The Emotionally Intelligent Manager [Electronic resources] : How to Develop and Use the Four Key Emotional Skills of Leadership نسخه متنی

The Influence of Emotion on Decision Making

The mood we are in even influences how we persuade others and how successful we are in changing the minds of others. When people in a sad mood are asked to develop persuasive messages, they typically come up with better-quality arguments and more persuasive messages than people in a happy mood.[14] A sad mood results in a more careful, systematic, and bottom-up approach. But if you are in a happy mood, you are probably going to generate a greater number of arguments, and these arguments are likely to be more creative and original.[15]

Emotions and Decision Making

One of the fascinating research findings in this area indicates that our moods influence our judgments and our decisions. People in a bad mood see things in a more negative light. They overestimate the occurrence of negative events and underestimate the frequency of positive events. In contrast, the judgments of those in a happy frame of mind result in the overestimation of positive events and underestimation of negative events.[16]

Select one of the mood-induction strategies described later in this chapter and discover this for yourself. For instance, try to generate a sad mood. Then consider how you feel about certain general questions:

Will you get stuck in traffic on the way home from work?

Will you get a good night’s sleep?

What is tomorrow’s economic news going to be?

Next, generate a happy mood, as indicated in the exercises later in this chapter (see “How to Get Into the Right Mood”). Consider the questions here or similar questions such as:

Will you have good weather tomorrow?

Will your team meeting go well?

Will you have a productive day at work?

Notice how you approach these questions in different moods. Moods are subtle, and the effects will not be strong, but moods do influence thinking. That is why it is critical to be aware of your emotions and to actively manage them as well.

If moods influence these small decisions and judgments, how do our emotions influence us as we consider major life decisions such as:

Will you be successful?

What does the future hold in store for you?

Are you on a positive career path?

The decisions we make today, which appear to us to be so completely rational, are the result of both our rationality and our emotions. This is a great way to arrive at a good decision but only if we are aware of our emotions.

Idea Generation and Problem Solving

Emotions facilitate thought, but they can also act like a stick thrown into the spokes of a bicycle wheel. The key is to match the thinking style to the emotion. Consider the different steps involved in problem solving, as shown in Exhibit 9.1, with each step and each specific technique being enhanced and facilitated by different emotions.

The emotionally intelligent manager accurately identifies emotions, knows the rules of emotion and thinking, and makes sure there is a match between the current feeling and the current situation. If there isn’t a good match, what do you do then?

[14]Forgas, J. P. “Feeling and Doing: Affective Influences on Interpersonal Behavior.” Psychological Inquiry, 2002, 13, 1–28.

[15]For an excellent overview of emotion’s role in persuasion, see DeSteno, D., and Braverman, J. “Emotions and Persuasion: Thoughts on the Role of Emotional Intelligence.” In L. F. Barrett and P. Salovey (eds.), The Wisdom in Feeling: Psychological Processes in Emotional Intelligence. New York: Guilford Press, 2002.

[16]Mayer, J. D., Gaschke, Y. N., Braverman, D. L., and Evans, T. W. “Mood-Congruent Judgment Is a General Effect.” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 1992, 63, 119–132.