How emotions affect problem-solving?

Introduction
Emotion is like a pair of colored sunglasses. When you feel good, you see beauty through bright colored lenses. When you feel bad, your outlook is as gloomy as if you were wearing a pair of dark glasses. When you feel depressed, you tend to be aware of the negative sides of an event more easily. You may even enlarge the difficulties but neglect the positive aspects of a situation. The possibility of problem solving is diminished. Extreme emotion limits the choices for a solution.
What is problem solving?
Problem solving is a tool, a skill and a process. It is a tool because it can help you solve an immediate problem or to achieve a goal. It is a skill because once you have learnt it you can use it repeatedly, like the ability to ride a bicycle, add numbers or speak a language. It is also a process because it involves taking a number of steps.
One can engage in problem solving if one wants to reach a goal and experience obstacles on the way. As a student, our goals are likely to be many and varied. One might want to write more effectively, increase the number of friends, get a job, become computer literate, buy a car or improve fitness. So it is likely that in working towards the goals one will encounter some barriers.
At the point at which we come up against a barrier we can engage in a problem solving process to help you achieve our goal. Every time we use a problem solving process we are increasing our problem solving skills.
What are Emotions?
An emotion is a mental and physiological state associated with a wide variety of feelings, thoughts, and behaviours. It is a prime determinant of the sense of subjective well-being and appears to play a central role in many human activities. According to Woodworth, ‘Emotion is a moved or stirred-up state of organism.’
Types of Emotions
Robert Plutchik has classified emotions into two basic groups:
1. Primary Emotions
These include: Anticipation, Joy, Acceptance, Fear, Surprise, Sadness, Disgust, Anger.
2. Secondary Emotions
Primary emotions can be combined to produce secondary emotions. These include: Optimism, Love, Submission, Awe, Disappointment, Remorse, Contempt, Aggression
Importance of emotions at workplace
Emotions do not just effect organizations but contribute to their structure. In fact a great deal of leadership is actually about emotion management. Organizations are emotional places, organizations and businesses use emotions to motivate employees to perform and customers to buy. Various events in organizations create emotions and affect an employee's sense of satisfaction or outrage. Emotions are also essential to inspirational leadership. However, emotions can harm employees, affect how they react to pressures and be the cause of low productivity and poor results.
- Moods and emotions affect our selection and the quality of our actions.Emotions are a part of our everyday existence as they move through the body, affecting our state-of-mind, performance, health and energy. Some recent research even suggests that all decisions are emotionally based, and that logic is used to provide a rational explanation for whatever decision is taken. They underpin a person's morale, their desire for improvement, their commitment to the process of change, their ability to problem-solve and their creative and innovative thinking.
- Emotional management skills are necessary to reach an optimum productive state. Current research shows that by acquiring emotional management skills and techniques managers and leaders can more readily create positive and productive results in every aspect of their lives.
- Emotional responsibility and Emotional leadership.In a workplace dominated by the emphasis on rational and logical thinking, the role of emotions in decision-making and effective action has been often neglected. Many managers and leaders become victims of their emotions and regard their moods and emotions as things which just "happen".
- So how does management expect their employees to manage their emotions in the workplace?According to new research at the University of Missouri-Columbia, management and many employees do not want their co-workers to express any type of strong emotion -- positive or negative. The new research found that the only "appropriate" way to manage negative emotions at work was for employees to hide or "mask" their emotions. Positive emotions also needed to be expressed in moderation, according to those surveyed.Employees expect others to hide negative or positive emotions in order to maintain what they call "professionalism."
Your emotions do impact productivity
The impact of emotions on productivity is well documented. Our individual traits, mood swings, and positive or negative emotions not only affect all aspects of our own job performance (including decision making, creativity, efficiency, teamwork and leadership abilities), but also the behavior and emotions of those we interact with.
Over the past decade, scientists have explored the impact of positive-to-negative interaction, and have found that this ratio could be used to accurately predict behaviour ranging from workplace performance to the possibility of divorce in personal life.
Emotions are needed to provide inspirational leadership. However, excessive expression of emotion- positive or negative- can do more harm than good. Both positive and negative emotions have a role to play in the workplace. Negative emotions like anger, fear or disgust spur us to immediate action, and, under dangerous or extreme circumstances such a fight or flight mechanism can ensure survival. In the workplace, this evolutionarily ingrained response to negative emotions limits us to instinctive and reactive response to stimuli- with little room for logic, consensus or expansive, creative thinking. Negative thinking is oriented towards achieving or averting immediate consequences, rather than focusing on long term considerations.
Positive emotions, on the other hand, create a more expansive and inclusive range of behaviours with a win/win bias. They encourage more creative, and generative thinking, aid exchange of ideas and creation of consensus. Research suggests that positive people tend to do better in the workplace, and it isn’t just because people love having them around when compared to cynical or negative people.
Positive people tend to have better cognitive abilities, have greater focus and accuracy, and are better at generating innovative ideas when compared to negative people. They also have better social networks and are more tolerant of diverse ideas and opinions.
Emotional intelligence is a much talked about buzzword in business circles today. Because knowledge of emotions can be a valuable data in navigating critical and non-critical situations in the workplace on a day-to-day basis, businesses can greatly benefit by training employees in emotional management skills and techniques. People who are cued in to the emotions, moods and dispositions of those around them will find it extremely easy to manage situations and people to achieve desired outcomes.
Emotions and Problem-Solving
Both positive and negative emotions can act as barriers or facilitators to problem solving depending upon how the individual chooses to use them.
Interest level in a job: If a person doesn’t find the job allocated to him exciting or challenging enough, then he would, in all probability, not give his 100% to the job and hence any problem encountered won’t be solved effectively. On the other hand if the job is creatively satisfying and the workplace environment is in accordance with the personal traits of employee then he is more likely to work hard and sole problems effectively.
Human nature is intolerant towards ambiguity: In such a situation the first solution which comes to mind seems the best although it may not be so. This prevents us from coming up with other good alternatives and selecting the best from them.
Resorting to shortcuts so as to avoid the stress of solving a problem from it's roots.
Inability to prioritize problems: A problem which was manageable earlier becomes too big to handle if ignored for a long time, just like some deadly diseases. A well-known and commonly experienced example of such a situation is studying for the exams at the last minute.
Over-emphasis on solution and inadequate attention on defining the problem: Sometimes we become so desperate to sole a problem that we overlook some aspects of the problem leading to unsatisfactory results.
Fear: Fear can stem from different reasons. One common one is fear of failure. Out of the fear of failure, we keep ignoring a problem or even if we solve it, we don’t try whole-heartedly and the results are never satisfactory.
Anger: Inability to control our anger, directing it in the wrong direction instead of looking for ways to resolve the problem makes the problem even worse than before. For example: incidents of road rage, of teachers brutally beating students, spurned lovers taking revenge are all examples of unmaged anger.
Over-anxiety: Emotionally, anxiety causes a sense of dread or panic. Take for example the case of a student who, despite knowing everything, gets overanxious during exams and hence isn’t able to score well.
Feeling Destructive: We sometimes feel such urges, such as the urge to completely destroy our attacker. These urges can be felt on numerous occasions, road rage being one of the examples. Failed relationships also make us feel destructive sometimes. These urges are the result of underlying emotions like anger, disappointment, aggression, remorse, sadness etc. The challenge is how to use the energy in a constructive way. A way to counter these feelings is to exercise. Atleast we end up burning some calories!
Disappointment: Consider the parent who tells the child "I am utterly disappointed in you," or, "you really disappointed me." Think for a moment how you feel when someone says such things to you. You might feel guilty, blamed, inadequate, unworthy, ashamed.
It is helpful to look at disappointment as something we do to ourselves, because it seems to arise out of our own expectations or demands about how we think the world should be or how we think people should act.
By looking at it this way it is easier for us to take responsibility for it and thus to reduce the negative feelings which usually accompany it. It also helps us avoid laying guilt trips on others. Telling someone that we are disappointed in them lowers their self-esteem and prevents them from telling things truthfully in the future.
Bitterness: A more intense form of disappointment is sometimes bitterness, which tells us that not only did we expect something, but we started to count on it or depend on it. A healthier reaction would be to let the feeling provide an opportunity to get to know the other person or the child better. By showing sincere curiosity and a desire for knowledge instead of disappointment, we open the door to understanding and bonding. In other words, we might say to ourselves, "Hmm, I expected x to happen, in fact I really wanted x to happen. I was even counting on it. I am sad, or hurt or frustrated that it didn't happen. I wonder why it didn't happen. What can I learn from this?" Such curiosity opens the door to seeking knowledge and helps get our thinking back in line with reality. In other words, situations where we initially feel disappointed can lead to wisdom if we allow ourselves to learn. In the case of the parent and child, the parent might learn about the circumstances surrounding the child's life, and the way the child makes decisions based on his or her values, beliefs, and needs. The same idea applies to friends or romantic partners.
Discouragement, Hopelessness: Once a person starts feeling discouraged or hopeless it means that the problem won’t get solved, no matter what we do to resolve it. One must try to find just one encouraging thing amid the present feelings of discouragement. Another option is to seek out some optimistic, but validating people. Perhaps just tell a friend who knows you well that you are feeling discouraged and hopeful.
Optimism: Being optimistic is the key to success, but being over-optimistic or over-confident always spoils the things rather than doing any good.
Love: It is no doubt a wonderful feeling, but being lost in thoughts of one’s romantic partner while doing important jobs only acts as a distraction and ruins the job at hand. On the other hand getting inspired from one’s romantic partner and trying to imbibe his/her improves our personality and therefore our problem solving skills.
Managing Emotions
Although some people may never admit to them, everyone experiences some type of emotion. Whether anticipating grades, handling family or just being alone, all these scenarios involve some type of emotion. Willingness to deal with emotions signals your forward direction in life.
A number of emotions that students encounter are anger, fear, boredom, happiness, sadness and tension. Others emotions include desire, shame and guilt. Everyone experiences these feelings at times. It’s how emotions are channeled that makes a difference. Learning to manage stress is an important step in learning how to manage emotions. Unchecked stress can cause health problems and illness. Although a little stress may be a good motivator from time to time, it is often the day-to-day stresses that build up over time that can affect school work and health.
Following are ten things that can be done to manage emotions:
· Get enough rest.
· Eat a balanced diet.
· Exercise regularly.
· Talk to some one you trust.
· Learn to solve problems (this builds confidence).
· Listen to your ‘self talk’.
· Get all the facts before you act.
· Take a mini mind vacation.
· Help somebody else; get involved.
· Seek help.
Identify Your Emotions
Learning to recognize what emotion you are feeling is a very first important step. For example, a person may be jealous that another classmate has performed better on a test. Recognizing jealous feelings and then putting them to good use by becoming motivated to study and do better on the next test is one way to handle the situation. Another way (negative) to handle the feeling would be to talk about the person and imply that he or she must be getting special favors from the instructor. The energy it takes to be jealous can be reformed into healthy competition.
Ask yourself the following questions:
· How am I feeling?
· Is it a healthy feeling?
· How do I want to feel?
· What would help me feel better (that I can control)?
Determine the source of the feeling(s)
If you are in an argumentative mood, is it because you are really mad or you want to express other emotions (e.g. jealousy, desire or fear)?
Once the feeling is identified, own up to it; don’t deny it.
You don’t have to tell everybody how you feel, but being honest with yourself can help you to deal directly with emotions instead of creating more stress by hiding them.
Avoid accusing
To keep the peace in a semi-professional setting like school, try to avoid making “you” statements. For instance, saying to a person, “you think you are better than everyone else.” Whether the statement is true or not, the person will get defensive and maybe confrontational as well.
Begin to understand the underlying tensions that create the emotions.
There are things that create in us tensions that force us to act in certain ways. We all know stress is a killer yet we continue to work more and more and more until we explode.
Looking for things that are ‘all in your head’.
The final way to identify a problem is the issue of their not being a problem. There are times when the problem we have is nothing more than a construction of our psyche. These kinds of problems are usually related to underlying issues of the mind and emotions. I ended on this point because it’s a really important one… what you think the problem is… the problem is. If you have a tendency towards technical solutions you will look for technical problems. If you are led by your heart then you will gravitate to heart solutions.
Take control
You are the master of your feelings. Although emotions may be hard to control at times, only you know how much you are willing to take. When a situation gets “heavy,” it’s best to walk away from it if you feel an outburst on the horizon. Sometimes, blowing your cool has consequences that you may find difficult to recover from.
Taking control of your emotions does not always mean you get to win. Some advice on dealing with anger from Brigham Young University’s website states there are a number of ways we can deal with anger, which include the following:
· Go directly to the person we are angry with and try to settle our differences before getting other people involved.
· Give in occasionally rather than always having to be right.
· Resist correcting someone who has an incorrect understanding about something. We can do this by asking ourselves, "Does it really matter in the long run?" and "Will it do more damage than good for me to show him or her that they are wrong?"
Expressing Negative Feelings
Here are a few suggestions for communicating your negative feelings:
· Don't be dramatic.
· Don't wait till things build up.
· Be brief.
· Don't blame or lay guilt trips.
· Talk about how you feel.
· Ask how the other person feels.
· Offer a way to save face. (For example, "Perhaps I misunderstood you," or "I know your intentions were good.")
Coping With Negative Emotions At Work
· Good self-care is the best medicine. An employer who tends to his/her own physical, emotional and mental needs, regularly, is going to be more adept at managing negative or hostile emotions at work. Start with adequate sleep, good nutrition, and regular exercise.
· Know what anger and frustration feels like to you - both in your head and in your body. Sometimes, we can get really “cut off” from our feelings and act rashly without knowing why. Spend some time knowing what anger feels like to you, and where you notice it in your body.
· Take a 10 minute walk. When you desire to “vent”, excuse yourself from the office and take a brisk 10 minute walk around the parking lot or neighborhood. This will clear your mind and may save you from losing your temper.
· Vent to a mentor, coach, or trusted colleague. The act of sharing your frustration and fears will calm you down. These people can support you and help you move forward.
· Ask, “What am I afraid of?” Most often, anger or frustration appears when one of our fears has been activated. By going directly for the source of your feelings, you may be able to short-circuit them.
· Make an exhaustive “do not want” list. In this list, you write down everything you do NOT want in the situation such as “to look foolish”, “to be unprepared”, etc.. Once you write this all down - ALL OF IT- you will clear your mind and be ready to generate productive solutions.
Distract yourself. Sometimes, getting your mind off the upsetting subject is enough to calm you down. Consider closing your door and playing computer games or something equally mindless (but absorbing). Shifting your focus will shift your attitude.
· Ask, “What’s working about this situation?” This tip comes from Kurt Wright’s book, “Breaking the Rules”, and suggests that we all can manage stress better if we start looking at “what’s working” rather than “what’s wrong”. Many times, communication breakdowns or glitches can show you where better systems need to be created and placed and ultimately, will enhance the viability of your organization.
· Take an action. Sometimes, when one piece of the business plan isn’t moving, it may mean that another part is ready to be acted upon. Rather than feeling annoyed and frustrated, transform that energy into positive movement forward, where you can.
· Make a strong request. If you would like something to be different, start the process of making it so. Contact key people, letting them know that you’d like to work on the impasse, and make your needs and those of your business known. Sometimes, just communicating about your desires in the form of an appropriate request can move situations along.
Other than this, Getting enough rest; Eating a balanced diet; Exercising regularly; Talking to some one you trust are also some ways to reduce negative emotions.