Emotions are not always contagious: The longitudinal spread of self-pride, group pride and gratitude in groups, and their link with group outcomes

Group research has suggested that the emotions of group members converge over time. However, most research on emotions in groups is cross-sectional, inferring convergence from a greater-than-random similarity in the emotions of group members. Moreover, it is not clear whether just being exposed to other group members’ emotions is enough to assimilate over time (i.e., a social contagion account), or whether group members’ emotions only converge when the emotions of the other group members convey relevant information (i.e., a social appraisal account)? We propose that convergence only occurs when emotions are relevant and important to the group (Hypothesis 1). Moreover, we propose that when emotions spread, they meaningfully predict group outcomes (Hypothesis 2). To test the first hypothesis, we compared group members’ feelings of pride about themselves and about their group, and their feelings of gratitude in two longitudinal studies. The first study followed 68 task groups (N=295) across four moments. Multilevel cross-lagged path analyses showed that, across time, group members mutually influenced each other’s pride and gratitude about their group, but not their pride about themselves. The second study followed 27 task groups (N=189) across three moments in time. Longitudinal social network analyses showed that group members adjusted their pride about the group and their gratitude, but not their pride about themselves, to those members they see as more influential to the group. To test the second hypothesis, we predicted group performance and group cohesion from the mean intensity of group members’ self-pride, group-pride and gratitude. We found that group-pride and gratitude, but not self-pride predicted group performance and group cohesion. In sum, these findings show that group members converge only in those emotions that are relevant and important to the group, which may point to a process of shared appraisals rather than social contagion. Moreover, those emotions in turn predicted group outcomes, suggesting that particularly those emotions that become spread in groups inform group processes.status: publishe