Social roles (including occupational roles) are associated with particular “characteristic emotions.”

Social roles (including occupational roles) are associated with particular “characteristic emotions.”

Drawing on insights from affect control theory, characteristic emotions may be viewed as normatively regulated affective states that individuals try to attain during interactions involving specific social roles.

These normative states (e.g., that nurses should feel compassion, counselors should feel empathy, soldiers should feel pride, service workers should feel humility) are determined by culturally shared affective sentiments that reflect societally held understandings of how good, active, and powerful these social roles are.

Notably, norms about which emotions one should experience depending on one’s position in the workplace are very similar to the well-known norms that regulate more transient social roles like being a mourner at a funeral or being a wedding participant.