At the emotions in organizations lab, we examine the role of emotions in motivating behavior in work organizations. One of the emotions we focus on is envy. We have repeatedly shown that envy can result in both destructive and constructive reactions, and now examine when reactions to envy are constructive or destructive. Other lines of research concerning envy examine its relationship with justice, interventions that might help people cope with envy, and identifying the antecedents of envy.

Additional projects deal with the emotions of being happy for the other’s success (firgun) as motivating work behavior. We are also interested in additional discrete emotions, such as jealousy and fear, as affecting and being affected by various organizational behaviors and practices (such as work performance and leadership, respectively). We also conduct research examining issues of fairness in organizations, especially the relationship between fairness and emotions. We utilize a wide variety of research methods, such as laboratory experiments, correlational studies, survey research, longitudinal studies, archival studies, and qualitative studies.

Of our past research assistants, nearly 40% have gone on to pursue doctoral degrees in psychology or related fields at universities such as the University of Akron, Bowling Green, and the CUNY Graduate Center; 34% have continued to MA/M.sc. programs in universities like Columbia, NYU, and the CUNY system; 13% of our students pursued applied jobs, and the rest are still completing their Bachelor of Arts.

Research Projects Currently Conducted at the Lab

Constructive and destructive reactions to workplace envy – several studies conducted with Elliott Larson and Manny Gonzalez

Being happy for the other’s good fortune (firgun) – with Elliott Larson, Charles Scherbaum, and Miriam Erez

Jealousy at work – with Elliott Larson and Gerben van Kleef  (University of Amsterdam)

Envy regulation through emotion attributions to self and others  – with Elliott Larson and Agneta Fischer (University of Amsterdam)

Envy and (in)justice with Manny Gonzalez

Coping with envy:

Individual-level mechanisms – with Elliott Larson

Organizational-level mechanisms – with Ashley Lee

Predictors of envy – with Danielle Wald

Envy as a mediator of relationship between pay secrecy and behavior – with Cristina Arroyo

Envy and anti-Semitism – with Richard Smith, Elliott Larson, and Charles Hoogland (Richard and Charles are from the University of Kentucky)

Lab People

Yochi Cohen-Charash, Ph.D.