To want to recognize the feelings of employees and colleagues clearly and correctly – such a wish is something for soft eggs, but not for deaf businessmen and efficient performers? Error! An elaborate international study has now shown that human "emotion-recognition" has a direct impact on earned income. The study's co-author is Professor Dr. Gerhard Blickle from the Psychological Institute of the University of Bonn. The results have now been published in the journal "Journal of Organizational Behavior". Being boss in a department or even running an entire company – both have nothing to do with cuddling. Objective recognition of facts, hard-hitting knowledge of the facts, quick decisions and clear authority – anyone who asks about the feelings of the employees is quickly regarded as a softie. They are an important success factor not only for the company, but also for those who are interested in them: experts in occupational and economic psychology have now demonstrated that people's "emotion-recognition ability" affects their income. Prof. Dr. Gerhard Blickle from the Institute of Psychology at the University of Bonn is co-author of the study with the concise title "It pays to have an eye for emotions". "Calibrated" emotional testimonials.
The fact that it is part of daily coexistence to assess the mood of the other does not mean that everyone can do it equally well, says Prof. Blickle. "It's like learning foreign languages or sports: it's easy for some, it's harder for others. Everyone can make a push-up. But not everyone is an Olympic champion." In order to be able to compare and measure how well someone recognizes the emotions of their fellow human beings, the researchers collected images and sound documents of children and actors – people who have learned to express their feelings clearly or who do not yet want to hide them in an "adult" way. Emotions depicted in this way were then presented to working investigators: they should then, for example, recognize whether the person shown is angry or sad, happy or afraid. For the Bonn study, workers between the ages of 20 and 65 (142 participants in the first, 156 in the subsequent "validation" study) were asked to assess such "technically calibrated" statements – 24 facial images and 24 voice recordings had to be attributed to the appropriate emotion. "On average, this has been achieved in 77 percent of cases," says Prof. Blickle. "If someone makes it in 87 percent of cases, then he is good; at 90 really good; not so much at 60." The researchers then interviewed the colleagues and supervisors of the target persons: the colleagues should assess the social competence of the participants in cooperation in the workplace, the latter their "social performance" for the company (i.e. whether the team of the target person works effectively because it works harmoniously).
According to Prof. Blickle, the result: People with good emotion-recognition skills "are demonstrably judged by their colleagues to be more socially competent. Their superiors attribute to them a higher performance in working with others. And it has been proven that their earned income is also higher." The "special strength" of the study was "that we were able to exclude alternative explanations," adds Prof. Blickle. Many factors affect an employee's income: gender, age, training, weekly working hours and the hierarchical position in the company. "We checked all these variants," says the expert. "However, the effect of emotion-recognition on income remained." Can emotional recognition be increased sustainably?
The researchers conclude, among other things, that more emphasis should be placed on the ability to identify emotions when selecting managers – especially when dealing with people in the profession. "How often do you hear leaders talk about understanding and appreciation," criticizes Prof. Blickle – "and when you see their leadership behavior, you realize that they don't have both." Admittedly, there are various methods by which "emotional intelligence" can be increased. However, as Prof. Blickle explains, they all focus on categorising the emotions of the other person for themselves and then acting appropriately. The fact that one must first recognize the feelings of other people is implicitly assumed in these trainings. "I don't know of any study that would show that this first step can also be improved in the long term," says the Bonn-based expert. Whether this is possible could now be the subject of further investigation.
Source: https://www.predictame.de/post/gef%C3%BChle-richtig-erkennen-zahlt-sich-aus
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