How Emotions Regulate Social Life

TLDR

The idea that emotions regulate social interaction is increasingly popular. The study seeks to explain how emotions regulate social interaction by proposing the emotions as social information (EASI) model. The authors draw on research across personal relationships, parent–child interactions, conflict, negotiation, and leadership, and identify moderators such as power, need for cognitive closure, time pressure, display rules, and expression appropriateness that influence whether inferences or affective reactions drive observer behavior. The study shows that emotional expressions influence observers by triggering inferential processes or affective reactions, and that the strength of these processes depends on the observer’s information processing and social‑relational factors.

Abstract

The idea that emotions regulate social interaction is increasingly popular. But exactly how do emotions do this? To address this question, I draw on research on the interpersonal effects of emotions on behavior in personal relationships, parent–child interactions, conflict, negotiation, and leadership, and propose a new framework that can account for existing findings and guide future research: the emotions as social information (EASI) model. I demonstrate that emotional expressions affect observers' behavior by triggering inferential processes and/or affective reactions in them. The predictive strength of these two processes—which may inspire different behaviors—depends on the observer's information processing and on social-relational factors. Examples of moderators that determine the relative predictive strength of inferences and affective reactions include power, need for cognitive closure, time pressure, display rules, and the appropriateness and target of the emotional expression, which are all discussed.