University academics’ state emotions and appraisal antecedents: an intraindividual analysis

ABSTRACT

This study investigates university academics’ emotions in the moment they occurred, and value and control appraisal dimensions on an intraindividual level. Applying the Experience-Sampling method, N = 50 German university academics reported their current emotions and appraisals for two weeks. A total of N = 1691 state assessments were collected. Positive emotions were reported as more intensely compared to negative emotions. Multilevel multiple regression analysis indicated that significant amounts of the variances in the emotions can be explained by value and control appraisals. In addition, the analyses yielded significant correlations between emotions and appraisals: appraisals of value and of self-determination were related to positive emotions, whereas time-pressure and control appraisals were related to negative emotions.

KEYWORDS:

• University academics
• state emotions
• cognitive appraisal
• experience sampling
• higher education

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1 The responses ranges from N = 9 to N = 50.

2 In 22 cases, the participants completed the emotion items, but not the appraisal items.