough coworker and supervisory support, hardiness became an effective means for nurses to regulate their own emotions during interactions to enhance patientcare.

Profiles of teachers' emotional labour during COVID-19 and the consequences on mental health: A comparison between online and offline teaching.

Despite increasing attention on emotional labor in teacher well-being research, person-centered studies are relatively scarce, particularly concerning the emotional labor of online teaching during COVID-19 and its effects on teachers' non-work-related mental health. This study aims to address these gaps by examining emotional labor profiles and their consequences on job satisfaction, depression, and anxiety among Chinese teachers involved in either online or offline teaching during October-December 2022. Two samples of teachers were analyzed altogether: one engaged in online teaching (N=605) and the other in offline teaching (N=394). Latent profile analysis was used to identify emotional labor profiles based on three strategies: surface acting, deep acting, and expression of naturally felt emotions. A total of four subgroups of emotional workers were identified: natural expressors, actors, flexible regulators, and authentic regulators. Significant differences were found between online and offline teaching, with a higher proportion of actors and fewer flexible regulators in the online condition, suggesting that the screen acts as a barrier to authentic emotional display. Among the four classes, actors scored lowest on job satisfaction and highest on depression and anxiety, whereas authentic regulators were the most adaptive, especially in online settings. The findings highlight the impact of online teaching on teachers' emotional labor profiles and mental health, with practical implications for optimizing online teaching environments and supporting teacher well-being.

‘Round outside and square inside’: language teachers’ emotion regulation strategies in crosscultural teaching contexts

ABSTRACT With the expansion of transnational language learning and teaching, chances have increased for language teachers to work in crosscultural teaching contexts and regulate their emotions in the face of crosscultural emotional challenges. This study investigated the emotion regulation strategies employed by language teachers in crosscultural teaching contexts. Through a qualitative multi-case study with six Chinese as a second language (CSL) teachers in China, data collected from semi-structured interviews, class observations, and teacher reflective journals revealed seven emotion regulation strategies of three categories: restraining and pretending of surface acting; reframing, reconcentrating, and repositioning of deep acting; releasing and relieving of genuine expressing. These three categories reflected language teachers’ three experiences to cultural differences: deliberate minimisation, reflective acceptance, and communicative adaptation. The identified emotion regulation strategies also revealed two paradoxes existing in teacher-student interactions in crosscultural language teaching, which can be summarised as the Chinese idiom ‘round outside and square inside’. The study also proposed practical implications for language teachers’ emotion regulation and offered suggestions for institutions concerning teacher emotion in crosscultural teaching contexts.

Emotional Intelligence and Burnout among Adolescent Basketball Players: The Mediating Effect of Emotional Labor.

Burnout, characterized by emotional and physical exhaustion, poses a significant challenge to adolescent athletes, particularly in high-intensity sports like basketball. Emotional Intelligence (EI) is the ability to manage emotions, which is negatively associated with burnout. Emotional labor, including strategies of surface acting (SA), deep acting (DA), and genuine expression (GE), plays a potentially key role in emotion management between EI and burnout for athletes. This study aims to investigate the relationship between EI and burnout, as well as the mediating role of emotional labor strategies among adolescent basketball players. Our cross-sectional study, conducted in youth sports schools in four different places in China, involved 260 basketball players. Results indicate a negative association between EI and burnout, with SA and GE emerging as significant mediators. SA was positively linked to burnout, while GE showed a negative association. These findings suggest that enhancing EI and managing emotional labor strategies are crucial for mitigating burnout and improving the well-being and performance of young athletes.

Exploring the Relationships Among Display Rules, Emotional Job Demands, Emotional Labour and Kindergarten Teachers' Occupational Well‐Being

ABSTRACTThis study investigates the intricate relationships among display rules, emotional job demands (EJD), emotional labour and the occupational well‐being (OWB) of kindergarten teachers in China. Utilising the job demands–resources (JD‐R) model, this study specifically assesses the influence of EJD and displays rules on two dimensions of teachers' OWB (job satisfaction and emotional exhaustion), while exploring the mediating role of emotional labour strategies. Data were collected from a sample of 1220 Chinese kindergarten teachers. By employing structural equation modelling and mediation analysis, the findings reveal that positive display rules can enhance job satisfaction and alleviate emotional exhaustion. Conversely, negative display rules are linked to heightened emotional exhaustion and diminished job satisfaction. The analysis further discerns that two emotional labour strategies significantly mediate these associations. Surface acting exacerbates adverse outcomes, whereas the natural expression of emotions acts as a salient buffer, augmenting job satisfaction and reducing emotional exhaustion. In addition, EJD can positively predict job satisfaction through deep acting. These insights underscore the necessity of cultivating educational environments that advocate for natural emotional expression and reinforce positive display rules, thereby enhancing teachers' OWB. This research offers valuable implications for educational policymakers and practitioners, emphasising the need to address the emotional aspects of teaching in early childhood education.

Emotional labour: More of a burden than a benefit?

Hospitality workers, such as flight attendants and waiters, are expected to be courteous, friendly, and polite all the time. Training and managing their own feelings is part of the job. For many, people's true feelings differ from those shown to the outside world, thus prompting them to "put a mask on" throughout their working hours. This practice is called surface acting, which is as essential to this investigation as deep acting. In this context, this study's results were thought-provoking since a statistically significant positive correlation between deep acting and performance was found, while the surface acting–performance relationship was negative. These findings may serve as a warning signal for employers who are expected to keep their employees' mental well-being intact at work.

Moderating effect of family structure on the relationship between early clinical exposure and emotional labor of nursing students: a cross-sectional study

BackgroundEmotional labor is an essential component of nursing practice and is important for Generation Z nursing students born from the mid-1990s to early 2010s. They will become the backbone of the nursing workforce but present more emotional regulation problems. Studies on emotional labor are limited to clinical nurses and influencing factors at the individual level. The impacts of external systems on emotional labor of nursing students have not been explored. This study aimed to quantify the relationship between early clinical exposure and emotional labor and test the moderating effect of family structure on the relationship.MethodsThe cross-sectional study recruited 467 nursing students using convenience sampling from seven colleges and universities in mainland China. An e-survey created on WJX.CN was used to collect data in January 2023. Emotional labor (surface acting and deep acting) was measured with the Emotional Labor scale. Early clinical exposure (exposure or not and times of exposure) and family structure (nuclear family, extended family, and single-parent family) were assessed with self-reported questions. Descriptive statistics and the linear mixed-effects modeling were used to do the analyses.ResultsThe mean scores of surface acting and deep acting were 26.66 ± 5.66 and 13.90 ± 2.40, respectively. A significant difference in scores of surface acting was not observed for exposure or not, whereas such a significant difference was found for times of exposure. Nursing students from extended families demonstrated significantly lower scores on surface acting while exposed to clinical practice compared with those from nuclear families. Family structure moderated the relationship between times of exposure and surface acting of nursing students when exposed to clinical practice for one time, but the significance disappeared when the times of exposure increased. No significant findings of early clinical exposure on deep acting were observed.ConclusionsEarly clinical exposure influenced emotional labor, and students from extended families were more likely to get benefits from early clinical exposure. Studies are needed to help students from nuclear families get comparable benefits on emotional labor as those from extended families, and improve deep acting by early clinical exposure.

Trends in Emotional Labor Research: Bibliometric and Science Mapping Analysis

Emotional labor is about employees in the service sector involving their emotions while performing the service job as required. Emotions are also used for commercial purposes. The study analyzes data on emotional labor through bibliometric and science mapping methods. For the analyses, data between 1982 and 2024 are scanned in the Web of Science (WoS) database, and data for 2,925 documents are accessed. After loading the data, the VOSviewer program is utilized to analyze it for bibliometric and science mapping purposes. Subsequently, the investigation unveiles the foremost authors, countries, journals, institutions, and keywords in emotional labor research. This is followed by analyzing their co-authorship, co-citation, bibliographic coupling, and keyword co-occurrence models. As a result, in emotional labor research, it is found that Alicia A. Grandey is the most productive and most cited author, the USA is the most productive country, Frontiers in Psychology is the most productive journal, and the most frequently encountered keywords are burnout, surface acting, job satisfaction, deep acting, and emotional exhaustion, respectively. The analysis findings reveal a collaborative nexus among authors, countries, and institutions, offering visual network maps and comprehensive insights into emotional labor's present status and trends within the scientific literature.

The Conditional Effects of the Transformational Leadership Behaviors on Leaders’ Emotional Exhaustion: Roles of Deep Acting and Emotional Intelligence

This study used the model of emotional labor as emotion regulation to examine the indirect effect of transformational leadership behaviors on leaders’ emotional exhaustion through leaders’ deep acting. Further, it is hypothesized that this indirect effect varies depending on the level of leaders’ emotional intelligence. The sample included 230 leader-follower dyads working in public sector organizations in Pakistan. The results of the regression analysis showed that deep acting behaviors mediated the relationship between transformational leadership and emotional exhaustion, but only for leaders with low levels of emotional intelligence. These findings highlight the importance and relevance of emotional intelligence in managing emotions and maintaining emotional well-being among transformational leaders in the public sector. We discuss the theoretical and practical implications of our study in the manuscript.

Navigating emotional labour: the role of deep acting in enhancing job performance and customer relations in the South African racecourse industry

This study aims to examine the effects of deep acting on employees employed at the racecourse. The objective of this study is to examine the effects of deep acting, a type of emotional labour, on the well-being and job performance of service employees in the hotel industry in South Africa. Additionally, the study intends to provide effective coping strategies to minimise any negative consequences of emotional labour. This study employs a qualitative methodology, utilising purposive sampling to choose eight participants from the racecourse industry. The data was gathered using semi-structured in-depth interviews, enabling a thorough investigation of the participants' experiences and perceptions. Thematic analysis was employed to examine the data and discover significant themes and patterns pertaining to the practice of deep acting and its effects. According to the study, sales assistants reported that deep acting was less stressful than surface acting. The practice of deep acting had a positive impact on the job performance and communication abilities of the sales associates, hence contributing to their professional development. Notwithstanding these advantages, certain individuals experienced a sense of being underappreciated by their employers due to the emotional work they performed. The results indicate that engaging in deep acting promotes a heightened sense of empathy towards clients and improves the performance of sales associates as a result of their cumulative work experience. This research emphasises the necessity for organisations, especially those in the hospitality sector, to acknowledge and endorse the emotional labour carried out by their employees. By acknowledging the beneficial aspects of deep acting and providing appropriate coping mechanisms, employers can help alleviate potential negative impacts on employee well-being. Acquiring this comprehension can result in improved management techniques that foster employee contentment and productivity. This study adds to the scarce body of scholarship on emotional work in the South African setting, particularly within the racecourse business. This study presents innovative perspectives on the impact of deep acting on service employees and provides practical approaches for efficiently managing emotional labour. The research highlights the significance of maintaining a balance between employees' self-management and their regulation of client interactions, which ultimately improves the overall quality of customer service and staff satisfaction.

The Impact of Firefighters’ Emotional Labor on Job Performance: The Moderating Effects of Transactional and Transformational Leadership

Our study leverages insights from the conservation of resources theory and job demands–resources theory to explore the relationship between two types of emotional labor—surface acting and deep acting—and job performance among firefighters. Furthermore, we assess the moderating roles of transactional and transformational leadership within this framework. Using hierarchical multiple regression models, we analyzed data from 1453 firefighters in Gyeonggi-do, South Korea’s most populous province. The findings reveal that surface acting adversely affects job performance, whereas deep acting exerts no significant impact. The relationships between these two types of emotional labor are contingent on transactional and transformational leadership. The policy implications of this study include the need to manage employees’ emotional labor by distinguishing between surface and deep acting as well as the need for efforts and alternatives to facilitate transactional and transformational leadership.

Emotional challenges in the retail industry Uncovering the role of emotional exhaustion in shop attendants' performance

Background: Within the scope of the organization, performance is an important topic to be researched because of the facts that are crucial for the future and sustainability of the organization. To salesperson task performance are considered the most important and influential aspect in assessing their performance. In addition, emotional labor is known to be a display rule that is often found in front-line workers such as salesperson. So this study seeks to examine the relationship between emotional labor and task performance, through the mediating role of emotional exhaustion. Method: This study collected data from 58 participants who work as salesperson in the retail industry. The three instruments used in this study were the Emotional Labor Scale (ELS), the Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI), and the Individual Work Performance Scale (IWPS). Result: The results showed that emotional exhaustion did not mediate the relationship between emotional labor (surface acting and deep acting) and task performance. Conclusion: However, the use of surface acting strategy is able to make retail salesperson experience higher exhaustion due to significant and positive relations. Novelty/Originality in this article: This study offers a new perspective in understanding the complex dynamics between emotional labor, emotional exhaustion, and task performance among retail salespeople. This study provides important insights into how psychological factors may influence job effectiveness in an industry that relies heavily on customer interactions.

An Empirical Examination of the Relationship Between Emotion Regulation and Emotional Labor

The expression of contextually appropriate emotions in the workplace is critical to fostering effective interpersonal interactions. What constitutes an appropriate emotional expression is determined by the display rules an employee perceives. Within the emotional labor framework, the management of emotional expression at work (i.e., ensuring alignment with display rules) occurs through the engagement in two primary strategies by employees. These are known as surface acting and deep acting. Despite theoretical efforts to synthesize these strategies with the broader emotion regulation framework and its strategies of expressive suppression and cognitive reappraisal, no empirical examination of their relationship exists. The present study aimed to investigate this empirical relationship to provide clarity on the extent to which these constructs (i.e., strategies) are unique across frameworks. A second aim was to assess whether method bias could explain any overlap between these constructs. A total of 800 participants (Mage = 22.4 years, 78.8% female) who worked across a range of service industries completed measures of emotion regulation and emotional labor under two conditions designed to manipulate the presence of method bias (i.e., varying the order of item administration). Participants also completed the DASS-21, a measure of affective symptom severity. Using multigroup analysis, the results indicated that analogous latent constructs (cognitive reappraisal and deep acting; expressive suppression and surface acting) yielded significant, small-to-moderate correlations, and that correlation coefficients were invariant regardless of how items were administered. The pattern of correlations with affective symptoms also differed across constructs. Together, the limited correlations between the analogous strategies, and the differential associations with affective symptoms, suggest a relative independence between these constructs. Findings carry theoretical and practical implications across research and clinical settings.

A meta-analytical investigation on the relationship between emotional labour and teacher efficacy in the Chinese context

ABSTRACT There has been no consensus in previous studies on the relationship between teacher emotional labour strategies and teacher efficacy. Considering the context-dependent nature of emotional labour, we synthesised past findings on this relationship through a meta-analysis in the Chinese context. Based on 17 studies with 8,547 Chinese teachers, emotional labour strategies (i.e. surface acting, deep acting and expression of naturally felt emotions) varied by their effects on teacher efficacy. Deep acting and expression of naturally felt emotions were significantly positively associated with efficacy whereas surface acting showed no significant relationships. Moderator analyses indicated that teaching levels significantly moderated the teacher efficacy-emotional labour strategy relationship.

The effects of teacher nodding: exploring mimicry, engagement, and wellbeing in the EFL classroom

IntroductionThis article explores teacher and student mimicry of one another’s nodding in the classroom and whether it impacts teacher wellbeing. Studies have consistently demonstrated correlations between physical mimicry and various desirable outcomes, including empathy, rapport, affiliation, and personal liking. While students experiencing such emotional connections with their teachers tend to achieve more academically, teachers also benefit, showing, for example, reduced stress levels. Research exploring the link between mimicry of nonverbal communication such as nodding and teacher wellbeing is limited, however. This paper reports on a very small data set to explore the analysis of synchrony between teacher and learner in the English as a Foreign Language classroom.MethodsQuantitative and qualitative methodologies were combined to gather both objective and subjective data. A Granger causality analysis was undertaken to understand both immediate and delayed mimicry of nodding, and cross-correlograms produced. Teacher stress levels were measured using the ratio of the low-frequency (LF) and high-frequency (HF) heartrate power bands, which was then validated with a two-dimensional model. Next, the teacher was interviewed about her wellbeing and pedagogy while watching the video data. The results were then combined and analyzed.Results and discussionWhile much immediate mimicry during active teaching sessions was evident in the video data, it was not found to be at a statistically significant level. The Granger Causality analysis showed, however, that students consistently mimicked changes in teacher nodding rate in the following dyad activity. Cross-correlation analysis between teacher and student participants during active teaching sessions and also within student dyads during pairwork activities showed strong relationships at lags spanning 0–60 s. No statistical significance between student and/or teacher nodding and either teacher self-assessed wellbeing or physiological stress levels was found, however. This is explained first by the teacher evaluating her normal baseline state as neutral rather than positive (as was reflected by the LF/HF), and second by her physiological responses to the emotional regulation strategies of surface and deep acting. Qualitative observational data, however, indicated that teacher nodding positively influenced student comprehension, interest, and confidence, and the teacher’s own professional wellbeing.

Leader's Conveyed Emotional Labor and Leadership Evaluations

Abstract: We examined whether leader gender moderated the relationship between leader's conveyed emotional labor (EL) strategies and followers’ leadership evaluations [effectiveness, trust, leader–member exchange (LMX)]. Participants read a fictitious interview of a CEO (male/female) reflecting on their strategy (surface acting/deep acting/genuine displays) to express emotions. The results suggest that conveyed EL influenced evaluations of female, but not male, leaders for the three measures. Notably, females received better trust evaluations for genuine displays (vs. surface and deep acting), whereas males received similar evaluations across EL strategies. Although less clear for effectiveness and LMX ratings, the results suggest leader EL might influence evaluations of female (vs. male) leaders more strongly. This study sheds light on the role of gender stereotypes in evaluations of leaders performing EL.

Variance-Reduced Deep Actor–Critic With an Optimally Subsampled Actor Recursion

Variance-Reduced Deep Actor–Critic With an Optimally Subsampled Actor Recursion