EMOTIONS AND PERSONALITY

Question 1

FEELINGS EMOTIONS MOODS

Answer 1

FEELINGS > State based
EMOTIONS > Cover feelings and moods
MOODS >chronic long term trait

Question 2

RICHARD DAVIDSON > CHANGE THE BRAIN > TRAIN THE MIND

Answer 2

Richard J. Davidson is professor of psychology and psychiatry at the University of Wisconsin
> suggests we all change all the way through our lives
> takes about 3 months for the brain to change
neuroplasticity occurs through life
Change the brain by training the mind
Behavioural interventions are biological - they produce brain-based changes, more impactful than drug-based therapy

Question 3

AFFECTIVE CHROMOMETRY

Answer 3

– how people experience emotions over a period of time, how they respond to emotional challenges, and how long these responses linger

> skills that may be trained, can change gene expression in the brain
Cog therapy; (16, 1 hour sessions), Increases prefrontal function/volume
Mindfulness; (8 weeks), reduced stress correlated with reductions in amygdala volume.

Question 4

THE BRAIN AND EMOTION REGULATION

Answer 4

> Amygdala: quicklyprocess/express emotions,Fight flight, anger fear. Act before thinking
>Ability to self-soothe, and self-regulate enables downregulation of amygdala -> improved decision making

> Prefrontal cortex: Planning, decision making
School social and emotional learning programs improve emotional/social skills, academic performance (Durlak et al., 2011).
Programs should be sequenced, active, focused and explicit

> Many skills like patience, calmness and cooperation can be trained

Question 5

BRAIN INTEGRATION > UPSTAIRS AND DOWNSTAIRS BRAIN

Answer 5

UPSTAIRS BRAIN > Thinking, planning and considering situations.
DOWNSTAIRS BRAIN> : basic instincts, breathing, fight/flight, big feelings (anger and fear).

“When a child’s upstairs brain is working well, she can regulate her emotions, consider consequences, think before acting, and consider how others feel…”

SIEGAL AND BRYSON (2012) TALK ABOUT THIS

Question 6

AFFECTIVE NEUROSCIENCE

Answer 6

Study of neural mechanisms of emotions. Combines neuroscience with psychological study of personality, emotion and mood

summary >
> Emotion dysregulation - linked to specific brain regions
> Neuroplastciity - the brain is shaped by experience

Question 7

MEASUREMENTS OF EMOTION > PERS Scale

Answer 7

PERS > Perth Emotional Reactivity Scale ( Becerra et al)
> Designed to assess negative and positive emotions separately
> Western culture tends to be negatively biased ( ie getting back feedback feels worse than getting good feedback)
Looks at 3 components of emotional reactivity
>Ease of activation
>Intensity
>Duration

PERS
30 item scale
Designed to assess the 3 components of emotional reactivity, for negative and positive emotions separately

Question 8

MEASUREMENTS OF EMOTION > Toronto Alexithymia Scale-20 (TAS)

Answer 8

> 20-item scale developed for use with adults and adolescents (Bagby et al., 1994).
Revision of original TAS, removed DFAN subscale (Taylor et al., 1985)
Most widely used measure of alexithymia.
3 subscales (DIF, DDF, EOT), also sum for Total scale score
DIF > Difficulty identifying feeling
DDF> Difficulty describing feeling
EOT>Externally oriented feeling ( if you’re not aware of your won feelings, you’ll daydream, fantasise etc)

> issue - doesn’t measure + & - emotions/feelings to situations

> Alexithymia is a personal trait characterized by the subclinical inability to identify and describe emotions experienced by one’s self or others. The core characteristics of alexithymia are marked dysfunction in emotional awareness, social attachment, and interpersonal relating

Question 9

MEASUREMENTS OF EMOTION > Perth Alexithymia Questionnaire (PAQ)

Answer 9

> designed to address weaknesses in older scales
assesses across + & - emotions
Has 5 subscales, not 3, because DIF and DDF are assessed for negative and positive emotions separately

Question 10

MEASUREMENTS OF EMOTION > Perth Emotion Regulation Competency Inventory ( PERCI Scale)

Answer 10

> Measures people’s ability to regulate the experiential and behavioural manifestations of their emotions, and their ability to know when it’s appropriate to activate a goal to regulate emotions in the first place.

> 32-item measure of emotion regulation ability.
Designed for use with adults and adolescents.

Question 11

EMOTIONAL REACTIVITY SUMMARY

Answer 11

> Emotional reactivity refers to the typical ease of activation, intensity, and duration of emotional responses.
Alexithymia refers to difficulties paying attention to (EOT) and accurately appraising (DIF, DDF) one’s own emotions
Emotion regulation refers to one’s ability to modify emotional responses
Individual differences in these constructs are important for understanding mental health issues.
Perth series of measures (PERS, PAQ, PERCI) can be used to obtain a comprehensive emotional profile.

Question 12

MODELS FOR UNDERSTANDING PERSONALITY > Eysenck’s Personality Framework (3 factor model)

Answer 12

Hierarchical – derived from factor analysis
Traits (Giant Three)
>Facets (that make up the trait – collections of habits)(e.g. sociability, sensation seeking, assertiveness)
>Habits (specific responses that tend to recur under similar circumstances)
>Specific responses (someone talks to others at a party)

1. Introversion-Extraversion -(arousal)
2. Stability-Neuroticism -(emotional stability)
3. Impulse control(socialisation)-Psychoticism (impulsivity)

Question 13

MODELS FOR UNDERSTANDING PERSONALITY > Five-Factor Model

Answer 13

The best known and evidenced model > Using the NEO questionnaire

OPENNESS - Fantasy, Aesthetics, Feelings, Actions, Ideas, Values

CONSCIENTIOUSNESS - Competence, Order, Dutifulness, Achievement Striving, Self-Discipline, Deliberation

EXTRAVERSION -Warmth, Gregariousness, Assertiveness, Activity, Excitement-Seeking, Positive Emotions

AGREEABLENESS - Trust, Straightforwardness, Altruism, Compliance, Modesty, Tender-mindedness

NEUROTISCISM - Anxiety, Hostility, Depression, Self-consciousness, Impulsiveness, Vulnerability

> Personality dimensions are stable across time and situations and may define the personality

Question 14

PERSONALITY TRAITS

Answer 14

The characteristic pattern of behaviours/conscious motive which can be self-assessed or assessed by peers
> traits are measured with scales and assessed to suggest a personality type

Question 15

PERSONALITY TYPES

Answer 15

> Certain collection of traits that together make a broad, general personality classification

Question 16

HOW PSYCHOLOGISTS USE FACTOR ANALYSIS TO CONFIRM THEORIES OF TRAITS

Answer 16

Factor analysis allows the researcher to reduce many specific traits into a few more general “factors” or groups of traits, each of which includes several of the specific traits.

Question 17

EMOTION AND EMPLOYEE WELL-BEING

Answer 17

> Huge interest in this area over last 20 yrs
employee burnout and turnover is of particular interest
Lesser focus on employee individual differences, specifically on the role of emotion
EMPLOYEE WELLBEING FOCUSSED ON TWO AREAS
JOB SATISFACTION
role satisfaction; enjoyment of job aspects or their job (e.g. nature of work or company management)

EMPLOYEE BURNOUT
physical/psychological fatigue and exhaustion associated with the job

Question 18

EMOTION AND EMPLOYEE WELL-BEING > POSITIVE AND NEGATIVE SCHEDULE (PANAS) 20 items, reliability .86-.94

Answer 18

> The Positive and Negative Affect Schedule or (PANAS) is a scale that consists of different words that describe feelings and emotions.
One of these scales measures positive affect, and the other measures negative affect.
Positive affect refers to the propensity to experience positive emotions and interact with others positively, even through the challenges of life.

> Negative affect, on the other hand, involves experiencing the world in a more negative way.

> This might also occur if you tend to feel negative emotions and act more negatively within your relationships or your surroundings.

Question 19

EMOTION AND EMPLOYEE WELL-BEING > Job Satisfaction – Copenhagen Psychosocial Questionnaire (COPSOQ) – 5 items, reliability .87

Answer 19

Copenhagen Psychosocial Questionnaire
(COPSOQ)
Conceptually, it includes the main dimensions of the most influential psychosocial theories at work, including the Job-Strain, Demand-Control-Support and Effort-Reward-Imbalance models, but also other theories and aspects ignored in previous tools, for instance emotional demands or role clarity. This makes COPSOQ useful in any workplace either in the industrial or in the services branch.

Question 20

EMOTION AND EMPLOYEE WELL-BEING > Employee Burnout – Copenhagen Burnout Inventory (CBI, Kristensen et al., 2005) – 7 items, reliability .87

Answer 20

The CBI consists of three scales measuring personal burnout, work-related burnout, and client-related burnout, for use in different domains.

Question 21

DIFFERENT APPROACHES TO EMOTION IN THE WORKPLACE > EMOTIONAL LABOUR

Answer 21

Jobs with high emotional requirements such as teaching, counselling, customer sales (client-facing) are associated with lower job satisfaction and higher burnout.

Three aspects:
Emotional requirements – work demand
Emotional regulation – surface acting (mask), or deep acting (authentic display)
Emotional performance – how does the audience respond to the actor (e.g students to the teacher)

> Distinction b/w surface and deep action

> Measured by the EL Scale (Brotheridge & Lee, 2003)– two subscales – Surface Acting, Deep Acting – 14 items, reliability .74-.91

Question 22

DIFFERENT APPROACHES TO EMOTION IN THE WORKPLACE > EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE

Answer 22

ability to identify and manage emotions in yourself and others

Wong & Law EI Scale (WLEIS, Wong & Law, 2002) – informed by Davies, Stankov & Roberts (1998) – 16 items, reliability .74-.87

Four subscales:
Self-awareness and identification
Emotion Regulation
Appraisal and recognition of emotion in others
Emotion performance

> a useful measure for job satisfaction (and for job performance)

Question 23

DIFFERENT APPROACHES TO EMOTION IN THE WORKPLACE > EMOTIONAL REGULATION

Answer 23

what is the process that we regulate emotions ( how do we do it, what happens)

> James Gross > did a lot of work in this area. > he suggests we can suppress emotions

Based on the Extended Process Model (Gross, 2015 – Situation, Attention, Appraisal, Response)

ERQ (Gross & John, 2003) : measures processes of suppress emotional expression or reframe emotional event (cognitive reappraisal), 10 items, reliabilities ES .79-.80; CR .89-90

PERCI (Preece et al., 2018) : measure of competencies, four positive and four negative subscales for controlling experience, inhibiting behaviour, activating behaviour, tolerating emotions, 32 items, reliability .87-.96

> PERCI > a useful measure to inform individual-based and group-based intervention (training on building competency)

Question 24

PROVISIONAL CONCLUSIONS

Answer 24

JOB SATISFACTION > it’s about the degree of positivity you have in your work. Its about the degree to which you are emotionally intelligent

JOB BURNOUT > its about the degree of negativity you have in your work. It’s about the degree of your competency of emotion regulation. How good you are at self-soothing and working through your emotions.

> Emotional regulation is the key predictor that influences the success of emotional intelligence in helping us determine job satisfaction.

> Emotional regulation measured by the PERCI is an important predictor to help determine factors in employee burnout (appears to be a critical correlate)

>

Question 25

A puzzle – how come ER within the PERCI is a moderate correlate of EB?

Answer 25

> The PERCI provides a measure of Positive Emotional Regulation Difficulty, and of Negative Emotional Regulation Difficulty

Question 26

LIMITATIONS OF MODELS

Answer 26

> Work in progress
Self-report
Not occupation-specific

Question 27

FURTHER WORK

Answer 27

> Linking employee individual differences with contextual effects using the JD-R model
Interpersonal aspect of emotional regulation
Other aspects of the individual emotional process (awareness, belief, reactivity…)

JOB DEMANDS RESOURCE MODEL
> Occupational stress model
> suggests strain is a response to imbalance b/w demands on the individual and the resources he/she has to deal with those demands