Socially Shared Affect, Affect Sharing, and Affective Processing in Groups

Objective: This review explores groups as affective processing social entities. We examine the reciprocal relationships between socially shared affect and the affective experiences of group members such as moods and emotions. 

Method: The review applies a unifying theme of social sharedness to consider affective processes in group settings which are demonstrated with shared affect (e.g., affect convergence) and affect sharing (e.g., contagion). Several group topics related to socially shared affect are discussed such as group cohesiveness, shared affect norms, task interdependence, member stability, leadership, and group effectiveness. 

Results: The sharedness of affective experiences of group members can be arrayed along three dimensions: affective events, affective states, and affective appraisals. Each of these dimensions is described for its relevance to socially shared affect, which is illustrated with shared affective appraisals incorporating shared awareness, shared sensemaking and shared representations of affect. The examination of socially shared affect highlights a number of patterns of relationships including shared affect and affect sharing biases in which groups process affect in ways that exaggerates the typical affective responses of group members. Many of these patterns can be appreciated by carefully examining the distributional characteristics of group member affective responses. 

Conclusion: This review provides insights gained from examining socially shared affect with a focus on how affective experiences are shared and are being shared in groups. This review generates implications for the vast assortment of group settings in general, while illustrating socially shared affect with teams in organizations and group psychotherapy as examples.