Organizational Behavior, 17e (Robbins)
Chapter 4 Emotions and Moods
1) Which of the following is a generic term that covers a broad range of feelings that people
experience?
A) affect
B) knowledge
C) insight
D) attention
E) cognition
2) Which of the following is a characteristic of emotions?
A) Emotions are reactions to a person or event.
B) Emotions last for a longer time period than moods.
C) Emotions are never action-oriented in nature.
D) Emotions lack a contextual stimulus.
E) Emotions involve less intense feelings than moods.
3) Which of the following terms best describes an intense feeling directed at someone or
something?
A) perception
B) cognition
C) mood
D) reasoning
E) emotion
4) Ashley Madison works as a receptionist at a fashion magazine. One morning, her boss walks
into the office and yells at her, telling her that the front office is a mess and she needs to clean it
immediately. After her boss leaves the room, Madison goes to the front office and violently
slams trash into the bin. Which of the following best describes Madison’s anger?
A) a recognition
B) an insight
C) a mood
D) an emotion
E) a perception
5) ________ refers to feelings that tend to be less intense than emotions and that lack a
contextual stimulus.
A) Affect
B) Cognition
C) Mood
D) Thought
E) Reaction
6) Robert Springer woke up in the morning and felt a sense of joy and peace as he got ready for
work. At work, though challenges came his way, he tackled them without getting stressed about
them. This feeling lasted for several days that week. What is one of the reasons that Springer’s
feeling can be categorized as a mood and not as an emotion?
A) It is more intense than emotions.
B) It is brought about by a specific event.
C) It is prolonged in nature.
D) It is a positive feeling.
E) It is indicated by a facial expression.
7) When Ariana Winter is told that her dog has been killed by a car, she feels deeply saddened.
Her feelings are then overcome by a surge of anger at the car driver. However, minutes later, she
is able to laugh and talk about the good memories spent with her pet. What is one of the reasons
that Winter’s reaction can be categorized as an emotion?
A) Its cause is general and ambiguous.
B) It lasted for a brief time period.
C) It is not action-oriented.
D) It is a negative feeling.
E) It is cognitive in nature.
8) Which of the following statements is most likely to be true regarding moods?
A) Moods are always brought about by a specific event.
B) Moods last for a very short period of time, such as a few seconds.
C) As compared to emotions, moods are more likely to be clearly revealed by facial expressions.
D) Moods are more fleeting than emotions.
E) Moods are cognitive in nature.
9) Katherine Connor started her day with a cup of coffee while reading the newspaper. However,
something about the day makes her feel low. When she reaches the office, she feels upset and
distracted from work although she cannot pinpoint a reason for feeling this way. She continues to
feel upset and distracted through the rest of the day. Which of the following is she most likely to
be experiencing?
A) a response
B) a reaction
C) a counteraction
D) an attitude
E) a mood
10) Erin Corbett works at a software company and is in charge of the help desk. A short while
ago, she received a call from a discontented customer about a problem he is facing due to the
company’s software. Though she tried to help the customer with the software, he refused to listen
to her. He continued yelling at her and finally banged the phone down. Corbett feels exasperated
after hanging up the phone and goes for a cup of coffee to calm herself down. What makes
Corbett’s anger an emotion, rather than a mood?
A) The cause of her behavior is unclear.
B) The feeling of being angry is prolonged.
C) The anger has a contextual stimulus.
D) The response is void of action.
E) The response is cognitive in nature.
11) Alana Gore works as a campaign manager at a nonprofit organization in Manhattan. She was
recently asked by her supervisor to give a presentation on the progress of the ongoing climate
campaign. However, throughout the presentation, her colleague Kelly Simmons interrupts her by
asking irrelevant questions. In addition, she tries to insult her by constantly criticizing key
findings and objectives achieved. Though Gore initially tried to be patient, she eventually loses
her cool and retorts back, asking her to keep her questions and clarifications for the end of the
presentation. Which of the following is a reason why Gore’s reaction can be categorized as an
emotion instead of a mood?
A) Its cause is general and ambiguous.
B) It is not action-oriented.
C) It incorporates both positive and negative dimensions of affect.
D) It is less cognitive in nature than moods.
E) It is caused by a specific event.
12) ________ are cognitive in nature, have an unclear, general cause, and last for several hours
or days.
A) Emotions
B) Feelings
C) Perceptions
D) Moods
E) Reactions
13) ________ are caused by a specific event, are very brief, and are accompanied by distinct
facial expressions.
A) Emotions
B) Perceptions
C) Attitudes
D) Moods
E) Reactions
14) Which of the following is not true regarding positive and negative emotions in different
cultures?
A) In China, people report experiencing fewer positive and negative emotions than people in
other cultures.
B) Compared to Mainland Chinese, Taiwanese are similar to Latin Americans in their experience
of culture.
C) The emotions felt by people in China are less intense than the emotions felt by people in other
cultures.
D) Compared to Mainland Chinese, Taiwanese are more like U.S. workers in their experience of
emotions.
E) On average, Taiwanese report more positive and fewer negative emotions than their Chinese
counterparts.
15) Which of the following is not an example of moral emotions?
A) sympathy for the suffering of others
B) contempt for those who behave ethically
C) guilt about our own immoral behavior
D) anger about injustice done to others
E) disgust at violations of moral norms
16) Which of the following is one of the six essentially universal emotions agreed on by a
majority of researchers?
A) anger
B) shame
C) apathy
D) indifference
E) distress
17) ________ is a pure marker of low negative affect.
A) Boredom
B) Nervousness
C) Contentment
D) Relaxation
E) Serenity
18) ________ is a pure marker of high positive affect.
A) Contentment
B) Excitement
C) Fatigue
D) Boredom
E) Relaxation
19) ________ is a pure marker of low positive affect.
A) Stress
B) Relaxation
C) Boredom
D) Nervous
E) Alert
20) Which of the following mood dimensions is a pure marker of high negative affect?
A) depression
B) relaxation
C) fatigue
D) boredom
E) nervousness
21) Negative affect is a mood dimension consisting of ________ at the low end.
A) nervousness
B) relaxation
C) anxiety
D) stress
E) depression
22) Jane Hastings recently joined her first job as a communication executive and is working on
creating press releases for an upcoming campaign. The campaign is getting launched publicly in
the next week and Hastings will need to interact with the media and give sound bites on the
issue. This is the first time she will be interacting with the press and she is experiencing emotions
of anxiousness, nervousness, and stress. Which of the following mood dimensions is she
experiencing?
A) low positive affect
B) neutral affect
C) low negative affect
D) high positive affect
E) high negative affect
23) Heather Donahue, who works as a receptionist at a finance firm in New Jersey, has been
dissatisfied with her job for several months now. She finds the job uninteresting because of its
monotonous nature where all she needs to do is receive calls. During work hours, she often
experiences emotions such as tiredness, weariness, and boredom. Which of the following mood
dimensions is she most likely to be experiencing?
A) low positive affect
B) neutral affect
C) low negative affect
D) high positive affect
E) high negative affect
24) Jean Ervin works as a fund raising executive at a women’s rights organization in San Diego.
Though she has been with the organization for only a year now, she has already been promoted
and often gets excellent feedback from her manager. Her manager says that the key to Ervin’s
good performance is that she is happy with the work she does and she is excited about the
challenges in tasks, which she takes up with a lot of enthusiasm. Which of the following mood
dimensions is Ervin most likely to be feeling?
A) low positive affect
B) neutral affect
C) low negative affect
D) high positive affect
E) high negative affect
25) Emotions such as relaxation, serenity, and calmness comprise the ________ mood
dimension.
A) low positive affect
B) neutral affect
C) low negative affect
D) high positive affect
E) high negative affect
26) ________ refers to the tendency of most individuals to experience a mildly positive mood at
zero input when nothing in particular is going on.
A) Low positive affect
B) Positivity offset
C) Blunted affect
D) Negativity bias
E) Residual positivity
27) Which of the following is most likely to be experienced during a positivity offset?
A) nervousness
B) depression
C) stress
D) anxiety
E) relaxation
28) A research group in Arizona recently conducted a survey among workers of a coal power
plant to understand emotions and their happiness quotient. Employees at the plant often
complained about poor working conditions and low insurance benefits. However, the group was
surprised with the findings of the survey because employees had a positive mood 70 percent of
the time during work hours. Which of the following concepts would best explain such findings?
A) butterfly effect
B) framing effect
C) anchoring bias
D) distinction bias
E) positivity offset
29) Moods are more intense than emotions and invariably arise because of a specific event acting
as a stimulus.
30) Emotions can turn into moods when one loses focus on the event or object that started the
feeling.
31) Moods are usually accompanied by distinct facial expressions.
32) Emotions tend to last for several days, for a much longer time period than moods.
33) Studying facial expressions is a good way to identify basic emotions.
34) Nervousness is a pure marker of low negative affect.
35) Negative affect is a mood dimension consisting of nervousness, stress, and anxiety at the
high end and relaxation, tranquility, and poise at the low end.
36) Positivity offset may be defined as the tendency of most individuals to experience a negative
mood when nothing in particular is going on.
37) What are affect, emotions, and moods?
38) Explain how emotions and moods are different from each other.
39) Which of the following is true about emotions?
A) They are experienced over several days or months.
B) They are never caused by specific events.
C) They are less intense than moods.
D) They are critical to rational thinking.
E) They are less fleeting than moods.
40) ________ refers to individual differences in strength with which individuals experience their
emotions.
A) The Hawthorne effect
B) Affect intensity
C) Intelligence quotient
D) Positivity offset
E) Ambiguity effect
41) Ben Ervin often experiences emotions in a much stronger manner than most of his other
colleagues. Events that do not provoke any significant emotional response from another person
send him into fits of happiness, anger, or depression. In view of such a situation, Ervin is
displaying a high level of ________.
A) intelligence quotient
B) sentience quotient
C) intellectual giftedness
D) butterfly effect
E) affect intensity
42) ________ refers to the tendency of people to associate two events when in reality there is no
connection.
A) Affect intensity
B) Focusing effect
C) Distinction bias
D) Omission bias
E) Illusory correlation
43) Gerard Yoder believes that every time he picks up his daughter, Penny, from school, it brings
him good luck. The last time he picked her up from school, he won a lottery ticket. Today, after
he received her from school, he reached his office and found out that he has been promoted.
Which of the following concepts best describes Yoder’s belief?
A) affect intensity
B) bandwagon effect
C) illusory superiority
D) positive bias
E) illusory correlation
44) On which day of the week does the positive effect tend to be highest?
A) Sundays
B) Mondays
C) Saturdays
D) Tuesdays
E) Wednesdays
45) Which of the following is an example of an epicurean activity which helps increase a
person’s positive mood?
A) attending a meeting
B) playing video games
C) going on a ski vacation
D) eating a meal with friends
E) watching a movie
46) Which of the following is an example of a sedentary activity that does not play a crucial role
in increasing positive mood?
A) playing video games at home
B) going for a hike in the mountains
C) going on a ski vacation
D) eating a meal with family members
E) going to a party with friends
47) Which of the following statements is true regarding sources of moods and emotions?
A) Reduced sleep makes a person more alert during waking hours.
B) Physical and informal activities increase positive mood.
C) Weather has a controlling effect on moods.
D) Intensity of negative emotions increases with age.
E) Mounting levels of stress at work create positive emotions.
48) Carlos is upset because his boss gave him work to finish over the weekend. It is Friday.
Which of the following is most likely to help Carlos lift his spirits?
A) watching TV with his friends
B) playing a video game at home
C) attending a meeting
D) going to a party with his friends
E) attending a training session
49) The manager’s suggestion is based on which of the following assumptions?
A) Employees are not experiencing a lack of work-life balance.
B) Employees’ workload can be adjusted to accommodate their requests to go on leave.
C) Employees have been misusing the company’s policy that allows them to exchange unused
leave for cash.
D) Employees have been able to go on leave whenever they wanted to.
E) Employees have been working on regular working days of the year.
50) Under which of the following conditions, if true, would the manager’s suggestion most likely
be accepted?
A) The company recently acquired a new client and work volumes are expected to increase.
B) The company halted its hiring plans for the year in order to focus on developing talent in-
house.
C) The company allows employees to exchange their unused leave for cash at the end of every
year.
D) The company promotes work-life balance, by offering employees flexible working
arrangements.
E) The company has a “use it or lose it” policy whereby unused leave lapses at the end of every
year.