The impact of disclosing emotions on ratings of interpersonal closeness, warmth, competence, and leadership ability
IntroductionIncreasingly, business leaders and other professionals are called upon to be vulnerable and authentic in the workplace, which often includes disclosing emotions to others. While sharing emotions is known to enhance closeness, several questions remain underexplored. Specifically, disclosi...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2022-12-01
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| Series: | Frontiers in Psychology |
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| Online Access: | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.989826/full |
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| author | Vera U. Ludwig Vera U. Ludwig Blaire Berry Blaire Berry Blaire Berry Jerry Y. Cai Jerry Y. Cai Nai Ming Chen Nai Ming Chen Damien L. Crone Michael L. Platt Michael L. Platt Michael L. Platt Michael L. Platt |
| author_facet | Vera U. Ludwig Vera U. Ludwig Blaire Berry Blaire Berry Blaire Berry Jerry Y. Cai Jerry Y. Cai Nai Ming Chen Nai Ming Chen Damien L. Crone Michael L. Platt Michael L. Platt Michael L. Platt Michael L. Platt |
| author_sort | Vera U. Ludwig |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | IntroductionIncreasingly, business leaders and other professionals are called upon to be vulnerable and authentic in the workplace, which often includes disclosing emotions to others. While sharing emotions is known to enhance closeness, several questions remain underexplored. Specifically, disclosing personal facts about oneself and disclosing emotions have often been studied together, making it difficult to determine the effects of disclosing emotions per se. Moreover, not enough is known about factors that may influence effects of disclosing emotions, including recipients’ attitudes toward emotion-sharing, the sharer’s gender, and whether one considers the disclosure to be similar to one’s own experiences. We examined the impact of disclosing positive and negative emotion on ratings of closeness, warmth, competence, and leadership ability.Methods119 participants (95 female) in the United States were shown headshots of individuals who were introduced in the first person in written format. For half of the pictures, an autobiographical fact about the individual’s past was disclosed. For the other half, an autobiographical fact and an associated emotion were disclosed.ResultsWe found that sharing both positive and negative emotions increased feelings of closeness above and beyond the effects of autobiographical sharing alone. Sharing positive emotions also increased ratings of warmth, competence, and leadership ability. Male and female sharers benefited equally from disclosing emotions and effects were largely robust to recipients’ attitudes toward emotional expression. Having something in common with the disclosed fact or emotion further increased all ratings.ConclusionThese findings indicate that disclosing emotions may improve interpersonal interactions, with potential management applications in business. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-11T14:03:36Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-5aabe7da58604efdb13c3aa0743f2cb9 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1664-1078 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-11T14:03:36Z |
| publishDate | 2022-12-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Frontiers in Psychology |
| spelling | doaj.art-5aabe7da58604efdb13c3aa0743f2cb92022-12-22T04:19:58ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Psychology1664-10782022-12-011310.3389/fpsyg.2022.989826989826The impact of disclosing emotions on ratings of interpersonal closeness, warmth, competence, and leadership abilityVera U. Ludwig0Vera U. Ludwig1Blaire Berry2Blaire Berry3Blaire Berry4Jerry Y. Cai5Jerry Y. Cai6Nai Ming Chen7Nai Ming Chen8Damien L. Crone9Michael L. Platt10Michael L. Platt11Michael L. Platt12Michael L. Platt13Department of Neuroscience, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, United StatesWharton Neuroscience Initiative, the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, United StatesDepartment of Neuroscience, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, United StatesWharton Neuroscience Initiative, the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, United StatesDepartment of Marketing, McCombs School of Business, University of Texas, Austin, TX, United StatesDepartment of Neuroscience, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, United StatesWharton Neuroscience Initiative, the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, United StatesDepartment of Neuroscience, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, United StatesWharton Neuroscience Initiative, the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, United StatesDepartment of Psychology, Northeastern University, Boston, MA, United StatesDepartment of Neuroscience, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, United StatesWharton Neuroscience Initiative, the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, United StatesMarketing Department, the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, United StatesDepartment of Psychology, School of Arts and Sciences, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, United StatesIntroductionIncreasingly, business leaders and other professionals are called upon to be vulnerable and authentic in the workplace, which often includes disclosing emotions to others. While sharing emotions is known to enhance closeness, several questions remain underexplored. Specifically, disclosing personal facts about oneself and disclosing emotions have often been studied together, making it difficult to determine the effects of disclosing emotions per se. Moreover, not enough is known about factors that may influence effects of disclosing emotions, including recipients’ attitudes toward emotion-sharing, the sharer’s gender, and whether one considers the disclosure to be similar to one’s own experiences. We examined the impact of disclosing positive and negative emotion on ratings of closeness, warmth, competence, and leadership ability.Methods119 participants (95 female) in the United States were shown headshots of individuals who were introduced in the first person in written format. For half of the pictures, an autobiographical fact about the individual’s past was disclosed. For the other half, an autobiographical fact and an associated emotion were disclosed.ResultsWe found that sharing both positive and negative emotions increased feelings of closeness above and beyond the effects of autobiographical sharing alone. Sharing positive emotions also increased ratings of warmth, competence, and leadership ability. Male and female sharers benefited equally from disclosing emotions and effects were largely robust to recipients’ attitudes toward emotional expression. Having something in common with the disclosed fact or emotion further increased all ratings.ConclusionThese findings indicate that disclosing emotions may improve interpersonal interactions, with potential management applications in business.https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.989826/fullemotionself-disclosurevulnerabilityconnectionclosenesswarmth |
| spellingShingle | Vera U. Ludwig Vera U. Ludwig Blaire Berry Blaire Berry Blaire Berry Jerry Y. Cai Jerry Y. Cai Nai Ming Chen Nai Ming Chen Damien L. Crone Michael L. Platt Michael L. Platt Michael L. Platt Michael L. Platt The impact of disclosing emotions on ratings of interpersonal closeness, warmth, competence, and leadership ability Frontiers in Psychology emotion self-disclosure vulnerability connection closeness warmth |
| title | The impact of disclosing emotions on ratings of interpersonal closeness, warmth, competence, and leadership ability |
| title_full | The impact of disclosing emotions on ratings of interpersonal closeness, warmth, competence, and leadership ability |
| title_fullStr | The impact of disclosing emotions on ratings of interpersonal closeness, warmth, competence, and leadership ability |
| title_full_unstemmed | The impact of disclosing emotions on ratings of interpersonal closeness, warmth, competence, and leadership ability |
| title_short | The impact of disclosing emotions on ratings of interpersonal closeness, warmth, competence, and leadership ability |
| title_sort | impact of disclosing emotions on ratings of interpersonal closeness warmth competence and leadership ability |
| topic | emotion self-disclosure vulnerability connection closeness warmth |
| url | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.989826/full |
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