Uncomfortable but developmental: how mindfulness moderates the impact of negative emotions on learning

While leadership development theory and practice often promote emotionally challenging programs designed to elicit negative emotions, it remains unclear whether individuals learn and develop from such situations. An interesting but unexamined question is thus, “When do negative emotions stimulate learning, and how?” Integrating the functionalist theory of emotions and the transactional model of stress and coping, we suggest that mindfulness plays a key moderating role in alleviating the known downsides of negative emotional experiences to achieving developmental benefits. We found that the relationship between negative emotions and learning performance was more nuanced, depending on mindfulness: In Study 1, we find that mindfulness is a critical condition that helps mitigate the negative effect of negative emotions on learning performance. In Study 2, we further demonstrate that mindfulness amplifies the benefits of negative emotions on learning performance. In Studies 3 and 4, we conducted controlled interventions to provide evidence that the interaction effect between negative emotions and mindfulness on learning performance is mediated by cognitive appraisals. Specifically, we found that mindfulness helps individuals appraise negative emotion as a challenge, which enhances learning performance. We discuss our results’ contributions to the leadership development literature and the practical implications for leadership education and training.