Emotional influence in groups: the dynamic nexus of affect, cognition, and behavior
Open accessAbstract
Groups are a natural breeding ground for emotions. Group life affords unique opportunities but also poses critical challenges that may arouse emotional reactions in group members. Social-functional approaches hold that these emotions in turn contribute to group functioning by prompting group members to address concerns that are relevant to the group's success. Guided by Emotions as Social Information (EASI) theory, this paper reviews research on the affective, cognitive, and behavioral consequences of emotional expressions in groups. Affective processes include emotional contagion and affective convergence, and resulting states such as group affective tone and affective diversity. Cognitive processes include inferences group members draw from each other's emotional expressions. We discuss how these affective and cognitive processes shape behavior and group functioning. We conclude that the traditional (over)emphasis on affective processes must be complemented with a focus on cognitive processes to develop a more complete understanding of the social dynamics of emotions in groups.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
Psychological studies show that in humans sharing of affect across group members, achieved through emotional contagion, improves intra-group communication and facilitates group bonding.
“Psychological studies show that in humans sharing of affect across group members, which is achieved through emotional contagion, improves intra-group communication and facilitates group bonding.176,177”
From Ecological validity of social interaction tests in rats and mice (2019) · cites this paper as [177]
Cites
Fredrickson, B. L. (2001) · American Psychologist · doi:10.1037//0003-066x.56.3.218 · Cited by 3,512 · see citing works
The ripple effect: emotional contagion and its influence on group behavior
Barsade, S. G. (2002) · Administrative Science Quarterly · doi:10.2307/3094912 · Cited by 3,361 · see citing works
Basking in reflected glory: Three (football) field studies.
Cialdini, R. B., Borden, R. J., Thorne, A., Walker, M. R., Freeman, S., & Sloan, L. R. (1976) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037/0022-3514.34.3.366 · Cited by 2,361 · see citing works
The crowd: A study of the popular mind.
Bon, G. L. (1908) · T Fisher Unwin eBooks · doi:10.1037/10878-000 · Cited by 2,042 · see citing works
Social Functions of Emotions at Four Levels of Analysis
Keltner, D., & Haidt, J. (1999) · Cognition and Emotion · doi:10.1080/026999399379168 · Cited by 1,743 · see citing works
Intergroup emotions: Explaining offensive action tendencies in an intergroup context.
Mackie, D. M., Devos, T., & Smith, E. R. (2000) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037/0022-3514.79.4.602 · Cited by 1,696 · see citing works
How Emotions Regulate Social Life: The Emotions as Social Information (EASI) Model
Van Kleef, G. A. (2009) · Current Directions in Psychological Science · doi:10.1111/j.1467-8721.2009.01633.x · Cited by 1,457 · see citing works
Self-citationPersonality, affect, and behavior in groups
George, J. M. (1990) · Journal of Applied Psychology · doi:10.1037/0021-9010.75.2.107 · Cited by 1,372 · see citing works
Sy, T., Côté, S., & Saavedra, R. (2005) · Journal of Applied Psychology · doi:10.1037/0021-9010.90.2.295 · Cited by 1,121 · see citing works
van Zomeren, M., Spears, R., Fischer, A. H., & Leach, C. W. (2004) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037/0022-3514.87.5.649 · Cited by 1,116 · see citing works
Mood and emotions in small groups and work teams
Kelly, J. R., & Barsade, S. G. (2001) · Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes · doi:10.1006/obhd.2001.2974 · Cited by 1,011 · see citing works
Guilty by association: When one's group has a negative history.
Doosje, B., Branscombe, N. R., Spears, R., & Manstead, A. S. R. (1998) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037/0022-3514.75.4.872 · Cited by 987 · see citing works
Emotion and culture: Empirical studies of mutual influence.
(1994) · American Psychological Association eBooks · doi:10.1037/10152-000 · Cited by 934 · see citing works
Forgas, J. P., & George, J. M. (2001) · Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes · doi:10.1006/obhd.2001.2971 · Cited by 898 · see citing works
The Crowd, A Study of the Popular Mind
Bon, G. L. (1896) · RePEc: Research Papers in Economics · Cited by 893 · see citing works
Functional Accounts of Emotions
Keltner, D. J., & Gross, J. J. (1999) · Cognition & Emotion · doi:10.1080/026999399379140 · Cited by 876 · see citing works
Production of subject-verb agreement, tense, mood, and negation in Italian agrammatic aphasia.
Valantis, F., Semenza, C., Rita, C., Marialuisa, G., Serena, D. P., Giorgio, A., Francesca, B., Anna, M., Nicola, S., & Gabriele, M. (2015) · Frontiers in Psychology · doi:10.3389/conf.fpsyg.2015.65.00011 · Cited by 872 · see citing works
Tausch, N., Becker, J. C., Spears, R., Christ, O., Saab, R., Singh, P., & Siddiqui, R. N. (2011) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037/a0022728 · Cited by 755 · see citing works
Can emotions be truly group level? Evidence regarding four conceptual criteria.
Smith, E. R., Seger, C. R., & Mackie, D. M. (2007) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037/0022-3514.93.3.431 · Cited by 720 · see citing works
The Collective Construction of Work Group Moods
Bartel, C. A., & Saavedra, R. (2000) · Administrative Science Quarterly · doi:10.2307/2667070 · Cited by 678 · see citing works
Emotional convergence between people over time.
Anderson, C., Keltner, D., & John, O. P. (2003) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037/0022-3514.84.5.1054 · Cited by 676 · see citing works
The social roles and functions of emotions.
Frijda, N. H., & Mesquita, B. (2004) · American Psychological Association eBooks · doi:10.1037/10152-002 · Cited by 632 · see citing works
To your heart's content: a model of affective diversity in top management teams
Barsade, S. G., Ward, A. J., Turner, J. D. F., & Sonnenfeld, J. A. (2000) · Administrative Science Quarterly · doi:10.2307/2667020 · Cited by 599 · see citing works
Totterdell, P. (2000) · Journal of Applied Psychology · doi:10.1037/0021-9010.85.6.848 · Cited by 525 · see citing works
Parkinson, B. (1996) · British Journal of Psychology · doi:10.1111/j.2044-8295.1996.tb02615.x · Cited by 521 · see citing works
An Interpersonal Approach to Emotion in Social Decision Making
Kleef, G. A. V., Dreu, C. K. W. D., & Manstead, A. S. R. (2010) · Advances in experimental social psychology · doi:10.1016/s0065-2601(10)42002-x · Cited by 493 · see citing works
Malicious pleasure: Schadenfreude at the suffering of another group.
Leach, C. W., Spears, R., Branscombe, N. R., & Doosje, B. (2003) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037/0022-3514.84.5.932 · Cited by 452 · see citing works
Happy and Mindless, But Sad and Smart? The Impact of Affective States on Analytic Reasoning
Schwarz, N., & Bless, H. (2020) · Garland Science eBooks · doi:10.4324/9781003058731-4 · Cited by 445 · see citing works
Collective Emotions in Conflict Situations: Societal Implications
Bar‐Tal, D., Halperin, E., & de Rivera, J. (2007) · Journal of Social Issues · doi:10.1111/j.1540-4560.2007.00518.x · Cited by 434 · see citing works
Evidence of mood linkage in work groups
Totterdell, P., Kellett, S., Teuchmann, K., & Briner, R. B. (1998) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037/0022-3514.74.6.1504 · Cited by 368 · see citing works
Van Kleef, G. A., Homan, A. C., Beersma, B., Van Knippenberg, D., Van Knippenberg, B., & Damen, F. (2009) · Academy of Management Journal · doi:10.5465/amj.2009.41331253 · Cited by 360 · see citing works
Self-citationSocial Appraisal: The Social World as Object of and Influence on Appraisal Processes
Manstead, A. S. R., & Fischer, A. H. (2001) · Appraisal Processes in Emotion · doi:10.1093/oso/9780195130072.003.0012 · Cited by 340 · see citing works
Hareli, S., & Heß, U. (2009) · Cognition & Emotion · doi:10.1080/02699930802613828 · Cited by 320 · see citing works
Group emotion: A view from top and bottom.
Barsade, S. G., & Gibson, D. E. (1998) · Cited by 299 · see citing works
A Reciprocal Influence Model of Social Power: Emerging Principles and Lines of Inquiry
Keltner, D., Van Kleef, G. A., Chen, S., & Kraus, M. W. (2008) · Advances in Experimental Social Psychology · doi:10.1016/s0065-2601(07)00003-2 · Cited by 281 · see citing works
Self-citationConvergent and divergent responses to emotional displays of ingroup and outgroup.
van der Schalk, J., Fischer, A., Doosje, B., Wigboldus, D., Hawk, S., Rotteveel, M., & Hess, U. (2011) · Emotion · doi:10.1037/a0022582 · Cited by 275 · see citing works
Reading people’s minds from emotion expressions in interdependent decision making.
de Melo, C. M., Carnevale, P. J., Read, S. J., & Gratch, J. (2014) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037/a0034251 · Cited by 260 · see citing works
Emotion in inter-group relations
Iyer, A., & Leach, C. W. (2008) · European Review of Social Psychology · doi:10.1080/10463280802079738 · Cited by 256 · see citing works
van Kleef, G. A. (2016) · doi:10.1017/cbo9781107261396 · Cited by 240 · see citing works
Self-citationHandbook of Communication and Emotion:
Guha, M. (1998) · Reference Reviews · doi:10.1108/rr.1998.12.3.6.111 · Cited by 234 · see citing works
Communicating Emotion: Social, Moral, and Cultural Processes
Planalp, S. (1999) · Medical Entomology and Zoology · Cited by 231 · see citing works
The Emerging View of Emotion as Social Information
Kleef, G. A. V. (2010) · Social and Personality Psychology Compass · doi:10.1111/j.1751-9004.2010.00262.x · Cited by 230 · see citing works
The Evolutionary Significance of Affect in Groups: Communication and Group Bonding
Spoor, J. R., & Kelly, J. R. (2004) · Group Processes & Intergroup Relations · doi:10.1177/1368430204046145 · Cited by 225 · see citing works
Walter, F., & Bruch, H. (2008) · Journal of Organizational Behavior · doi:10.1002/job.505 · Cited by 218 · see citing works
Cheshin, A., Rafaeli, A., & Bos, N. (2011) · Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes · doi:10.1016/j.obhdp.2011.06.002 · Cited by 213 · see citing works
Ilieș, R., Wagner, D. T., & Morgeson, F. P. (2007) · Journal of Applied Psychology · doi:10.1037/0021-9010.92.4.1140 · Cited by 208 · see citing works
Emotional Aperture and Strategic Change: The Accurate Recognition of Collective Emotions
Sanchez‐Burks, J., & Huy, Q. N. (2008) · Organization Science · doi:10.1287/orsc.1070.0347 · Cited by 206 · see citing works
Emotional influence at work: Take it EASI
Kleef, G. A. V., Homan, A. C., & Cheshin, A. (2012) · Organizational Psychology Review · doi:10.1177/2041386612454911 · Cited by 201 · see citing works
Self-citationKleef, G. A. V., van Doorn, E. A., Heerdink, M. W., & Koning, L. F. (2011) · European Review of Social Psychology · doi:10.1080/10463283.2011.627192 · Cited by 189 · see citing works
Self-citationVisser, V. A., van Knippenberg, D., van Kleef, G. A., & Wisse, B. (2013) · The Leadership Quarterly · doi:10.1016/j.leaqua.2012.09.003 · Cited by 184 · see citing works
Self-citationAffective divergence: Automatic responses to others' emotions depend on group membership.
Weisbuch, M., & Ambady, N. (2008) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037/a0011993 · Cited by 176 · see citing works
Group affective tone: A review and future research directions
Collins, A. L., Lawrence, S. A., Troth, A. C., & Jordan, P. J. (2013) · Journal of Organizational Behavior · doi:10.1002/job.1887 · Cited by 166 · see citing works
Emotional collectives: How groups shape emotions and emotions shape groups
Kleef, G. A. V., & Fischer, A. H. (2015) · Cognition & Emotion · doi:10.1080/02699931.2015.1081349 · Cited by 164 · see citing works
Effects of member mood states on creative performance in temporary workgroups.
Grawitch, M. J., Munz, D. C., & Kramer, T. J. (2003) · Group Dynamics Theory Research and Practice · doi:10.1037/1089-2699.7.1.41 · Cited by 162 · see citing works
Van Kleef, G. A., Homan, A. C., Beersma, B., & van Knippenberg, D. (2010) · Psychological Science · doi:10.1177/0956797610387438 · Cited by 162 · see citing works
Self-citationThe social dynamics of breaking the rules: antecedents and consequences of norm-violating behavior
Kleef, G. A. V., Wanders, F., Stamkou, E., & Homan, A. C. (2015) · Current Opinion in Psychology · doi:10.1016/j.copsyc.2015.03.013 · Cited by 161 · see citing works
Self-citationWashburn, M. F., & McDougall, W. (1924) · The Philosophical Review · doi:10.2307/2178886 · Cited by 125 · see citing works
A cross-cultural study on emotion expression and the learning of social norms
Hareli, S., Kafetsios, K. G., & Heß, U. (2015) · Frontiers in Psychology · doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2015.01501 · Cited by 114 · see citing works
Grawitch, M. J., Munz, D. C., Elliott, E. K., & Mathis, A. (2003) · Group Dynamics Theory Research and Practice · doi:10.1037/1089-2699.7.3.200 · Cited by 112 · see citing works
Heerdink, M. W., van Kleef, G. A., Homan, A. C., & Fischer, A. H. (2013) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037/a0033362 · Cited by 110 · see citing works
Self-citationDineen, B. R., Noe, R. A., Shaw, J. D., Duffy, M. K., & Wiethoff, C. (2007) · Academy of Management Journal · doi:10.5465/amj.2007.25525987 · Cited by 108 · see citing works
Van Doorn, E. A., Heerdink, M. W., & Van Kleef, G. A. (2012) · Cognition and Emotion · doi:10.1080/02699931.2011.648174 · Cited by 105 · see citing works
Self-citationGroup absenteeism and positive affective tone: a longitudinal study
Mason, C., & Griffin, M. A. (2003) · Journal of Organizational Behavior · doi:10.1002/job.210 · Cited by 105 · see citing works
The impact of negative mood on team performance
Jordan, P. J., Lawrence, S. A., & Troth, A. C. (2006) · Journal of Management & Organization · doi:10.1017/s1833367200004077 · Cited by 92 · see citing works
The Formation of Group Affect and Team Effectiveness: The Moderating Role of Identification
Tanghe, J., Wisse, B. M., & der Flier, H. V. (2009) · British Journal of Management · doi:10.1111/j.1467-8551.2009.00656.x · Cited by 90 · see citing works
Heerdink, M. W., van Kleef, G. A., Homan, A. C., & Fischer, A. H. (2015) · Journal of Experimental Social Psychology · doi:10.1016/j.jesp.2014.09.004 · Cited by 69 · see citing works
Self-citationEmotions as signals of normative conduct
Hareli, S., Moran-Amir, O., David, S., & Hess, U. (2013) · Cognition & Emotion · doi:10.1080/02699931.2013.791615 · Cited by 65 · see citing works
Magee, J. C., & Tiedens, L. Z. (2006) · Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin · doi:10.1177/0146167206292094 · Cited by 63 · see citing works
Research on Managing Groups and Teams
(2014) · Emerald Group Publishing Limited eBooks · doi:10.1108/s1534-085620140000016012 · Cited by 56 · see citing works
Evidence for Unintentional Emotional Contagion Beyond Dyads
Dezecache, G., Conty, L., Chadwick, M., Philip, L., Soussignan, R., Sperber, D., & Grèzes, J. (2013) · PLoS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0067371 · Cited by 55 · see citing works
Good Effects of Bad Feelings: Negative Affectivity and Group Decision‐making
Bode, H. J. M. K., van Knippenberg, D., & van Ginkel, W. P. (2009) · British Journal of Management · doi:10.1111/j.1467-8551.2009.00675.x · Cited by 51 · see citing works
Bramesfeld, K. D., & Gasper, K. (2007) · British Journal of Social Psychology · doi:10.1348/000712607x218295 · Cited by 47 · see citing works
Klep, A. H. M., Wisse, B. M., & der Flier, H. V. (2010) · European Journal of Social Psychology · doi:10.1002/ejsp.775 · Cited by 42 · see citing works
Rothman, N. B., & Magee, J. C. (2015) · Cognition & Emotion · doi:10.1080/02699931.2015.1020050 · Cited by 33 · see citing works
Team members’ emotional displays as indicators of team functioning
Homan, A. C., Van Kleef, G. A., & Sanchez-Burks, J. (2016) · Cognition and Emotion · doi:10.1080/02699931.2015.1039494 · Cited by 31 · see citing works
Self-citationSalminen, M., Ravaja, N., Kallinen, K., & Saari, T. (2013) · Interacting with Computers · doi:10.1093/iwc/iws006 · Cited by 12 · see citing works
Heerdink, M. W., Kleef, G. A. V., Homan, A. C., & Fischer, A. H. (2015) · Frontiers in Psychology · doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2015.00830 · Cited by 11 · see citing works
Self-citation
Flagged first, then by citations
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Ecological validity of social interaction tests in rats and mice
Kondrakiewicz, K., Kostecki, M., Szadzińska, W., & Knapska, E. (2019) · Genes, Brain and Behavior · doi:10.1111/gbb.12525 · Cited by 136 · see citing works
- Authors
- van Kleef, G. A., Heerdink, M. W., & Homan, A. C.
- Affiliations
- University of Amsterdam (NL)
- Venue
- Current Opinion in Psychology
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2017-10
- Volume
- 17
- Pages
- 156-161
- ISSN
- 2352-250X (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2738646651
- Cited by
- 49
- References
- 77
- Citations by year
- 2026: 3 · 2025: 6 · 2024: 9 · 2023: 5 · 2022: 7 · 2021: 6 · 2020: 1 · 2019: 4 · 2018: 8
- FWCI
- 1.11
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- handle.uba.uva.nl
- Licence
- Locations
- Current Opinion in Psychology (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- UvA-DARE (University of Amsterdam) (publishedVersion, other-oa)
- Data Archiving and Networked Services (DANS) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Social and Intergroup Psychology
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Team Dynamics and Performance
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Emotions and Moral Behavior
- Keywords
- collective emotions, emotional contagion, emotional expression, group functioning
- MeSH terms
- Cognition, Emotions, Group Processes, Humans, Models, Psychological, Social Behavior
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
