"Shocks" and Productivity

Are productivity increases from small amounts of stress (or shocks) in an economic task dependent upon the content of the shock? It has been found small amounts of stress can lead to an increase in memory. We examine if the same is true with productivity in an economic experiment and whether it depends on the content of the stress. In our first experiment we suddenly expose participants to a "scary" or "cute" image during a real-effort task. We observe significant productivity gains after subjects view the scary image only. Our second experiment tests whether it was the method by which the image was presented or the image itself that lead to productivity gains. Results suggest productivity gains in the workplace depend on the shock itself and how the content is viewed by employees.

[1]  T. W. Colligan,et al.  Workplace Stress , 2006 .

[2]  Katia M. Harlé,et al.  Incidental sadness biases social economic decisions in the Ultimatum Game. , 2007, Emotion.

[3]  Nikos Nikiforakis,et al.  Relative Earnings and Giving in a Real-Effort Experiment , 2011 .

[4]  P. Philippot.  Inducing and assessing differentiated emotion-feeling states in the laboratory. , 1993, Cognition & emotion.

[5]  J. Lerner,et al.  Fear, anger, and risk. , 2001, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[6]  Timothy C. Salmon,et al.  Procedural fairness and the tolerance for income inequality , 2013 .

[7]  Timothy C. Salmon.  Does Social Judgment Diminish Rule Breaking ? ∗ , 2013 .

[8]  D. Cooper,et al.  Ambiguity in Performance Pay: An Online Experiment , 2013 .

[9]  D. Meyer,et al.  Executive control of cognitive processes in task switching. , 2001, Journal of experimental psychology. Human perception and performance.

[10]  J. D. McGaugh.  Memory--a century of consolidation. , 2000, Science.

[11]  J. Gross,et al.  Emotion elicitation using films , 1995 .

[12]  John J. B. Allen,et al.  The effects of experimentally induced stress on false recognition , 2002, Memory.

[13]  David G. Rand,et al.  The online laboratory: conducting experiments in a real labor market , 2010, ArXiv.

[14]  U. Fischbacher.  z-Tree: Zurich toolbox for ready-made economic experiments , 1999 .

[15]  David Johnson.  The Interrogation Game : Using Coercion and Rewards to Elicit Information from Groups , 2013 .

[16]  Teck-Hua Ho,et al.  Knowledge Market Design: A Field Experiment at Google Answers , 2010 .

[17]  Cynthia D. Fisherl.  Boredom at Work: A Neglected Concept , 1993 .

[18]  A. Shirom,et al.  Conservation of resources theory: Applications to stress and management in the workplace. , 2001 .

[19]  Eduardo Salas,et al.  Group Decision Making Under Stress , 1991 .

[20]  Tushyati Maudgalya,et al.  Workplace stress factors and ‘burnout’ among information technology professionals: a systematic review , 2006 .

[21]  L. Cahill,et al.  Neurobiological mechanisms of emotionally influenced, long-term memory. , 2000, Progress in brain research.

[22]  D. Diamond,et al.  Predator Exposure Produces Retrograde Amnesia and Blocks Synaptic Plasticity: Progress toward Understanding How the Hippocampus Is Affected by Stress , 2000, Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences.

[23]  P. Hassmén,et al.  Psychophysiological stress and emg activity of the trapezius muscle , 1994, International journal of behavioral medicine.

[24]  David M. Diamond,et al.  The stressed hippocampus, synaptic plasticity and lost memories , 2002, Nature Reviews Neuroscience.

[25]  J. G. Fox,et al.  Music - an aid to productivity. , 1972, Applied ergonomics.

[26]  Douglas A. Harper,et al.  Talking about pictures: A case for photo elicitation , 2002 .

[27]  J. Ryan,et al.  The interrogation game , 2015 .

[28]  Michel Tuan Pham,et al.  All Negative Moods Are Not Equal: Motivational Influences of Anxiety and Sadness on Decision Making. , 1999, Organizational behavior and human decision processes.

[29]  Jacob Weisberg,et al.  Teachers' Physical, Mental, and Emotional Burnout: Impact on Intention to Quit , 1999 .

[30]  G. Keinan.  Decision making under stress: scanning of alternatives under controllable and uncontrollable threats. , 1987, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[31]  Anastasia Semykina,et al.  The chicken or the egg: An experimental study of democracy survival, income, and inequality , 2015 .

[32]  Ben Greiner,et al.  An Online Recruitment System for Economic Experiments , 2004 .

[33]  Patricia Voydanoff,et al.  Consequences of boundary-spanning demands and resources for work-to-family conflict and perceived stress. , 2005, Journal of occupational health psychology.

[34]  Yan Chen,et al.  Group Identity and Social Preferences , 2009 .

[35]  W. Güth,et al.  An experimental analysis of ultimatum bargaining , 1982 .

[36]  Michael B. Hargis,et al.  Boredom Proneness: Its Relationship with Subjective Underemployment, Perceived Organizational Support, and Job Performance , 2010 .

[37]  Joseph R. Carlson,et al.  Burnout Among Prison Caseworkers and Corrections Officers , 2006 .

[38]  Cynthia D. Fisher,et al.  Effects of external and internal interruptions on boredom at work: two studies , 1998 .

[39]  M. Schweitzer,et al.  The Influence of Physical Attractiveness and Gender on Ultimatum Game Decisions. , 1999, Organizational behavior and human decision processes.

[40]  W Wippich,et al.  Stress- and treatment-induced elevations of cortisol levels associated with impaired declarative memory in healthy adults. , 1996, Life sciences.

[41]  Timothy C. Salmon,et al.  The Incentive Effects of Inequality: An Experimental Investigation , 2012 .

[42]  Joseph E LeDoux.  Emotion Circuits in the Brain , 2000 .

[43]  John Ifcher,et al.  Affect and Overconfidence: A Laboratory Investigation , 2014 .