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ABSTRACT EMOTIONS
We present a goal and belief model of emotions and on According to the model of emotions we adopt
this basis we classify the emotions people feel while at (Castelfranchi, 1988; 2000), stemming from a goal and
work. Among individual emotions we distinguish the belief model of cognitive and social action (Conte &
so-called primary emotions and their families from Castelfranchi, 1995), an emotion is a complex
cognitive emotions like curiosity and boredom; among subjective state that is triggered in a System (a human,
social emotions we include those linked to an animal or even a machine) any time an important
attachment, Image and Self-Image, and the Image of the goal of the System is, or is likely to be, achieved or
Other. We describe an empirical research that thwarted. Thus, an emotion is an important adaptive
investigates what emotions are felt at work and how device aimed at monitoring the state of the Systems
they are linked to gender, status and creativity of job, most important goals. In a Human, any time a real or
and we account for the results in terms of the model imagined event is evaluated as relevant to its goal set,
presented. the emotional syndrome is triggered, encompassing
different aspects:
Keywords
Work, emotions, social emotions, cognitive emotions, 1. cognitive aspects: the beliefs about the event and
status, creative work. the goal to which it is relevant;
INTRODUCTION 2. subjective feelings: pleasant for goals being or
In the years of the cognitivist concern for emotions likely to be achieved, unpleasant for goals being or
(Frijda, 1986; Ortony, 1988; Lazarus, 1994), a relevant likely to be thwarted;
issue was the discovery of emotional intelligence 3. physiological aspects: visceral somatic responses;
(Salovey & Mayer, 1990; Goleman, 1995; Caruso &
4. expressive aspects: perceivable movements or
Wolfe, 2001) and of the relevance of emotion
awareness and regulation for work performance. But morphological changes in the Systems body;
what has been less studied were the specific qualities of 5. motivational aspects: the goals typically activated
emotions that people feel while at work; the causal (like flight for fear or struggle for anger).
relationships between workplace, job, status and the The mental ingredients of emotions
emotions felt; the link of emotions to a persons The model we adopt is particularly concerned in
motivation, social relationships, cognitive and analysing the mental ingredients of emotions, that
professional performance, and to the possible arising of correspond to its cognitive and motivational aspects:
stress, burn-out and mobbing. they include beliefs, inferences, causal attributions
In this paper we explore two issues: what emotions a about the event, the Subjects goals being (or likely to
person more frequently feels at work; and how these be) achieved or thwarted, and the goals eventually
emotions are linked to gender and to structural aspects activated. For example, in shame Subject A believes
of her work, like her status and the creativity of her job. that his/her goal of esteem or self-esteem (the goals of
We present a theoretical model of emotions being evaluated positively by others or oneself) is or is
(Castelfranchi, 1988; 2000), and on this basis we likely to be thwarted (Castelfranchi & Poggi, 1990); in
distinguish different groups of emotions felt at work envy A believes that another Subject, B, has achieved
toward the work, oneself or other people. We present an some goal that A has not achieved, hence A also
empirical research about the emotions people feel at believes ones goal of self-esteem is thwarted, and has
work and, on the basis of the model presented, we try to the goal that some other goal of B be thwarted
account for the relationships we found between work (Castelfranchi, 2000). In surprise, A believes that a new
features and reported emotions. belief utterly disconfirms his/her previous beliefs; in
admiration, A believes that B has some positive
qualities, that A would like to have, at a greater extent felt determined by our status or by our type of job? To
than others do, and has the goal of staying with B and of explore these issues we carried on an empirical
imitating B, of taking B as a model. research.
Types of emotions Hypotheses, Subjects, and Method
On the basis of the mental ingredients shared by groups 280 subjects, 125 males and 155 females, between 19
of emotions, it is possible to propose a typology of and 73, of different status and type of job, were tested
emotions that looks useful also for studying the through a questionnaire of open and multiple choice
emotions felt at work. questions, asking what emotions they happened to feel
1. Individual emotions at work, toward whom or what, and why. A list was
proposed of 53 emotions, but Subjects could add other
Some emotions, like envy, admiration, contempt, can emotions. To answer the question why, the subjects
only be felt toward someone else, while others, like fear described a situation in which they had felt that
or joy, need not: even if they can also be felt toward emotion.
someone (I can fear my boss, I can be happy for my
friend) they do not necessarily and intrinsically mention Our data were subject to quantitative and qualitative
another person in their mental ingredients. In this class analysis. The quantitative analysis was performed
of individual emotions we include some of the so- through SPSS software. The qualitative analysis was
called primary emotions, like joy, sadness, anger, and aimed at finding out the common features of the
their families, that is, other emotions differing from situations in which each emotion was felt, and the
them mainly for intensity. So, in the family of joy we mental ingredients of the emotions in those situations.
may include gladness, euphoria, happiness, enthusiasm; RESULTS. THE EMOTIONS WE FEEL AT WORK
in the family of sadness, displeasure, disappointment, The emotions mentioned by our subjects were 55 (with
unease; in the family of anger, annoyance, rage, fury. enthusiasm included both among individual and
2. Cognitive emotions cognitive emotion, anger among individual and negative
attachment emotions, and envy and jealousy among
We define cognitive emotions the ones felt about attachment and self-image emotions).
knowledge or knowledge acquisition: interest, curiosity,
surprise, boredom... 1. Individual emotions
3. Attachment emotions positive: euphoria, happiness, joy, gladness,
enthusiasm
Some emotions, like love and hatred, sympathy and
dislike, are felt when we have the goal of staying near or negative: agitation, anguish, anxiety,
far from some person, or of doing something for or disappointment, disgust, displeasure, hurt, worry,
against them. They are intrinsically social emotions, in anger 1, feeling of injustice, frustration, stress, fear,
that they are necessary felt toward some person. sadness, unease.
4. Image and Self-Image emotions 2. Cognitive emotions
An important class of emotions are those that monitor positive: curiosity, enthusiasm, surprise
the goals of Image and Self-Image: shame, guilt, negative: boredom, disorientation.
embarrassment, pride, satisfaction... 3. Attachment emotions
5. Other-Image emotions positive: feeling of belonging, sympathy,
Some emotions are linked to the image we have of tenderness
others: esteem, admiration, contempt... negative: dislike, anger 2, envy 1, jealousy 1
Of course, including an emotion into one or another 4. Image and Self-Image emotions
class is not always straightforward, because different
ingredients of an emotion may lead to include it into positive: gratification, pride, feeling of power,
different classes. Envy for instance, encompassing a feeling of superiority, feeling of being useful,
feeling of malevolence (Castelfranchi 2000) might satisfaction.
belong to the class of negative Attachment Emotions; negative: envy 2, jealousy 2, guilt, embarrassment,
while entailing a decrease in self-esteem, it might be dissatisfaction, feeling of inadequacy, feeling of
included among Image Emotions. insecurity, feeling of impotence, feeling of
EMOTIONS AT WORK. AN EMPIRICAL STUDY inferiority, feeling of uselessness, humiliation,
While at work, we feel emotions toward our work, shame, feeling of exclusion, feeling of alienation.
ourselves, and other people. About the work, we mainly 5. Other-Image emotions
feel individual and cognitive emotions; about ourselves, positive: gratitude, esteem, admiration
Image-and Self-Image emotions; toward others,
Attachment and Other-Image emotions. negative: empathy, pity, compassion, contempt.
But what emotions do we feel most? Do males and
females feel the same emotions? And are the emotions
Types of emotions 5% of men, as against 3% of women, a feeling of
Often the 55 emotions were mentioned more than once superiority (Fig.3); finally, men are more subject to
by Subjects, thus summing up to 625 mentioned envy and jealousy (10% and 2%, respectively, more
emotions, of different types. Fig. 1 shows the than women).
distribution of the positive and negative emotions in Figure 3:
each type.
Feeling of Superiority, Feeling of Power, Envy
Figure 1: Types of emotions
Superiority 5
Types of Emotions
other.im- 7
4% indiv.+
females
other.im+ indiv.- Power0
9%
indiv.+
cognitive+
8 males
8%
image - cognitive-
12%
indiv.-
attach + Envy 8
33% 19
attach -
image + cognitive+ image +
16% attach - attach + 5% 0 5 10 15 20
image -
5% 7% cognitive- other.im+
1%
other.im-
Women feel some emotions that sustain social
relationships more than men: more empathy, sympathy,
more feeling of belonging, pity, compassion, and much
53% of the emotions felt at work are social emotions,
more tenderness than men. This provides an interesting
among which 28% are about the persons image or self-
profile of how men and women are at work: men more
image, 12% entail attachment or withdrawal from other
self-confident and competitive, women more insecure
persons, and 13% sustain attachment or withdrawal by
but more ready to social relationship and help (Fig.4).
signalling the Subjects Image of the Other. Among
emotions not directed to other people, only 6% concern Figure 4: Tenderness, Pity, Empathy, Sympathy,
the cognitive investment in ones job, while 41% belong Feeling of Belonging
to primary emotions and their families.
Positive and negative emotions Tendeness 36
9
Altogether, 55% of the emotions felt are negative, vs.
Pity 14
45% positive, but this relation is not the same in all 4
types: negative ones clearly prevail among individual 19 females
Empathy 8
emotions (33% vs. 8%), while positive emotions prevail males
Sympathy 37
in all other types. 18
Belonging 19
GENDER 8
Many emotions are felt at the same extent by males and
0 10 20 30 40
females, but some are more typically felt by men while
others by women (Fig. 2).
Figure 2: Stress, Anxiety, Anguish, Agitation CREATIVE VS. REPETITIVE JOBS
To asses if emotions are causally linked to the quality of
peoples work, we distinguished two kinds of jobs:
Stress 33 creative ones (51% of our Subjects), allowing a creative
50
contribution and change of tasks, and repetitive ones
Anxiety 39 (49%), quite mechanical and leaving little room to
19 females
personal variation. The former include jobs and
Anguish 12 males
0 professions like advocate, judge, researcher, architect,
51 actor, craftsman, cook, baby-sitter; the latter, jobs like
Agitation 34 barman, driver, factory worker, postman.
0 20 40 60 Positive and negative emotions
Figure 1: Main Gender differences Figure 5: Satisfaction and Gratification
Women feel agitation and anxiety more than men, and
they also feel anguish, which in men is absent; more, 50%
they report more feeling of inadequacy, feeling of 40%
insecurity, feeling of inferiority, and unease. Men 30% creative jobs
instead feel more stress than women. repetitive jobs
20%
Men tend to feel more gratification, pride and 10%
satisfaction (+ 6%, 5% and 10%). 6% of men report a
0%
feeling of power, which women do not feel at all, and satisfaction gratification
Figure 6: Dissatisfaction and Frustration many bosses (lowest status), one could feel generally
happier.
12% But let us see how specific sets of emotions are felt
10% according to different statuses.
8%
creative jobs Anger and feeling of injustice
6%
4%
repetitive jobs Anger and feeling of injustice have something in
2%
common: not only in that they are both negative, and, in
0%
some cases, social emotions, since they are felt
dissatisfaction frustration toward somebody, but also because often anger is felt
toward someone who has transgressed some norm
(Aristotle, 1967; Averill, 1982). As shown by Fig.8,
Positive emotions in general, and specifically even if anger is felt in the average 10% more than
satisfaction and gratification, as opposed to feeling of injustice, the two emotions have very similar
dissatisfaction and frustration, are felt more frequently profiles, which confirms their qualitative similarity.
in creative than in repetitive jobs (Fig.5 and Fig. 6). Both are highest in Status 4 workers and mainly toward
Moreover, creative workers report more feeling of their superior (50% for anger, up to 71% for feeling of
usefulness and more enthusiasm, but less stress and no injustice). But also Status 1 workers feel a high amount
feeling of alienation. of these emotions: 33% directed to colleagues, 18% to
users, 17% to the boss, 8% to the whole team and 8% to
Cognitive emotions one colleague in the team, 8% to the institution (firm,
An unexpected result regards the cognitive emotions of school, hospital...), 8% (probably misunderstanding the
curiosity, that is reported more for repetitive jobs (17% answer) to oneself.
vs. 14%), and boredom, reported more for creative jobs
Figure 8: Anger and Feeling of Injustice
(1% vs. 0%).
STATUS 50%
To explore the relationship between status and felt 40%
anger
30%
emotions, Subjects were distinguished into five different 20% feeling of injustice
statuses: the first includes autonomous workers, like 10%
0%
advocates, architects, animators...; the others are four
different types of hierarchical workers, from high to
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feeling of impotence, it is only if you want to have
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power that you can feel envy. In fact, the profile of envy
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(Fig.9) is quite similar to that of the feeling of
impotence (Fig.13).
Fig. 11 shows similarly unexpected results: the two
Third, Status 1 workers only envy same status persons,
most dissatisfied workers are autonomous and Status 2
which is generally congruent with the analysis of this
workers, the two least dissatisfied are Status 1 and 4.
emotion, according to which we envy only peers, only
One more striking thing is, finally, that Status 4 workers
people at our own level. But among Status 2 workers,
show an inverted trend both between satisfaction and
77% envy their colleagues, while 23% envy their
gratification (Fig.10) and between dissatisfaction and
superior; different from Status 3 and 4, where envy is
frustration (Fig.11): in brief, they look the most satisfied
only felt toward colleagues.
but the least gratified, and, symmetrically, the most
That Status 2 workers can also envy their superior might frustrated but the least dissatisfied workers.
be accounted for by the fact that Status 2 are more close
To account for these seemingly strange results, let us
to Status 1 workers than Status 3 and 4, and, as Alberoni
resort to our qualitative analysis of these emotions.
(1991) claims, closeness increases envy. But an
alternative account could be a self-protecting function What are the features shared by the different cases
of envy. If I can envy only my peers, envying my mentioned by subjects? Both gratification and
superior entails implicitly assuming that he is only satisfaction are felt for the achievement of a goal of
unduly, unjustly in that place: I could be in his place ones work (e.g., for an actress, joy of transmitting
with more right than he is. In this self-protecting emotions during her work), and for the external
function, envy mixes up with the feeling of injustice. In acknowledgement of ones capacity, commitment,
fact, feeling of injustice can be linked to envy, because competence that is, achievement of the goal of image
provided that we envy someone, acknowledging our (appreciation by colleagues) or of self-image (as you
envy would be acknowledging our failure; so we mask feel you have done something good). Satisfaction,
our envy under the feeling of injustice: I did not succeed though, may also occur thanks to an internal
while he did, not because he is clever than I, but acknowledgement of ones capacity or commitment, or
because he was unduly helped (Castelfranchi, 1988). of the importance of ones role in an institution (a
subject is satisfied since he was able to get soon
Satisfaction/dissatisfaction, gratification/ frustration
acquainted with a new department); in other words,
An interesting result concerns the profiles of satisfaction satisfaction is linked more to the goal of self-image than
and gratification vs. dissatisfaction and frustration (Fig. to the goal of image. In fact, satisfaction is close to
10 and Fig.11). pride, because it stems from achieving a goal we
Figure 10: Satisfaction and Gratification ourselves want to achieve, independent on whether
others know or expect we achieve it.
50%
40%
The same difference holds between frustration and
30% satisfaction dissatisfaction: frustration occurs when you did not
20% gratification
10% succeed for causes not depending on you,
0% dissatisfaction when you were investing not only on the
task but also on you personal worth.
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What strikes in Fig.12 is the large divergence between
feeling of power and feeling of superiority in As shows Fig.14, the feeling of insecurity is totally
autonomous as opposed to Status 1 workers. This means absent in Autonomous and Status 4 workers, very low
that you can feel a sense of power only if you have to do in Status 1, but quite high in Status 2 workers, who feel
with other people who depend on you, while the feeling it 50% toward their work, 36% to the boss, and 14% to
of superiority is determined by a comparison of Users. Perhaps because the Status 2 worker is pressed
respective powers, not on having power over someone by three different factors: a work which is not trivial, a
(Castelfranchi, 1990). quite high responsibility in front of users and possibly
also over other workers, and, moreover, the duty to
Figure 13: comply with the superior.
Feeling of Impotence and Feeling of Inferiority Agitation, Anxiety, Worry, Stress
30%
25% Figure 15: Agitation, Anxiety, Worry, Stress
20%
15%
10% feeling of 60%
5% 50%
0% impotence 40%
feeling of 30%
20% agitation
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