Emotion differentiation, which involves experiencing and labeling emotions in a granular way, has been linked with well-being. It has been theorized that differentiating between emotions facilitates ...effective emotion regulation, but this link has yet to be comprehensively tested. In two experience-sampling studies, we examined how negative emotion differentiation was related to (a) the selection of emotion-regulation strategies and (b) the effectiveness of these strategies in downregulating negative emotion (Ns = 200 and 101 participants and 34,660 and 6,282 measurements, respectively). Unexpectedly, we found few relationships between differentiation and the selection of putatively adaptive or maladaptive strategies. Instead, we found interactions between differentiation and strategies in predicting negative emotion. Among low differentiators, all strategies (Study 1) and four of six strategies (Study 2) were more strongly associated with increased negative emotion than they were among high differentiators. This suggests that low differentiation may hinder successful emotion regulation, which in turn supports the idea that effective regulation may underlie differentiation benefits.
The current investigation examined the bidirectional effects of cognitive control and emotional control and the overlap between these two systems in regulating emotions. Based on recent neural and ...cognitive findings, we hypothesised that two control systems largely overlap as control recruited for one system (either emotional or cognitive) can be used by the other system. In two experiments, participants completed novel versions of either the Stroop task (Experiment 1) or the Flanker task (Experiment 2) in which the emotional and cognitive control systems were actively manipulated into either a high or low emotional-load condition (achieved by varying the proportions of negative-valence emotional cues) and a high and a low cognitive control condition (achieved through varying the proportion of conflict-laden trials). In both experiments, participants' performance was impaired when both emotional and cognitive control were low, but significantly and similarly improved when one of the two control mechanisms were activated - the emotional or the cognitive. In Experiment 2, performance was further improved when both systems were activated. Our results give further support for a more integrative notion of control in which the two systems (emotional and cognitive control) not only influence each other, but rather extensively overlap.
In this review, we evaluate evidence for the hypothesis that developmental changes in emotion regulation tendencies during adolescence depend on the maturation of affective control. Affective control ...refers to the application of cognitive control to affective contexts, that is, the capacity to attend and respond to goal-relevant affective information, while inhibiting attention and responses toward distracting affective information. The evidence suggests that affective control develops throughout adolescence into adulthood. However, the developmental trajectory appears not to be uniform across different facets of affective control. In particular, the capacity to inhibit attention and responses to distracting affective information may be reduced during adolescence relative to childhood and adulthood. Focusing on the association between affective control and emotion regulation development in adolescence, the research reviewed supports the notion of affective control as a cognitive building block of successful emotion regulation. Good affective control appears related to fewer ruminative tendencies in adolescence as well as more frequent and successful reappraisal in older adolescents. Lower use of habitual suppression, itself a type of affective inhibition, shows an association with updating capacity. We conclude by discussing the implications of these findings for mental health and the potential mental health benefits associated with improving affective control.
The study of motivation toward health-oriented physical activity helps to know the reasons that guide people to practice physical activity. Moreover, different types and levels of motivation may ...coexist. As such, this paper aimed to analyze the combination of motivation for health-oriented physical activity profiles and examine whether profiles differed in emotional regulation and basic psychological needs. A sample of 808 Spanish adults between 18 and 65 years old (
age = 33.90; Standard Deviation = 12.91; 366 men) participated in a cross-sectional study. Results revealed the existence of three different motivational profiles: (a) Low scores in self-determined motivation and average-high scores in non-self-determined motivation; (b) Average scores in self-determined and non-self-determined motivation; (c) High scores in self-determined motivation and average-high in non-self-determined motivation. Furthermore, participants differed in the satisfaction of basic psychological needs and cognitive-emotional regulation strategies depending on the profiles combination that they perceive. In conclusion, practitioners need to enhance an optimal combination of motivation profiles to satisfy better basic psychological needs and the use of functional cognitive-emotional regulation strategies since this could help improve psychological and emotional health in adults.
The field of emotion regulation has now come of age. However, enthusiasm for the topic continues to outstrip conceptual clarity. In this article, I review the state of the field. I do this by ...asking-and attempting to succinctly answer-10 fundamental questions concerning emotion regulation, ranging from what emotion regulation is, to why it matters, to how we can change it. I conclude by considering some of the challenges that confront this rapidly growing field.
Episodic future thinking for positive future events is known to evoke positive affect. We aimed to assess whether it specifically evokes anticipated and anticipatory pleasure for future events, and ...behavioral intention. As a secondary aim, we examined if this differed compared to a condition of thinking of positive past events. In two studies, participants nominated 5 upcoming positive events and 5 positive past events. They then completed guided episodic thinking of past events and guided episodic thinking of future events. After guided episodic thinking, they rated the nominated future events on detail/vividness, mental imagery, anticipated and anticipatory pleasure, and behavioral intention. In Study 1 (N = 32, M age = 37.0, SD = 19.7), increases on all variables were found relative to baseline, although expected pleasure was at trend level. There were no significant differences between future and past conditions. In Study 2 (N = 29, M age = 38.4, SD = 16.3), participants were asked to nominate future events that were not already planned, and perceived control was also assessed. Again, increases in detail/vividness, mental imagery, and anticipated and anticipatory pleasure were found, this time with stronger effects for the future condition. No change was found for perceived control or intention. In both studies, increases in detail/vividness, mental imagery, and anticipated and anticipatory pleasure were generally positively correlated with increases in behavioral intention. This study provides evidence that guided episodic thinking increases anticipated and anticipatory pleasure for positive future events. Clinical implications, particularly in depression and schizophrenia-spectrum disorders, are discussed.
Research on deficits in emotion regulation has devoted considerable attention to emotion-regulation strategies. We propose that deficits in emotion regulation may also be related to ...emotion-regulation goals. We tested this possibility by assessing the direction in which depressed people chose to regulate their emotions (i.e., toward happiness, toward sadness). In three studies, clinically depressed participants were more likely than nondepressed participants to use emotion-regulation strategies in a direction that was likely to maintain or increase their level of sadness. This pattern was found when using the regulation strategies of situation selection (Studies 1 and 2) and cognitive reappraisal (Study 3). The findings demonstrate that maladaptive emotion regulation may be linked not only to the means people use to regulate their emotions, but also to the ends toward which those means are directed.
In video gaming, tilt is thought to relate to poor emotional control and game performance. Despite widespread recognition of tilt in video gaming, there is a lack of research examining tilt ...empirically.
One thousand and seven gamers took part in our online study examining gamers experience of tilt, the factors which contribute to and protect against tilt, and the emotion regulation strategies gamers employ to deal with tilt.
Gamers who reported playing for more competitive reasons, were at higher risk of experiencing tilt. Additional factors associated with an increased risk of experiencing tilt were increased anger and more hours spent playing. Protective factors against experiencing tilt were also identified, inclusive of a greater number of years gaming experience and engagement in adaptive emotion regulation strategies.
This study provides an important starting point for creating a better understanding of tilt in gaming, equipping us with new knowledge to better support gamers to improve their emotion regulation during game play performance.
Choice behavior is considered the fundamental means by which individuals exert control over their environments. One important choice domain that remains virtually unexplored is that of emotion ...regulation. This is surprising given that healthy adaptation requires flexibly choosing between regulation strategies in a manner that is responsive to differing situational demands. In the present article, we provide a broad conceptual framework that systematically evaluates the rules that govern the ways individuals choose between different emotion regulation strategies. This conceptual account is buttressed by empirical findings from 6 studies that show the effects of hypothesized emotional, cognitive, and motivational determinants of regulation choice (Studies 1-3) and illuminate the mechanisms that underlie choices between different emotion regulation strategies (Studies 4-6). Broad implications and future directions are discussed.
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