Signaling the Recognition of Others’ Emotions: The Influence of Emotional Acknowledgment on Interpersonal Trust

Most research in social emotions assumes that observers will react to the emotions of expressers. As such, little is known about the consequences of acknowledging others’ emotions in the first place. We attempt to fill this gap by examining the influence of emotional acknowledgment—the identification of others’ emotions—on interpersonal trust. In Study 1, we surveyed employees working in the intensive care units of a children’s hospital (N = 148) and found initial evidence of a positive association between emotional acknowledgment and interpersonal trust. In Study 2, we employed a 2 x 3 between-subjects design and presented participants with a scenario in which a coworker responded to the participant’s positive or negative emotions by either not acknowledging, accurately acknowledging, or inaccurately acknowledging the emotion. Consistent with the findings in Study 1, accurate acknowledgment led to higher perceptions of trust than no acknowledgment. However, the effect of emotional acknowledgment on trust was stronger when participants felt negative, as opposed to positive, emotions. Similarly, accurate acknowledgment led to higher perceptions of trust than inaccurate acknowledgment, but again, this effect was stronger when participants themselves felt negative emotions. Overall, these findings illustrate the importance of emotional acknowledgment for developing interpersonal trust, and suggest that the accuracy of acknowledgment plays a more critical role when expressers themselves feel negative emotions.