Daniel J. Beal

An Episodic Process Model of Affective Influences on Performance

In this article, the authors present a model linking immediate affective experiences to within-person performance. First, the authors define a time structure for performance (the performance episode) that is commensurate with the dynamic nature of affect. Next, the authors examine the core cognitive and regulatory processes that determine performance for 1 person during any particular episode. Third, the authors describe how various emotions and moods influence the intermediary performance processes, thereby affecting performance. In the final section of the article, the authors discuss limitations, future research directions, and practical implications for their episodic process model of affect and performance.

Methods of Ecological Momentary Assessment in Organizational Research

Although ecological momentary assessment and experience sampling methods have been in use in other areas of the social and medical sciences for many years, organizational researchers have not taken advantage of these techniques. To rectify this situation, the authors examine the benefits and difficulties of ecological momentary assessment and offer suggestions for how it can be used effectively in organizations. In addition, the authors discuss the analysis of these data from a multilevel framework and place particular emphasis on procedures that examine the temporal nature of momentary data.

Peacocks, Porsches, and Thorstein Veblen: Conspicuous Consumption as a Sexual Signaling System

Conspicuous consumption is a form of economic behavior in which self-presentational concerns override desires to obtain goods at bargain prices. Showy spending may be a social signal directed at potential mates. We investigated such signals by examining (a) which individuals send them, (b) which contexts trigger them, and (c) how observers interpret them. Three experiments demonstrated that conspicuous consumption is driven by men who are following a lower investment (vs. higher investment) mating strategy and is triggered specifically by short-term (vs. long-term) mating motives. A fourth experiment showed that observers interpret such signals accurately, with women perceiving men who conspicuously consume as being interested in short-term mating. Furthermore, conspicuous purchasing enhanced mens desirability as a short-term (but not as a long-term) mate. Overall, these findings suggest that flaunting status-linked goods to potential mates is not simply about displaying economic resources. Instead, conspicuous consumption appears to be part of a more precise signaling system focused on short-term mating. These findings contribute to an emerging literature on human life-history strategies.

Making the Break Count: An Episodic Examination of Recovery Activities, Emotional Experiences, and Positive Affective Displays

Drawing on the emotional labor and work recovery literatures, we examined the relationship between workday break activities and emotional experiences and the role these variables play in the perfor...

Optimizing principal components analysis of event-related potentials: Matrix type, factor loading weighting, extraction, and rotations

OBJECTIVE Given conflicting recommendations in the literature, this report seeks to present a standard protocol for applying principal components analysis (PCA) to event-related potential (ERP) datasets. METHODS The effects of a covariance versus a correlation matrix, Kaiser normalization vs. covariance loadings, truncated versus unrestricted solutions, and Varimax versus Promax rotations were tested on 100 simulation datasets. Also, whether the effects of these parameters are mediated by component size was examined. RESULTS Parameters were evaluated according to time course reconstruction, source localization results, and misallocation of ANOVA effects. Correlation matrices resulted in dramatic misallocation of variance. The Promax rotation yielded much more accurate results than Varimax rotation. Covariance loadings were inferior to Kaiser Normalization and unweighted loadings. CONCLUSIONS Based on the current simulation of two components, the evidence supports the use of a covariance matrix, Kaiser normalization, and Promax rotation. When these parameters are used, unrestricted solutions did not materially improve the results. We argue against their use. Results also suggest that optimized PCA procedures can measurably improve source localization results. SIGNIFICANCE Continued development of PCA procedures can improve the results when PCA is applied to ERP datasets.

Episodic Processes in Emotional Labor: Perceptions of Affective Delivery and Regulation Strategies

This study examined emotional labor processes from a within-person, episodic framework. The authors hypothesized that the influence of negative emotions on affective delivery would be lessened by regulation strategies for supervisor perceptions but not self-perceptions. In addition, difficulty maintaining display rules was hypothesized to mediate the relation between negative emotions and self-perceptions of affective delivery. Finally, the influence of surface acting strategies on these processes as well as correlations with individual differences was investigated. Hypotheses were tested using ecological momentary assessment of a sample of cheerleading instructors. Results suggest that surface actors can regulate emotions effectively on an episode-to-episode basis but find the episode more difficult. In addition, surface actors exhibit more general tendencies to devalue themselves and experience fewer positive emotions.

Reflections on Affective Events Theory

In the few years since the appearance of Affective Events Theory (AET), organizational research on emotions has continued its accelerating pace and incorporated many elements of the macrostructure suggested by AET. In this chapter we reflect upon the original intentions of AET, review the literature that has spoken most directly to these intentions, and discuss where we should go from here. Throughout, we emphasize that AET represented not a testable theory, but rather a different paradigm for studying affect at work. Our review reveals an obvious shift toward AET in the way organizational researchers study affect at work, but also that some elements have been neglected. Ultimately, we see the most fruitful research coming from further delineation of the underlying processes implicated by the macrostructure of AET.

Just Feelings? The Role of Affect in the Formation of Organizational Fairness Judgments

In contrast to traditional conceptualizations of organizational justice as representing isolated judgments stemming from a “cold” rational calculus, justice judgments are instead part of a “hot” and affectively laden appraisal process, emerging over time through the interplay of work and nonwork experiences as well as through emotions and moods. The authors articulate how emotional reactions shape fairness judgments and how incidental emotional experiences and ambient moods influence the occurrence and appraisal of justice events in the workplace.

Personality Predictors of Extreme Response Style

Extreme response style (ERS) refers to the tendency to overuse the endpoints of Likert-type scales. This study examined the extent to which ERS is accounted for by measures of personality, specifically, intolerance of ambiguity, simplistic thinking, and decisiveness. One hundred and sixteen pairs of undergraduate students and one of their respective peers completed a battery of questionnaires assessing these personality measures, alongside three measures of extreme responding. Results indicate that peer ratings of intolerance of ambiguity and simplistic thinking interact with the primary participants time spent on the survey to predict the primary participants extreme responding. Thus, those who quickly complete surveys and are intolerant of ambiguity or are simplistic thinkers are most likely to exhibit ERS. These results have implications not only for surveys using rating scales, but also illustrate how epistemic personality factors more generally influence the processing of new information.

Affect spin and the emotion regulation process at work.

Regulating emotions is one of the most depleting activities that customer service employees are asked to do, but not all employees get burned out by the end of an emotionally laborious day. In the current study, affect spin-the trait variability of an individuals affective states-was hypothesized to increase strain and fatigue associated with emotion regulation, yet weaken the relation between recent strain and immediate fatigue. The authors examined these hypotheses in an experience sampling study of restaurant servers. Sixty-three servers completed surveys on 4 occasions during each of approximately 10 shifts (2,051 total surveys). Multilevel analyses supported the underlying model linking emotion regulation to fatigue at work as well as the hypothesized role of affect spin. Although affect spin reflects greater reactivity to affective events, it also provides some degree of a buffer from the fatiguing effects of these events.