Implicit Beliefs About Emotional Display Rules in the Classroom, Emotion Regulation, and Burnout

• In Event: Motivation and Emotion in Context: Exploring the Influence of Culture and Context on Teachers’ Lives

Abstract

Purpose and Theoretical Framework. Cognitive appraisal theories of emotions suggest that emotions are elicited by evaluations (appraisals) of events and situations (Lazarus, 1991; Roseman & Smith, 2001). Our implicit beliefs influence the ways we appraise or judge situations that we encounter (Tamir, John, Srivastava, & Gross, 2007). Further, individuals respond to emotions by various ways of regulation such as reappraisal and suppression (Gross & John, 2003). Reappraisals are generally considered as more adaptive in emotion regulation (Gross & John, 2003). However, researchers have not been able to find reappraisal as an effective tool for teachers and researchers have argued classroom teaching is not a context similar to many other typical live events (Chang, 2009; Tsouloupas, Carson, Matthews, Grawitch, Barber, 2010). Teachers may regulate their emotions according to emotional display rules in the classroom (Schutz, Aultman, Williams-Johnson, 2009; Schutz, 2011; Sutton, 2004). Only a few studies have investigated emotion regulation among teachers (Carson, 2007; Chang, 2009) or examined how teacher emotion regulation is influenced by their implicit beliefs about emotional display rules in the classroom. In order to understand how their implicit beliefs influence the way they regulate emotions, and the extent to which they feel burnout, this study aims to use structural equation modeling to examine the relationships among teachers’ implicit beliefs about emotional display rules in the classroom, emotion regulation, and burnout.
Participants and Data Sources. Survey data was collected from 561 full-time teachers from a Midwestern state in the United States. A five-item scale was developed to measure teacher implicit beliefs about emotion display in the classroom (= .741, i.e. I think it is inappropriate for teachers to reveal their true feelings in the classroom). The present study adopted emotion regulation scale by Gross and John (2003) to capture two approaches in emotion regulation: reappraisal and suppression, and Maslach Burnout Inventory-Educator Survey scale to capture three dimensions of teacher burnout: emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and inefficacy (MBI-ES, Maslach & Jackson, 1981).
Data Analysis and Results. Measurement and scales were validated through confirmatory factor analysis with LISREL 8.70 (Joreskog & Sorbom, 2004). After validating the full measurement model (see figure 1), structural equation modeling was utilized to test the fit of the theoretical model to the data. The fit indices indicated a good fit for the structural model (see figure 2).
Results reveal that teacher implicit beliefs about emotional display rules in the classroom covaried with suppression but not with reappraisal (see figure 2 and table 1). Further, reappraisals negatively covaried with burnout symptoms while suppression positively covaried with burnout symptoms.
Significance of the Study. The results of the study add new findings to teacher emotion literature. It revealed that when teachers believe it is not appropriate to disclose their true feelings to students they tend to suppress their emotions in the classroom, which further leads to higher levels of teacher burnout. To help teachers adaptively regulate their unpleasant emotions, it may be helpful to work on their implicit beliefs about emotional display rules in the classroom.

Author

• Mei-Lin Chang, Emory University