Emotional Work: A Psychological View

Abstract

At work and in the family, people do emotional work to meet other people's emotional needs, improve their wellbeing, and maintain social harmony. Emotional work is unique and skilled work - it involves handling emotions and social relationships and its product is the change of feeling in others. ¶ The thesis extends the work of Erickson and Wharton (1993, 1997) and England (1992, England & Farkas, 1986) by adding a psychological perspective. Emotional work is defined in terms of behaviours. Three dimensions, companionship, help and regulation, distinguish whether positive or negative emotions in other people are the target of emotional work. Companionship builds positive emotions, whereas help and regulation repairs and regulates negative emotions. ¶ Two studies, the Public Service Study (n=448) and the Health Care Study (n=261), sample different work and family role contexts (spouse, parent, kinkeeper and friendship, manager, workmate and service roles). The Integrative Emotional Work (IEW) Inventory was developed to assess emotional work in these roles. ¶ ..