College
College of Arts and Sciences
Mentor Information
Dr. Marina Bornovalova
Description
Though the psychological costs of surface acting, or the modification of outward emotional expression without concurrent alteration of genuine internal feelings, are well studied in service-oriented sectors, its impact on college students navigating social and academic demands is comparatively under-researched. This investigation seeks to examine the momentary and trait-level dynamics of surface acting and its impact on positive and negative affective states among collegiate populations. Observations were performed through a 5 day ecological momentary assessment protocol involving 72 undergraduate students, yielding over 1500 observations that were analyzed using multilevel vector autoregression to construct temporal, contemporaneous, and between-subjects networks. Temporal networks indicated surface acting as a non-significant predictor of subsequent negative affect across a 2-4 hour time lag. However, contemporaneous network analysis demonstrated that momentary surface acting is concurrently associated with elevated negative affect and greater perceived event importance. Similarly, the between-subjects network found higher overall negative affect to be associated with students who generally engaged in more frequent surface acting. Despite its role as a central driver of immediate emotional distress during subjectively significant events, these findings suggest that surface acting and its resulting affective depletion may be a highly transient phenomenon. Ultimately, this research demonstrates a similar immediate psychological toll within student populations as previously observed in service worker samples, underscoring the potential for development of personalized, real-time clinical interventions to improve student well-being.
A Momentary Examination of Surface Acting and its Impact on Subsequent Affective States Among College Students
Though the psychological costs of surface acting, or the modification of outward emotional expression without concurrent alteration of genuine internal feelings, are well studied in service-oriented sectors, its impact on college students navigating social and academic demands is comparatively under-researched. This investigation seeks to examine the momentary and trait-level dynamics of surface acting and its impact on positive and negative affective states among collegiate populations. Observations were performed through a 5 day ecological momentary assessment protocol involving 72 undergraduate students, yielding over 1500 observations that were analyzed using multilevel vector autoregression to construct temporal, contemporaneous, and between-subjects networks. Temporal networks indicated surface acting as a non-significant predictor of subsequent negative affect across a 2-4 hour time lag. However, contemporaneous network analysis demonstrated that momentary surface acting is concurrently associated with elevated negative affect and greater perceived event importance. Similarly, the between-subjects network found higher overall negative affect to be associated with students who generally engaged in more frequent surface acting. Despite its role as a central driver of immediate emotional distress during subjectively significant events, these findings suggest that surface acting and its resulting affective depletion may be a highly transient phenomenon. Ultimately, this research demonstrates a similar immediate psychological toll within student populations as previously observed in service worker samples, underscoring the potential for development of personalized, real-time clinical interventions to improve student well-being.
