Anger at Work: How Negative Emotions Cloud Judgment

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New Wharton research reveals that angry people often lose the ability to see problems from another point of view, which can hamper efforts to resolve conflict.Anger is a particularly negative emotion in the workplace. It can rub off on managers, subordinates or co-workers, making them keep their distance or walk on eggshells around the person who is upset.New research from Maurice Schweitzer, Wharton professor of operations, information and decisions, and Jeremy Yip, management professor at Georgetown University, shows that being angry at work can create even more significant problems. Their research — based on six experiments — reveals that angry people often lose the ability to see problems from another point of view, which can hamper efforts to resolve conflict.Schweitzer and Yip spoke to Knowledge@Wharton about their paper, “Losing Your Temper and Your Perspective: Anger Reduces Perspective-Taking,” which was published in the journal, Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes.*[This feature was originally published by Knowledge@Wharton, a partner institution of Fair Observer.]The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect Fair Observer’s editorial policy.

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