Interpersonal Affect Regulation Research Articles

How social roles shape interpersonal affect regulation at work

Individuals often attempt to influence the affective states of others in the workplace. Such interpersonal affect regulation (IAR) occurs across social settings that are characterized by distinct roles and relationships between actors and targets. However, it is unclear whether and how IAR processes and outcomes differ across settings as pertinent research has developed in separate organizational literatures with different research traditions that have thus far not been compared or integrated. In addition, despite the social nature of IAR, the types of relationships between the actor engaging in IAR and the target of IAR have rarely been considered in prior research. Here, we present an integrative framework to establish why and how social roles at work shape motivation, strategies, and affective outcomes of IAR across three core actor-target configurations in organizations. Specifically, we theorize how internal-vertical, internal-horizontal, and external social role configurations influence IAR. We provide integrative insights into the nature and implications of IAR in organizations and generate a comprehensive agenda for future research on IAR.

Does interpersonal affect regulation influence others’ task performance? The mediating role of positive mood

ABSTRACTAn important part of many job roles – such as coaches, instructors, and leaders – is trying to improve the performance of others. In this paper we examine whether affect-improving interpersonal affect regulation (i.e., deliberate attempts to improve the emotion and mood of another person) plays a positive role in this process. We develop a model which proposes that the positive relationship between the receipt of interpersonal affect regulation and task performance is mediated by positive mood. Results of two dyadic studies (one with academics and doctoral students, N = 78, the other with driving instructors and learner drivers, N = 100) support the hypothesized model, and show that the effects of interpersonal affect regulation are over and above the effects of emotional contagion. Our findings extend theoretical understanding of the effects of interpersonal affect regulation by illustrating a core mechanism through which it influences others’ task behaviour. Our research also provides new evidence on the relational and affective processes through which people holding key organizational roles (e.g., coaches, instructors, mentors, leaders) are able to improve others’ task performance.

The boomerang effect: How nurses’ regulation of patients’ affect associates with their own emotional exhaustion and affective experiences.

Recent research has shown that the intentional regulation of others’ affect has effects not only on the target (e.g., a patient) of the regulation, but also on the agent (e.g., a nurse). In particular, the use of intentional interpersonal affect regulation strategies has been found to predict employees’ emotional exhaustion (EEx). Use of affect-worsening strategies is associated with an increase in EEx, whereas the effect of using affect-improving strategies is less clear. Another relevant consequence of interpersonal affect regulation is its effect on affective experiences, which is one of the main determinants of job attitudes. This study tests the relationships between the interpersonal affect regulation strategies that nurses use to regulate their patients’ affect and the nurses’ EEx and affective experiences. A longitudinal 2-wave field study was conducted in sample of nurses. Participants completed a questionnaire on 2 different occasions, 2 months apart (Time 1 [T1], Time 2 [T2]). Of the 141 participants at T1, 103 also completed the survey at T2. Longitudinal hierarchical regression analyses showed that using affect-worsening strategies was a significant predictor of nurse’s EEx, whereas using affect-improving strategies did not significantly predict their EEx. For affective experiences, use of affect-worsening strategies was related to nurses experiencing low-activation negative affect (e.g., feeling depressed); whereas affect-improving strategies was related to them experiencing low-activation positive affect (e.g., feeling calm). Results support the view that intentional regulation of patients’ affect needs to be considered not only in relation to the patients’ perception of service quality but also from the perspective of nurses’ well-being.

Feeling Worse Before Feeling Better: A Case of Increased Disorganized Mental States Following Group Psychotherapy

ABSTRACTIs group therapy effective if it results in members revealing greater unresolved/disorganized mental states related to childhood trauma? That is, do patients have to more fully experience partially disavowed trauma before they get better? We found a small proportion of patients whose pre-treatment Adult Attachment Interview (AAI) transcripts were not coded as Unresolved/Disorganized at the start of group treatment, but were coded as such at the end. In one case report, we examined pre- and six months post–AAI transcripts and group therapy interactions to document the emergence of an unresolved/disorganized mental state. Despite the increase in disorganization, the patient showed some symptom improvement and improved reflective functioning. The 16-week psychodynamic group therapy allowed the patient to reflect on her traumatic experiences and their impact on her life. However, this also resulted in a disorganizing effect on her mental state. Longer-term therapy may be necessary to improve interpersonal functioning and affect regulation in patients who experienced early trauma.

Using interpersonal affect regulation in simulated healthcare consultations: an experimental investigation of self-control resource depletion.

Controlled Interpersonal Affect Regulation –the process of deliberately influencing the internal feeling states of others– occurs in a variety of interpersonal relationships and contexts. An incipient corpus of research shows that interpersonal affect regulation can be characterized as a goal-directed behavior that uses self-control processes which, according to the strength model of self-regulation, consumes a limited resource that is also used by other self-control processes. Using interpersonal affect-improving and affect-worsening regulation strategies can increase agent’s resource depletion but there is reason to think that effects will partially rely on target’s feedback in response to the regulation. Using a healthcare paradigm, an experiment was conducted to test the combined effects of interpersonal affect regulation use and patient feedback on healthcare workers’ resource depletion, measured as self-reported experienced and expected emotional exhaustion, and persistence on a self-regulation task. Medical students (N = 78) were randomly assigned to a 2(interpersonal affect regulation: affect-worsening vs. affect-improving) × 2(patients’ feedback: positive vs. negative) factorial between-subjects design and given instructions to play the role of doctors in interactions with two professional actors trained to act as patients. Analysis of covariance showed that affect-worsening was more depleting than affect-improving for all measures, whereas the recovery effects of positive feedback varied depending on strategy type and measure. The findings confirm the characterization of interpersonal affect regulation as potentially depleting, but suggest that the correspondence between the agent’s strategy and the target’s response needs to be taken into consideration. Use of affect-improving and positive feedback showed positive effects on self-rated performance, indicating that interpersonal affect regulation is relevant for organizational as well as personal outcomes.

The Experience of Failed Humor: Implications for Interpersonal Affect Regulation.

PurposeThe purpose of this study was to investigate failed interpersonal affect regulation through the lens of humor. We investigated individual differences that influenced people’s affective and cognitive responses to failed humor and their willingness to persist in the interpersonal regulation of positive affect after a failed attempt.Design/Methodology/ApproachUsing well-established autobiographical narrative methods and surveys, we collected data at two time points. All participants (n = 127) received identical surveys at time 1. At time 2, they were randomly assigned to complete a narrative about either successful or failed humor as well as a second survey.FindingsUsing moderated regression analyses and SEM, we found significant differences between our failed and successful humor conditions. Specifically, individual differences, including gender, affective perspective taking, and humor self-efficacy, were associated with negative reactions to failed humor and the willingness of individuals to persist in the interpersonal regulation of positive affect. Moreover, affective perspective taking moderated the effect of gender in both the failed and successful humor conditions.ImplicationsOur results suggest that failed humor is no laughing matter. Understanding individuals’ willingness to continue in attempts to regulate the affect of others contributes to the comprehension of an understudied phenomenon that has implications for interpersonal behavior in organizations such as helping, group decision making, and intragroup conflict.Originality/ValueStudies of interpersonal affect regulation often focus on people’s ability to successfully regulate others’ emotions. In contrast, this is the first quantitative study to explore factors that influence individual’s willingness to persist in interpersonal affect regulation after failure, and to investigate how individual differences influence the personal outcomes associated with failed attempts.

The Association between Controlled Interpersonal Affect Regulation and Resource Depletion

This investigation focuses on what occurs to individuals' self-regulatory resource during controlled Interpersonal Affect Regulation (IAR) which is the process of deliberately influencing the internal feeling states of others. Combining the strength model of self-regulation and the resources conservation model, the investigation tested whether: (1) IAR behaviors are positively related to ego-depletion because goal-directed behaviors demand self-regulatory processes, and (2) the use of affect-improving strategies benefits from a source of resource-recovery because it initiates positive feedback from targets, as proposed from a resource-conservation perspective. To test this, a lab study based on an experimental dual-task paradigm using a sample of pairs of friends in the UK and a longitudinal field study of a sample of healthcare workers in Spain were conducted. The experimental study showed a depleting effect of interpersonal affect-improving IAR on a subsequent self-regulation task. The field study showed that while interpersonal affect-worsening was positively associated with depletion, as indicated by the level of emotional exhaustion, interpersonal affect-improving was only associated with depletion after controlling for the effect of positive feedback from clients. The findings indicate that IAR does have implications for resource depletion, but that social reactions play a role in the outcome.

The Phenomenology of Failed Humor: Implications for Interpersonal Affect Regulation

Studies of interpersonal affect regulation often focus on the ability of individuals to successfully regulate other people’s emotions. However, inadequate attention has been paid to failed interper...

Somatoform pain: a developmental theory and translational research review.

Somatoform pain is a highly prevalent, debilitating condition and a tremendous public health problem. Effective treatments for somatoform pain are urgently needed. The etiology of this condition is, however, still unknown. On the basis of a review of recent basic and clinical research, we propose one potential mechanism of symptom formation in somatoform pain and a developmental theory of its pathogenesis. Emerging evidence from animal and human studies in developmental neurobiology, cognitive-affective neuroscience, psychoneuroimmunology, genetics, and epigenetics, as well as that from clinical and treatment studies on somatoform pain, points to the existence of a shared neural system that underlies physical and social pain. Research findings also show that nonoptimal early experiences interact with genetic predispositions to influence the development of this shared system and the ability to regulate it effectively. Interpersonal affect regulation between infant and caregiver is crucial for the optimal development of these brain circuits. The aberrant development of this shared neural system during infancy, childhood, and adolescence may therefore ultimately lead to an increased sensitivity to physical and social pain and to problems with their regulation in adulthood. The authors critically review translational research findings that support this theory and discuss its clinical and research implications. Specifically, the proposed theory and research review suggest that psychotherapeutic and/or pharmacological interventions that foster the development of affect regulation capacities in an interpersonal context will also serve to more effectively modulate aberrantly activated neural pain circuits and thus be of particular benefit for the treatment of somatoform pain.

How to win friendship and trust by influencing people’s feelings: An investigation of interpersonal affect regulation and the quality of relationships

Research suggests that people deliberately try to improve others’ feelings in a variety of social contexts. However, little is known about whether and how interpersonal affect regulation influences the quality of people’s relationships. Two applied social network studies investigated the relational effects of interpersonal affect regulation. In Study 1 attempts to improve others’ affect among grocery store employees were associated with both regulatory targets’ and agents’ perceptions of friendship and trust. In Study 2 we replicated this finding among staff and prisoners in a high-security prison. Additionally, we showed that these associations were mediated by positive changes to regulatory targets’ and agents’ affect. The results provide insights into the social consequences of interpersonal affect regulation and help to elucidate the factors influencing the formation and maintenance of high-quality relationships.

Does Regulating Others' Feelings Influence People's Own Affective Well-Being?

ABSTRACT Individuals in a variety of social contexts try to regulate other people's feelings, but how does this process affect the regulators themselves? This research aimed to establish a relationship between people's use of interpersonal affect regulation and their own affective well-being. In a field study, self- and other-reported data were collected from prisoners and staff members in a therapeutic prison using two surveys separated in time. In a laboratory study, a student sample reported their affect before and after attempting to influence the feelings of talent show contestants in a role-play task. The results of both studies indicated congruent associations between the use of affect-improving and affect-worsening interpersonal affect regulation and strategy agents' affective well-being. Our findings highlight that, when performing interpersonal affect regulation, people may not be immune from the effects of their own actions.

A classification of controlled interpersonal affect regulation strategies.

Controlled interpersonal affect regulation refers to the deliberate regulation of someone else's affect. Building on existing research concerning this everyday process, the authors describe the development of a theoretical classification scheme that distinguishes between the types of strategy used to achieve interpersonal affect regulation. To test the theoretical classification, the authors generated a corpus of 378 distinct strategies using self-report questionnaires and diaries completed by student and working samples. Twenty participants then performed a card-sort of the strategies. Hierarchical cluster analysis was used to determine how well the theoretical classification represented spontaneous understandings of controlled interpersonal affect regulation. The final classification primarily distinguished between strategies used to improve versus those used to worsen others' affect, and between strategies that engaged the target in a situation or affective state versus relationship-oriented strategies. The classification provides a meaningful basis for organizing existing research and making future conceptual and empirical distinctions.