Emotional Influence on Communication Effectiveness: A Study of Taylor’s University Students
Abstract
This study investigates the profound relationship between emotions and their impact on communication. Emotions, expressed through cues like facial expressions, are central to daily interactions, influencing how individuals communicate and perceive others. The research distinguishes between primary, instinctive emotions (e.g., pleasure, frustration) felt similarly across cultures, and secondary emotions (e.g., love, guilt) that involve higher-order thinking, develop over time, and are often interpersonal. The core problem is that emotions frequently hinder communication, leading to discomfort and conflict. Recognizing and managing these emotional states is crucial for effective dialogue and resolving differences. This quantitative study aimed to determine the relationship between emotions and their impact on communication. Employing a survey design, data was collected from 140 students at Taylor's University's School of Media and Communication using stratified random sampling. Questionnaires adapted from Goleman (1995) and Millard J. Bienvenu (1971) measured emotions and communication impact, respectively. Results demonstrate a significant positive relationship between emotions and their impact on communication (r = .644, p < .000). This confirms that emotions strongly contribute to communication outcomes. The study emphasizes the critical role of emotional awareness for improved communication, fostering stronger social bonds, and enhancing both personal and professional interactions
Full text article
References
Abdullah, N., & Norin, S. (2008). The theory-practice gap of project appraisals. Jurnal Pengurusan, *27*, 85-104. https://doi.org/10.17576/pengurusan-2008-27-05
Abdullahi, K., Ghiyasvandian, S., & Hasanpour, M. (2022). Theory-practice gap. Iranian Journal of Nursing and Midwifery Research, *27*(1), 30-34. https://doi.org/10.4103/ijnmr.ijnmr_294_19
Adolphs, R., Tranel, D., Damasio, H., & Damásio, A. (1994). Impaired recognition of emotion in facial expressions following bilateral damage to the human amygdala. Nature, *372*(6507), 669-672. https://doi.org/10.1038/372669a0
Bechara, A., Damásio, H., & Damásio, A. (2003). Role of the amygdala in decision-making. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, *985*(1), 356-369. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1749-6632.2003.tb07094.x
Beusekom, M., Cameron, J., Bedi, C., Banks, E., & Humphris, G. (2019). Communication skills training for the radiotherapy team to manage cancer patients' emotional concerns: A systematic review. BMJ Open, *9*(4), e025420. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2018-025420
Brown, J., Broderick, A., & Lee, N. (2007). Word-of-mouth communication within online communities: Conceptualizing the online social network. Journal of Interactive Marketing, *21*(3), 2-20. https://doi.org/10.1002/dir.20082
Castella, K., Goldin, P., Jazaieri, H., Ziv, M., Dweck, C., & Gross, J. (2013). Beliefs about emotion: Links to emotion regulation, well-being, and psychological distress. Basic and Applied Social Psychology, *35*(6), 497-505. https://doi.org/10.1080/01973533.2013.840632
Chakraborty, A., Daniel, M., Howard, N., Chong, A., Slavin, N., Brown, A., ... & Cargo, M. (2021). Identifying environmental determinants relevant to health and wellbeing in remote Australian indigenous communities: A scoping review of grey literature. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, *18*(8), 4167. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18084167
Das, B., Anwar, M., Bhuiyan, M., Sarker, I., Alyami, S., & Moni, M. (2021). Attribute driven temporal active online community search. IEEE Access, *9*, 93976-93989. https://doi.org/10.1109/access.2021.3093368
Fischer, M., Dennig, F., Seebacher, D., Keim, D., & El-Assady, M. (2021). Communication analysis through visual analytics: Current practices, challenges, and new frontiers. https://doi.org/10.36227/techrxiv.15022791.v1
Ford, B., Lwi, S., Gentzler, A., Hankin, B., & Mauss, I. (2018). The cost of believing emotions are uncontrollable: Youths' beliefs about emotion predict emotion regulation and depressive symptoms. Journal of Experimental Psychology General, *147*(8), 1170-1190. https://doi.org/10.1037/xge0000396
Gonella, S., Giulio, P., Antal, A., Cornally, N., Martin, P., Campagna, S., ... & Dimonte, V. (2022). Challenges experienced by Italian nursing home staff in end-of-life conversations with family caregivers during COVID-19 pandemic: A qualitative descriptive study. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, *19*(5), 2504. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19052504
Gray, J., Braver, T., & Raichle, M. (2002). Integration of emotion and cognition in the lateral prefrontal cortex. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, *99*(6), 4115-4120. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.062381899
Greenway, K., Butt, G., & Walthall, H. (2019). What is a theory-practice gap? An exploration of the concept. Nurse Education in Practice, *34*, 1-6. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nepr.2018.10.005
Gross, J. (1998). The emerging field of emotion regulation: An integrative review. Review of General Psychology, *2*(3), 271-299. https://doi.org/10.1037/1089-2680.2.3.271
Gross, J., & John, O. (2003). Individual differences in two emotion regulation processes: Implications for affect, relationships, and well-being. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, *85*(2), 348-362. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.85.2.348
Ho, S., & Benbasat, I. (2014). Dyadic attribution model: A mechanism to assess trustworthiness in virtual organizations. Journal of the Association for Information Science and Technology, *65*(8), 1555-1576. https://doi.org/10.1002/asi.23074
Israel, B., Schulz, A., Parker, E., & Becker, A. (1998). Review of community-based research: Assessing partnership approaches to improve public health. Annual Review of Public Health, *19*(1), 173-202. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.publhealth.19.1.173
Izard, C., Ackerman, B., Schoff, K., & Fine, S. (2000). Self-organization of discrete emotions, emotion patterns, and emotion-cognition relations. In Emotion, Development, and Self-Organization (pp. 15-36). https://doi.org/10.1017/cbo9780511527883.003
Jones, L., Woodhouse, D., & Rowe, J. (2007). Effective nurse parent communication: A study of parents' perceptions in the NICU environment. Patient Education and Counseling, *69*(1-3), 206-212. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pec.2007.08.014
Jones, S. (2004). Putting the person into person-centered and immediate emotional support. Communication Research, *31*(3), 338-360. https://doi.org/10.1177/0093650204263436
Knobloch, L., Miller, L., & Carpenter, K. (2007). Using the relational turbulence model to understand negative emotion within courtship. Personal Relationships, *14*(1), 91-112. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1475-6811.2006.00143.x
Leahy, R. (2018). Introduction: Emotional schemas and emotional schema therapy. International Journal of Cognitive Therapy, *12*(1), 1-4. https://doi.org/10.1007/s41811-018-0038-5
Lee, D., Kim, H., & Kim, J. (2011). The impact of online brand community type on consumer's community engagement behaviors: Consumer-created vs. marketer-created online brand community in online social-networking web sites. Cyberpsychology, Behavior and Social Networking, *14*(1-2), 59-63. https://doi.org/10.1089/cyber.2009.0397
Maben, J., Latter, S., & Clark, J. (2006). The theory–practice gap: Impact of professional–bureaucratic work conflict on newly-qualified nurses. Journal of Advanced Nursing, *55*(4), 465-477. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2648.2006.03939.x
Mao, W., Ge, A., & Li, X. (2011). From causal scenarios to social causality: An attributional approach. IEEE Intelligent Systems, *26*(6), 48-57. https://doi.org/10.1109/mis.2011.79
Mohammadkhani, S., Foroutan, A., Akbari, M., & Shahbahrami, M. (2022). Emotional schemas and psychological distress: Mediating role of resilience and cognitive flexibility. Iranian Journal of Psychiatry. https://doi.org/10.18502/ijps.v17i3.9728
Nash, J. (2015). Dealing with diagnosis of diabetes. Practical Diabetes, *32*(1), 19-23. https://doi.org/10.1002/pdi.1915
Neal, M., & Espinoza, B. (2022). The hidden labors of adult learning: Emotional, gendered, and the intersection. Adult Learning, *34*(2), 91-100. https://doi.org/10.1177/10451595211051079
Neumann, R. (2000). The causal influences of attributions on emotions: A procedural priming approach. Psychological Science, *11*(3), 179-182. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9280.00238
Pearce, Z., & Halford, W. (2008). Do attributions mediate the association between attachment and negative couple communication? Personal Relationships, *15*(2), 155-170. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1475-6811.2008.00191.x
Pessoa, L. (2010). Emergent processes in cognitive-emotional interactions. Dialogues in Clinical Neuroscience, *12*(4), 433-448. https://doi.org/10.31887/dcns.2010.12.4/lpessoa
Rovenpor, D., & Isbell, L. (2018). Do emotional control beliefs lead people to approach positive or negative situations? Two competing effects of control beliefs on emotional situation selection. Emotion, *18*(3), 313-331. https://doi.org/10.1037/emo0000353
Saifan, A., Devadas, B., Mekkawi, M., Amoor, H., Matizha, P., James, J., ... & Al-Yateem, N. (2021). Managing the theory-practice gap in nursing education and practice: Hearing the voices of nursing students in the United Arab Emirates. Journal of Nursing Management, *29*(6), 1869-1879. https://doi.org/10.1111/jonm.13407
Sanford, K. (2006). Communication during marital conflict: When couples alter their appraisal, they change their behavior. Journal of Family Psychology, *20*(2), 256-265. https://doi.org/10.1037/0893-3200.20.2.256
Shoghi, M., Sajadi, M., Oskuie, F., Dehnad, A., & Borimnejad, L. (2019). Strategies for bridging the theory-practice gap from the perspective of nursing experts. Heliyon, *5*(9), e02503. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.heliyon.2019.e02503
Spouse, J. (2001). Bridging theory and practice in the supervisory relationship: A sociocultural perspective. Journal of Advanced Nursing, *33*(4), 512-522. https://doi.org/10.1046/j.1365-2648.2001.01683.x
Storbeck, J., & Clore, G. (2007). On the interdependence of cognition and emotion. Cognition & Emotion, *21*(6), 1212-1237. https://doi.org/10.1080/02699930701438020
Tajvidi, M., Wang, Y., Hajli, N., & Love, P. (2021). Brand value co-creation in social commerce: The role of interactivity, social support, and relationship quality. Computers in Human Behavior, *115*, 105238. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2017.11.006
Tamir, M., John, O., Srivastava, S., & Gross, J. (2007). Implicit theories of emotion: Affective and social outcomes across a major life transition. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, *92*(4), 731-744. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.92.4.731
Theiss, J., Knobloch, L., Checton, M., & Magsamen-Conrad, K. (2009). Relationship characteristics associated with the experience of hurt in romantic relationships: A test of the relational turbulence model. Human Communication Research, *35*(4), 588-615. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-2958.2009.01364.x
Vaughan-Johnston, T., Guyer, J., Fabrigar, L., & Shen, C. (2021). The role of vocal affect in persuasion: The CIVA model. Journal of Nonverbal Behavior, *45*(4), 455-477. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10919-021-00373-3
Ven, A., & Johnson, P. (2006). Knowledge for theory and practice. Academy of Management Review, *31*(4), 802-821. https://doi.org/10.5465/amr.2006.22527385
Watson, B., & Gallois, C. (1999). Communication accommodation between patients and health professionals: Themes and strategies in satisfying and unsatisfying encounters. International Journal of Applied Linguistics, *9*(2), 167-180. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1473-4192.1999.tb00170.x
Authors
Copyright (c) 2023 Shahri Abu Seman, Nan Zakiah Megat Ibrahim, Hirnissa Mat Tahir
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Article Details
