The present paper reports on an experiment to measure the impact of emotions and certain personality traits on translation performance. The study replicates Lehr’s (2013) methodology, but also explores the influence of personality factors on the induced emotional impact. Unlike Lehr’s study, our experiment focuses exclusively on translation students (Spanish L1/English as L2). A Spanish version of Block and Kremen’s (1996) ego-resiliency scale (ER89) was first used to assess trait variation in the participants’ psychological resilience. They were then asked to provide a translation of an emotional text, which was rated for accuracy and creativity. After having submitted their translation, they were randomly assigned to a positive or negative feedback group and received false feedback on their performance. Immediately afterwards they were asked to translate a second text, whose ratings for accuracy and creativity were compared to those from their first translation. A self-reporting questionnaire was finally carried out to obtain data on the participants’ subjective feelings during experimental time. Results corroborate evidence from Lehr’s work, pointing to a differential impact of emotions on different facets of translation performance and suggesting that different emotions may activate different processing styles. Although no statistically significant effect is found for resilient personality traits, data suggest they may also play a role in guiding translational behaviour.
2009 “Translational Creativity: How to Measure the Unmeasurable.” In Behind the Mind: Methods, Models and Results in Translation Process Research, ed. by S. Göpferich, A.L. Jakobsen, and I.M. Mees, 39–59. Copenhagen: Samfundslitteratur.
Bayer-Hohenwarter, Gerrit
2011“ ‘Creative Shifts’ as a Means of Measuring and Promoting Creativity”. Meta 56 (3): 663–692.
Brenner, Eric D., Rainer Stahlberg, Stefano Mancuso, Jorge Vivanco, František Baluška, and Elizabeth Van Volkenburgh
2006 “Plant Neurobiology: An Integrated View of Plant Signaling.” Trends in Plant Science 11 (8): 413–419.
Block, Jack, and Adam M. Kremen
1996 “IQ and Ego-Resiliency: Conceptual and Empirical Connections and Separateness.” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 50: 349–361.
Bontempo, Karen
2013 “Does Personality Matter? Exploring Individual Difference in Interpreters.” Paper presented at the
International Online Workshop on Affective factors in Translation Process Research: To Feel or not to Feel? That is the Question
, Aston University, 6th of December.
1995Descartes’ Error. Emotion, Reason and the Human Brain. New York: Putnam.
Dawkins, Marian S
2000 “Animal Minds and Animal Emotions.” American Zoologist 40 (6): 883–888.
Dirkx, John M
2001 “The Power of Feelings: Emotion, Imagination, and the Construction of Meaning in Adult Learning.” New Directions for Adult and Continuing Education 89: 63–72.
Gray, Jeremy
2001 “Emotional Modulation of Cognitive Control: Approach- withdrawal States Double-Dissociate Spatial from Verbal Two-Back Task Performance.” Journal of Experimental Psychology: General 130: 436–452.
Hubscher-Davidson, Séverine
2009 “Personal Diversity and Diverse Personalities in Translation: A Study of Individual Differences.” Perspectives: Studies in Translatology 17 (3): 175–192.
Hubscher-Davidson, Séverine
2013a “The Role of Intuition in the Translation Process: A Case Study.” In Describing Cognitive Processes in Translation: Acts and Events. Special issue of Translation and Interpreting Studies 8 (2), ed. by Maureen Ehrensberger-Dow, Birgitta Englund Dimitrova, Séverine Hubscher-Davidson, and Ulf Norberg, 211–232.
Hubscher-Davidson, Séverine
2013b “Emotional Intelligence and Professional Translation.” Paper delivered at the
International Online Workshop on Affective factors in Translation Process Research: To Feel or not to Feel? That is the Question
, Aston University, 6th of December.
Isen, Alice M
1987 “Positive Affect, Cognitive Processes, and Social Behavior.” In Advances in Experimental Social Psychology, ed. by Leonard Berkowitz, 203–253. New York: Academic Press.
Lehr, Caroline
2011 “The Happier, the Better? Exploring the Impact of Positive and Negative Emotions on Performance in Translation.” Communication delivered at the
International Symposium for Young Researchers in Translation, Interpreting and Intercultural Studies
, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, 20th June.
Lehr, Caroline
2012“The Impact of Positive and Negative Emotions on Performance in Translation Professionals –a Challenge to Expertise?” Presentation at the
International Workshop on Expertise in Translation
, Copenhagen Business School, 17–18 August.
Lehr, Caroline
2013 “Influences of Emotion on Cognitive Processing in Translation: A Framework and Some Empirical Evidence.” Paper delivered at the
International Online Workshop on Affective Factors in Translation Process Research: To Feel or not to Feel? That is the Question
, Aston University, 6th of December.
Lerner, Jennifer S., and Dacher Keltner
2000 “Beyond Valence: Toward a Model of Emotion-specific Influences on Judgement and Choice.” Cognition and Emotion 14 (4): 473–493.
Martin, Leonard L
2001 “Mood as Input: A Configural View of Mood Effect.” In Feeling and Thinking: The Role of Affect in Social Cognition, ed. by Joseph P. Forgast, 135–157. New York: Cambridge University Press.
Miron-Spektor, Ella, Dorit Efrat-Treister, Anat Rafaeli, and Orit Schwartz-Cohen
2011“Others’ anger makes people work harder not smarter: The effect of observing anger and sarcasm on complex thinking.” Journal of Applied Psychology 96 (5), 1065–1075.
Packard, Mark, Larry Cahill, and James McGaugh
1994 “Amygdala Modulation of Hippocampal-Dependent and Caudate Nucleus-Dependent Memory Processes.” Proceedings of the
National Academy of Sciences
, USA, 91: 8477–8481.
Pratchett, Terry
1991Witches Abroad. London: Corgi.
Pratchett, Terry
2004The Wee Free Men. London: Corgi.
Reimerta, Inonge, J. Elizabeth Bolhuis, Bas Kemp, and Bas T. Rodenburg
2013 “Indicators of Positive and Negative Emotions and Emotional Contagion in Pigs.” Physiology and Behavior 109: 42–50.
Richard, Erin M., and James M. Diefendorff
2011 “Self-regulation during a Single Performance Episode: Mood-as-information in the Absence of Formal Feedback.” Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes 115: 99–110.
Sacharin, Vera
2009The Influence of Emotion on Cognitive Flexibility. PhD Dissertation. University of Michigan.
Scherer, Klaus R
2005“What are Emotions? And How Can They Be Measured?”Social Science Information 44 (4): 693–727.
Spering, Miriam, Dietrich Wagener, and Joachim Funke
2005 “The Role of Emotion in Complex Problem-solving.” Cognition and Emotion 19 (8): 1252–1261.
Storbeck, Justin, and Gerald L. Clore
2005 “With Sadness Comes Accuracy, with Happiness, False Memory: Mood and the False Memory Effect.” Psychological Science 16: 785–791.
Totterdell, Peter, and Karen Niven
2014Workplace Moods and Emotions: A Review of Research. Charleston, SC: Createspace Independent Publishing.
Van de Ven, Niels, Marcel Zeelenberg, and Rik Pieters
2011 “Why Envy Outperforms Admiration.” Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin 37: 784–795.
2023. Foreignness as a border-crossing challenge. FORUM. Revue internationale d’interprétation et de traduction / International Journal of Interpretation and Translation 21:1 ► pp. 1 ff.
Cheng, Shufang
2022. Exploring the role of translators’ emotion regulation and critical thinking ability in translation performance. Frontiers in Psychology 13
Cifuentes-Férez, Paula & Purificación Meseguer Cutillas
Cásedas, Luis, María J. Funes, Marc Ouellet & Mercedes García de Quesada
2023. Training transversal competences in a bachelor’s degree in translation and interpreting: preliminary evidence from a clinical trial. The Interpreter and Translator Trainer 17:2 ► pp. 193 ff.
2023. 2023 10th International Conference on Behavioural and Social Computing (BESC), ► pp. 1 ff.
Hubscher-Davidson, Séverine & Caroline Lehr
2021. The Importance of Emotional Intelligence Skills for Translators. In Improving the Emotional Intelligence of Translators, ► pp. 17 ff.
Kimovska, Sonja K. & Vladimir Cvetkoski
2021. The Effect of Emotions on Translations Performance. Research in Language 19:2 ► pp. 169 ff.
Kolmogorova, Anastasia & Elena Chistova
2020. Cognitive Basis of Making Creative Decisions in Translation Activities. Vestnik Volgogradskogo gosudarstvennogo universiteta. Serija 2. Jazykoznanije :3 ► pp. 59 ff.
Lu, Sha, Wang Xiangling & Ma Shuya
2022. Investigating the relationship between online information seeking and translation performance among translation students: The mediating role of translation self-efficacy. Frontiers in Psychology 13
Mahadin, Dana & Sameer Naser Olimat
2022. In their own words: how has Covid-19 affected Jordanian translators’ wellbeing?. The Translator 28:4 ► pp. 489 ff.
Massey, Gary & Peter Jud
2020. Translation Process Research in Audiovisual Translation. In The Palgrave Handbook of Audiovisual Translation and Media Accessibility [Palgrave Studies in Translating and Interpreting, ], ► pp. 359 ff.
Rojo López, Ana Mª, Paula Cifuentes Férez, Laura Espín López & Joydeep Bhattacharya
2021. The influence of time pressure on translation trainees’ performance: Testing the relationship between self-esteem, salivary cortisol and subjective stress response. PLOS ONE 16:9 ► pp. e0257727 ff.
Sha, Lu, Xiangling Wang, Shuya Ma & Thomas Anthony Mortimer
2022. Investigating the effectiveness of anonymous online peer feedback in translation technology teaching. The Interpreter and Translator Trainer 16:3 ► pp. 325 ff.
Su, Wei
2023. Investigating student interpreters’ emotional component of aptitude: a mixed method approach. The Interpreter and Translator Trainer 17:1 ► pp. 119 ff.
This list is based on CrossRef data as of 21 march 2024. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers.
Any errors therein should be reported to them.