Catching moods and hitting runs: Mood linkage and subjective performance in professional sport teams.

Abstract

Are the moods and subjective performances of professional sports players associated with the ongoing collective moods of their teammates? Players from 2 professional cricket teams used pocket computers to provide ratings of their moods and performances 3 times a day for 4 days during a competitive match between the teams. Pooled time-series analysis showed significant associations between the average of teammates' happy moods and the players' own moods and subjective performances; the associations were independent of hassles and favorable standing in the match. Mood linkage was greater when players were happier and engaged in collective activity. An intraperson analysis of data from these teams and 2 other teams showed that mood linkage was also greater for players who were older, more committed to the team, and more susceptible to emotional contagion. The results support and extend previous findings concerning mood linkage.

The Benefits of Frequent Positive Affect: Does Happiness Lead to Success?

“…For example, in a correlational study, higher levels of positive affect were related to being less self-critical (Mongrain & Zuroff, 1995). Furthermore, participants in a naturally occurring good mood set higher goals for themselves and reported more selfefficacy on a laboratory clerical task (Jundt & Hinsz, 2001), and cricket players judged their performances more favorably (Totterdell, 2000).…”

“…Other evidence for happy people's relative success on the job includes findings that individuals high in dispositional positive affect are more likely to be in the supervisory in-group (Graen, 1976). Dormitory resident advisors were rated by residents as being more effective if they were high on trait positive affect (DeLuga & Mason, 2000), and happier cricket players had higher batting averages (Totterdell, 2000). George (1995) found that service departments with happy leaders were more likely to receive high ratings from customers, and that the positive affective tone of the sales force was an independent predictor of customer satisfaction.…”

The Ripple Effect: Emotional Contagion and its Influence on Group Behavior

“…First, in methodological studies using experience sampling, Totterdell and colleagues have found evidence that the moods of team members were related to each other in teams of nurses, accountants (Totterdell et al, 1998), and professional cricket teams (Totterdell, 2000), even after controlling for shared work problems and, in the case of sports teams, the team's status in the game. In a study of 70 very diverse work group teams in short-term meetings, Bartel and Saavedra (2000) also found convergence of mood.…”

“…Contagion of emotions has been examined as far back as 400 B.C., when Hippocrates coined the term "hysteria" to refer to the passing of an agitated state from unmarried women to other unmarried women (Veith, 1965). Current psychological contagion research examines less dramatic yet more prevalent day-to-day contagion effects (e.g., Hsee et al, 1990;Sullins, 1991;Hatfield, Cacioppo andRapson, 1992, 1994) Emotional contagion has long been viewed as a type of social influence (Schacter, 1959: 15;Levy & Nail, 1993) that can occur at both the conscious and unconscious levels (Kelly & Barsade, 2001;Druckman & Bjork, 1994;Totterdell, 2000).…”

An Emotion Process Model for Multicultural Teams

“…Within teams, affectivity has been an increasingly powerful lens for studying emotion. Groups frequently converge in the tendencies of individuals to experience particular emotional states and this convergence generally has beneficial consequences for teams (e.g., Barsade Gibson, 1998;Barsade, Ward, Turner, & Sonnenfeld, 2000;Bartel & Saavedra, 2000;George, 1990;Kelly & Barsade, 2001;Totterdell, 2000). A limitation of the existing body of studies is the sampling exclusively from Western cultural groups, so the applicability to other cultures remains untested.…”