Publications

June 18, 2020
Article

How to Build a Life: Sit with Negative Emotions, Don't Push Them Away

By: Arthur C. Brooks

If we want a life full of deep meaning, true love, and emotional strength, it’s going to involve the risk (and often the reality) of discomfort, conflict, and loss. View Details

Keywords: Emotions; Behavior

March 2020
Article

Is This My Group or Not? The Role of Ensemble Coding of Emotional Expressions in Group Categorization

By: Amit Goldenberg, Timothy D. Sweeny, Emmanuel Shpigel and James J. Gross

When exposed to others’ emotional responses, people often make rapid decisions as to whether these others are members of their group or not. These group categorization decisions have been shown to be extremely important to understanding group behavior. Yet, despite... View Details

Keywords: Categorization; Ensemble Coding; Summary Statistical Perception; Social Cognition; Emotions; Perception; Groups and Teams

June–July 2014
Article

Language as a Lightning Rod: Power Contests, Emotion Regulation, and Subgroup Dynamics in Global Teams

By: Pamela J. Hinds, Tsedal Neeley and Catherine Durnell Cramton

Through an ethnographic study comprised of interviews with and observations of 96 globally distributed members in six software development teams, we propose a model that captures how asymmetries in language fluency contribute to an us vs. them dynamic so common in... View Details

Keywords: Equality and Inequality; Communication Intention and Meaning; Groups and Teams; Applications and Software; Emotions; Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues; Power and Influence; Information Technology Industry

Purchase

September 2019
Article

The Interpersonal Costs of Dishonesty: How Dishonest Behavior Reduces Individuals' Ability to Read Others' Emotions

By: J.J. Lee, H. Hardin, B. Parmar and F. Gino

In this research, we examine the unintended consequences of dishonest behavior for one’s interpersonal abilities and subsequent ethical behavior. Specifically, we unpack how dishonest conduct can reduce one’s generalized empathic accuracy—the ability to accurately read... View Details

Keywords: Dishonesty; Empathy; Ethics; Behavior; Interpersonal Communication; Emotions; Perception

2009
Working Paper

Walking Through Jelly: Language Proficiency, Emotions, and Disrupted Collaboration in Global Work

By: Tsedal Beyene, Pamela J. Hinds and Catherine Durnell Cramton

In an ethnographic study comprised of interviews and concurrent observations of 145 globally distributed members of nine project teams of an organization, we found that uneven proficiency in English, the lingua franca, disrupted collaboration for both native and... View Details

Keywords: Spoken Communication; Interpersonal Communication; Globalized Firms and Management; Groups and Teams; Behavior; Emotions; Social and Collaborative Networks

November 30, 2020
Editorial

Don't Focus on the Most Expressive Face in the Audience

By: Amit Goldenberg and Erika Weisz

Research has shown that when speaking in front of a group, people’s attention tends to gets stuck on the most emotional faces, causing them to overestimate the group’s average emotional state. In this piece, the authors share two additional findings: First, the larger... View Details

Keywords: Bias; Emotions; Perception

Yajun Cao is a doctoral student in Organizational Behavior (Micro) at Harvard Business School. His research focuses on emotion regulation, setbacks, and resilience, aiming to understand how individuals and groups bounce back and grow from negative events. He explores... View Details

Don’t Focus on the Most Expressive Face in the Audience

Research has shown that when speaking in front of a group, people’s attention tends to gets stuck on the most emotional faces, causing them to overestimate the group’s average emotional state. In this piece, the authors share two additional findings: First, the... View Details

12 Nov 2009
Working Paper Summaries

Walking Through Jelly: Language Proficiency, Emotions, and Disrupted Collaboration in Global Work

Keywords: by Tsedal Neeley, Pamela J. Hinds & Catherine Durnell Cramton

October 2020
Article

Overcoming Resource Scarcity: Consumers' Response to Gifts Intending to Save Time and Money

By: Alice Lee-Yoon, Grant Donnelly and A.V. Whillans

Consumers feel increasingly pressed for time and money. Gifts have the potential to reduce scarcity in recipients’ lives, yet little is known about how recipients perceive gifts given with the intention of saving them time or money. Across five studies (N =... View Details

Keywords: Scarcity; Status; Time; Gift Giving; Status and Position; Money; Attitudes; Emotions

Article

Comparing the Value of Perceived Human Versus AI-Generated Empathy

By: Matan Rubin, Joanna Z. Li, Federico Zimmerman, Desmond C. Ong, Amit Goldenberg and Anat Perry

Artificial intelligence (AI) and specifically large language models demonstrate remarkable social–emotional abilities, which may improve human–AI interactions and AI’s emotional support capabilities. However, it remains unclear whether empathy, encompassing... View Details

Artificial intelligence (AI) and specifically large language models demonstrate remarkable social–emotional abilities, which may improve human–AI interactions and AI’s emotional support capabilities. However, it remains unclear whether empathy, encompassing... View Details

28 Aug 2023
Research & Ideas

How Workplace Wellness Programs Can Give Employees the Energy Boost They Need

wellness programs built on a “set-it-and-forget-it” mentality are often undervalued and inadequate in supporting employees’ needs, both on and off the job. Gartner’s 2021 Employee Value Proposition Benchmarking Survey revealed that although 87 percent of employees have... View Details

Keywords: by Hise Gibson

11 Jan 2022
Research & Ideas

Feeling Seen: What to Say When Your Employees Are Not OK

depicting workplace interactions. In both situations, emotions were either ignored or acknowledged. Participants consistently rated people who commented about negative emotions... View Details

Keywords: by Pamela Reynolds

16 Jun 2009
First Look

First Look: June 16

on these teams. As non-native English speakers attempted to counter the apprehension they felt when having to speak English, and native English speakers fought against feeling excluded and devalued, a cycle of negative View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

16 Oct 2018
Blog Post

2 Tips to Beat Imposter Syndrome

believe in. To begin challenging those negative thoughts, I first sought to become more aware of them. I found that the easiest way to do this was to stop and notice when I was feeling negative View Details

2012
Article

Evidence for the Pinocchio Effect: Linguistic Differences Between Lies, Deception by Omissions, and Truths

By: Lyn M. Van Swol, Michael T. Braun and Deepak Malhotra

The study used Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count and Coh-Metrix software to examine linguistic differences with deception in an ultimatum game. In the game, the Allocator was given an amount of money to divide with the Receiver. The Receiver did not know the precise... View Details

Keywords: Communication Intention and Meaning; Cognition and Thinking

2009
Article

Silenced by Fear: The Nature, Sources, and Consequences of Fear at Work

By: Jennifer Kish Gephart, James R. Detert, Linda K. Trevino and Amy C. Edmondson

In every organization, individual members have the potential to speak up about important issues, but a growing body of research suggests that they often remain silent instead, out of fear of negative personal and professional consequences. In this chapter, we draw on... View Details

Keywords: Organizations; Working Conditions; Research; Emotions; Employees; Motivation and Incentives; Theory; Behavior