emotion regulation in everyday life

7/25/2019 Emotion Regulation in Everyday Life

1/24

EMOTION

REGULATION

IN EVERYDAY L IF E

JAMES ]. GROSS,

IANE

M .

RICHARDS,

FAND OLIVER P . J O H N

. ~'-

- i

JP' .-

Somet imes, our emotions lead u s to do th e oddest things. Grown m en

pull over s o _ they

can brawl

over which driver is th e

bigger

idiot. Parents lose

their

coo l

and bark

hateful

things

a t

their children

that th ey la te r regret.

Adolescents who

were

best

fr iends

before

a

jealous

spat

vow

never

to

speak

again.

And children throw tantrums a s

if on cue a t th e

supermarke t candy

displav.

Moments such a s these are

reminders

of the fundamenta l

role

that

e m o -

tion regulat ion plays

in

civi l ized

life.

Emotions ca n be

helpful,

providing

crucia l in format ion

about the state

of

ones in teract ions

with th e

world (Clore,

I994)

or speed ing ones responses in

l if e - t h 1 ; e ' a ' te r ii n g

situations (Erijda, 1986) .

However , people frequently experience st rong emotions

that need

to be man-

aged if thev are to keep their appo in tments, careers, and fr iendships. Indeed,

successful

emot ion

regulat ion is a prerequisite fo r adapt ive functioning. To

get along with others , one must be able to regulate which emot ions one has

and how one exper iences and expresses these emotions.

O v e r the past Z decades, emot ion regu la t ion

has

become th e focus of

in tense

research activity

in both child (e.g.,

Thompson ,

19 91 ) a nd adul t

(e.g., Gross,

1998) l i teratures, a s d e m o ns tra te d b y

th e

chapters

in this vol-

1 3

_ u _ _ _


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ume. What is not

ye t

clear,

however,

is (a ) how to best

conceptual ize

th e

potentially overwhelming array ofemot ion

regulatory

processes,

and

(b ) h ow

peop le actual ly

regulate their

emotions in

everyday l i fe. In this

chapter,

we

first

discuss

ho w we are

using the

sl ippery terms emotion and

emotion

regulat ion. Ne x t ,

we present

a

process

mode l of

emot ion

regulat ion

and

rev iew experimen ta l and ind ividual-d i fference data re le va nt t o

tw o

impor-

tant

forms of emot ion regulat ion. Then , we

examine

th e question of how

peop le regula te their emot ions

in

everyday l i fe, present ing new data from

studies that represent th re e m a jo r empir ica l approaches to this issue. W e

conclude by consider ing what these f indings might

tell

u s

about

the larger

issues related

to emot ion regulat ion

a s

it

occurs

in

everyday l i fe.

W concsrruat,

T H E O R E T I C A L ,

. : _ _

AND

METHODOLOGICAL ISSUES

Our.

start ing

point

is a concept ion of emot ion that is shared

with

a

number

of prior

theorists (e.g., Ekman, 1972; Fri jda, 1986).

According

to

this concept ion ,

th e

emot iomgenerat ive process

begins

when an

external

or

internal event signals to the

individual that

something importantm a y be

a t

stake. Wlren

attended to

and

evaluated

in

certa in ways, these

emot ion

cues

tr igger

a

coordinated se t

of

response tendencies

that

involve exper ient ia l ,

behavioral , and

centra l and

per iphera l physio log ica l

systems. O n c e these

emot ion

response tendencies arise, they

m ay

be modulated

in

various ways,

thereby shaping

th e indiv idual s observable

responses.

Emotion regulation

refers to attempts indiv iduals

make

to influence

which

e m o ti on s t he y

have,

w h en th ey

have

them,

and

how

these

emotions

are

e x

per ienced and expressed.

Such

efforts m ay be

relat ively

automat ic or con-

trol led, conscious

or unconscious. It ha s also been asserted

(but

not empiri

cally demonstrated)

that

emotion regulation

m ay

involve

the

up or

down-regulat ion of

various

aspects ofnegat ive or posi t ive emot ions (Patrott ,

1993). Thus conce ived ,

emot ion

regulat ion

is on e of

several forms

of

affect

regulat ion, all ofwhich involve attempts t o a lte r some aspect of the in terp lay

between th e individual and th e environment that is coded

by

th e individual

in

-afvalenoed (gopd or

bad)

manner.

Emot ion

regulat ion m ay be dist inguished

from three other

forms

of

affect regulat ion:

c op in g, m o od regulat ion, and

psychological

defenses

(fora

more

deta il ed expos i ti on of these differences,

s e e

Gross,

1998).

Coping refers to th e organisnfs

efforts

to manage it s relat ions with an

env i ronment that taxes

it s

ability

to respond

(Lazarus 8 1 -

Folkman, 1984).

Cop ing and emot ion

regulat ion over lap,

but

coping includes

nonemot iona l

act ions takento

achieve

nonemot iona l

goals

(e.g., studying

h ard to pass

an

important exam), whereas emot ion

regulat ion

is concerned

with emotions

in

whatever context

they

m ay arise. M o o d

regulation refers

to attempts to

1 4 o R o s s , R I c 1 ~ m R o s , r i r r v o J o 1 - Ir v

____.__ __ _ I


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-.

alter a second important

class

of affective responses, which,

compared

with

emotions, are typically of longer duration and

lesser

intensi ty and are . _ l e s s

likely toinvolve

responses

to

specif ic

objects (Parkinson, Totterdell,

Briner,

< 3 1

Reynolds,

1996) . Thus, th e focus

in

mood regulat ion research is typically

the activ i t ies people engage

in to

reduce -negative mood states (e.g., running,

sleeping

well). A third

type

of

affect

regulat ion is psychological

defense, long

a

focus

of

psychodynamic

theorizing

and

research.

As

with

coping,

th e d o m a in

of -psychological defenses overlaps with th e d om a in of emot ion

regulat ion,

but

defenses typically refer to

relat ively stable

characterist ics

of a n individual

that

opera te outs ide

of

awareness

to

decrease

th e

subject ive exper ience

of

anxiety and

other

negat ive af fect.

Studies of

emot ion regulat ion, by contrast,

have a s

their focus th e

full

range of

emotions a n d c on si de r

both stable i n d i - F

vidual differences

and

the-basic processes

that operate

across

ind ividuals.

A

P R O C E S S

MODEL O F EMOTION REGULATION

If

emot ions

are seen

a s

involving

a

coordinated

se t

of

responses

that

arise during an organ ismeenvi ronment in terac ti on , emot ion regula ti on strat

egies m ay be different iated

a long

th e

timeline

of th e

u n fo ld i n g e mo t io n a l

responses

(Gross, 1998,

1999', ZOOI;

]ohn

8r Gross , Z004 ).

That

is ,

e-motion

regulat ion strategies m ay be dist inguished

in

terms

of

when they have their

p r ima r y i mp a c t on

the emot ion-generat ive process.

W e have

proposed a

pro

c e s s

mode l of emot ion regulat ion that

embodies

this approach, shown in

Figure 1.1.

At th e

broadest level ,

this

m o d e l d i st in gu is he s b et we e n

antecedent-

focused

and responseefocnsed

emotion regulat ion

strategies. Antecedent-e

_focusle d trategies refer to th in gs one does before th e e m o tio n

response

ten

dencies

have

become fully act ivated and have changed ones behavior and

oneis peripheral

physio log ica l

responding. The goal of such antecedent-fo-

cused

strategies

is th e modification of future emot iona l responses. Fo r e x *

ample,

on

hear ing

a noxious c o mme n t from a n

acquaintance,

one might

- cogni t ively. reevaluate

th e c om m e n t (e.g.,

a s

a sign of insecurity)

and

thereby 6

alter th e

ent ire

emot ion

trajectory,

feelingpity

fo r

theacquain tance rather M

than

a ng er. B y

contrast ,

response-focused. strategies refer

to

things

one does

once an

emot ion is already

underway, a f ter the response t endencies have

a lre a d y b ee n

generated.

The focus

of

such response-focused

strategies

is the

management

of

exist ing emotions. Fo r example ,

one might try

to

appear

unfazed

by

a noxious c o mme n t despite underly ing feelings of

anger.

A s s ho wn in

Figure 1.1, five

fami l ies

of

more spec ifi c

strategies

ca n be

lo cat ed a lo n g t he

timeline of

th e e m o ti on

process

(Gross , 1998 ,

Z001) .

S i t n -

at ion selection, denoted in Figure 1 . 1

by

the s oli d l ine toward one si tuat ion

(SI) rather than a n oth er (S 2 ) , refers to a p p ro a chi ng o r a vo id i ng c e rt a in

people, places, or act ivi t ies s o

a s

to regulate emot ion. O n ce

a

situation is

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E m I _ _ a O O

m _ _ N

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selected

(e.g.,

S1) , situation modificat ion acts on it s o - . a s - t o _ modi fy it s

emo-

tional impact ,

creat ing

dif ferent

si tuat ions (Slx,

Sly,

or Slz

in th e

f igure).

Third, si tuat ions

have

many

dif ferent

aspects (e.g., al, a2) , a nd attentional

deployment

can be us ed to

pickwhich aspects

to

focus

on. O n ce one

is focused

on a part icu lar aspect of the si tuat ion, cognitivecliange

constructs

one

of

th e

ma n y poss ib le mean ings

(e.g., ml, m 2,

m 3)

that

may-be attached

to that

aspect.

Final ly,

response

modulat ion

refers

to

attempts

t o i nfl ue n c e

emot ion

response

tendencies

once they a lready have been el ic i ted. Response modula-

tion is i l lustrated in Figure

1.1 by

decreasing (+ ) rather

than

increasing (+)

expressive behavior

but m ay also

involve

alter ing

experience or physiology.

-

.

-at ,|

Jul

T W O

srscmc S T R A T E G I E S :

CO G N I T I V E REAPPRAISAL AND

EXPRESSIVE

SUPPRESSION

Rather than

studying

all

types of e mo t io n re g ul a ti o n a t once, our re-

search

strategy ha s been to

focus on a

smal ler

number of

well-defined strate-

gies.

W e

considered three fac tors

when

selectingwhich

strategies

to

study:

(a ) strategies

should be used

-commonly in everyday

l ife;

(b ) strategies

should

lend themselves to

both

exper imental manipula t ion

and

indiv idual-di f ference

analyses; and

(c )

because

the distinction between antecedent- focused and

response-focused

strategies

is

so c e nt ra l t o o ur m o d e l, we w a nte d to in clud e

o ne e x em p la r of each in our studies. Two

specif ic

strategies

m et

these crite-

r ia: cognit ive reappraisal and expressive

suppression.

Cognitive

reappraisal

is a

form

of

cognit ive change

that

involves con-

struing

apotentially emotion-eliciting si tuat ion in a way that

changes it s

emot iona l

impact .

This

form

of emot ion

regulat ion wa s

th e

subject

of

early

work by-llazams

and

colleagues,

who showed that

leading par ti c ipan ts to v iew

a

potentially

upsett ing surgical procedure

in

more analyt ical -and detached

terms decreased their subjective and physiological responses (Lazarus

8 1 Alfert,

1964).

Cognitive

reappraisal a ls o w as imp l ica ted

in

Mischel s early work on

delay

of

g ra t ifi ca ti o n, wh ich showed that

leading

children to think about

food treats in

ways

that made them

more

abstract

(e.g.,

putting a menta l

picture frame around a

cookie)

decreased ,_r;hildrens

impulse

to eat th e

cookie, al lowing

them

to

obta in

a

preferred

but delayed

reward

(Mischel 8 1

Moore,

1973).

l

Expressive suppression

is a form of response

modula t ion

that

involves

inhibiting ongoing emot ion-expressive

behavior (Gross

8 1 Levenson, 1993 ).

It ha s been

observed

repeatedly

that

outwardly inexpressive ind iv idua ls are

often

more

physiological ly responsive than their more

expressive

counter-

parts

(e.g.,

lones, 1950).

Along

s imi lar

l ines,

behavioral

inhibition

associ-

ated

with

i n terpersonal decept ion leads to

heightened

physiological responses

(DePaulo, Kashy, K i rk e n d o l, Wy e r,

8 1

Epstein, 1996). Until recently, how-

e ve r, fe w

studies

have exper imenta l ly man ipu la ted expressive

suppression

3

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F - ' 1 '

i;

.-

and

observed

how suppression actual ly

affects th e components of th e

unfold-

in g

emot iona l

response.

AFFECTIVE, COGNITIVE,

AND

SOCIAL C O N S E Q U E N C E S

O F

REAPPRAISAL AND S U PPR E S S I O N

Because reappraisal occurs early

in th e

emotion-generat ive process,

we

hypothesized that it should be able to m o d ify th e e ntire

emot iona l sequence

before emot ion response tendenc ies have

been

fully generated. This

suggests

that

reappra isa l may lead to reductions

in

negat ive

emot ion

experience

and

expression,

require

relat ively few add i t i ona l cognit ive resources to

imple-

ment ,

and

produce

in terpersonal behavior that is

appropr ia te ly

focused on

th e interaction par tner and is

perceived

b y s uc h

partners a s

emot ional ly en -

gaging and responsive . Suppress ion, by

contrast,

comes

relatively

late

in

th e

emotion-generat ive process and

primarily modif ies

the behavioral aspect of

th e

emot ion

response

tendencies,

without reducing th e

experience

of

nega-

tive

emot ion.

Because suppression

comes

late in

the emo t ion-generat ive pro-

c e s s ,

it

requires th e

individual to effortfully

manage emot ion response

ten-

dencies a s they

continually

arise. These repeated efforts should

consume

cognit ive

resources

that could otherwise be used fo r

opt ima l

performance in

th e social

contexts in

which the

emot ions

arise.

Moreover ,

suppress ion may

create a

sense

of

d iscrepancy between inner experience and outer

expression,

leading

to feelings

of inauthenticity and

impeding

the development of emo-

tionally close

relat ionships. _ _

In a

series

of

exper imenta l and

ind ividual-d i fference studies, we

have

tested

these hypotheses regarding the af fect ive , cognit ive,

and

socia l conse-

quences ofreappra isa l and suppression

(for

a review of these

studies,

s e e Gross,

Z 0 02 ; G ro ss

81]ohn,

Z003;

john

8 1

Gross,

Z 0 0 4). A cro ss

exper iments, we

have found

that reappraisal

effectively decreases emotion experience

and

expressive

behavior in

negat ive-emot ion-e l ic i t ing

contexts, and it

does s o

without

appreciable cognit ive, phys io log i ca l , o r i n te rpersona l costs.

In indi-

vidual-d i fference studies,

we

have found evidence

that ind iv iduals who make

more frequent use of reappraisalshow enhanced functioning

in

th e domains

of emot ion

and in terpersonal functioning,

without

any detectable cognit ive

or soc ia l cos ts . _

.Su'ppression, by contrast, is effective in down-regulat ing

expressive

be -

havior

but

fai ls to p ro vid e

subjective

relief

in

the context of negat ive emo-

t ions. Moreover, suppression

has substant ia l

physiological and

cognit ive

costs.

Speci f ical ly,

exper iments show

that

suppression leads to increased sympa-

thetic

activation

of th e

cardiovascular

system, worse memory fo r socia l

infor-

mation such a s names

or

facts

about

ind iv idua ls seen on slides (Richards 8 1

Gross,

Z000) ,

and

socia l

interact ions that

are

l e s s

satisfying for both

suppres-

n

1 8 ososs, arcuaxos, awn J O H N

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v s . 1-

- 1

.

sors and their interaction partners (Butler et

al.,

Z 0 03 ). O v e r the longer term,

i nd iv i dua ls who make more frequent

use

of

suppression

show worse function-

in g

in

emot iona l , interpersonal, -and well-being domains. In add i t i on , sup-

pressors show worse

memory

fo r conversations, - a s well

a s

fo r emot ion-e l ic i t ing

events previously

described in

a .

da i ly diary.

EMPIRICAL FOUNDATIONS:

EMOTION REGULATION

IN EVERYDAY LIFE

These studies

demonstrate

th e d iv erg en t i m p a ct o_f,differing_fonns of

emot ion

regulat ion

such

a s reappraisal

and

suppression. Now

what is needed

is a

broader understanding

of when

and

how ind iv iduals actual ly

regulate

their

emot ions

in everyday l ife. A number of pressing

questions

need

to be

addressed. First,

which

emotions

are

a c tu a ll y the ta rg et

of regulation? Intu-

itively, negat ive emot ions such a s anger seem

likely

candidates. Parrott ( 1993)

ha s suggested

that

p o s it iv e e m o ti on s a lso a re regulated, although

th e

evi-

dence for thi s p ropos i ti on

is

not y et in .

Second,

given

that

emot ions have

many aspects (e.g., behavioral , exper ientia l , phys io log ica l ),

which

aspects

are

typically targeted?

I-Iedonic

accounts

suggest

that

people generally want

to

feel

good, not bad. These accounts suggest that peop le wa n t to change the

inner experience

of

emot ion.

Ekmans

(1972)

notion of

d isplay

rules

high-

l ights

another important

target fo r regula ti on, name ly expressive behavior.

Third,

what strategies

are

actual ly

used to

regulate

emot ion

in everyday-life?

W e have

focused

on tw o

part icular

forms

of

regulation,

but

we do

not

ye t know

how frequently

these

and rela ted strategies

are

used in everyday

l i fe.

To

i l lus-

tra te h o w such quest ions might be addressed,

we

describe recent work that

represents

three complementary

approaches

to studying

emot ion

regulat ion.

Approach

1:

The

Semistructured

Interview

O ne approach to s tu dy in g e mo t io n r eg u la t io n

is

to ask people about

their emot ion regulatory efforts. To i ll us tra te thi s approach, we present a

study based on

semistructured

interviews in

which

young

adults described

a

t ime in

th e past

2

weeks

when

they regulated

their

emotions. This

approach

is attractive fo r several reasons. First, although emot ion regulat ion

includes

nonconscious

aspects, it s conscious

aspects

are sal ient a nd important (Gross,

1999),

and

an

interview

format

provides

ins ight into peoples regulatory

goals

and act ivi t ies.

Second , using a relat ively recent t ime f rame makes i t_possib le

to

capture

events while

they

are still fresh. Third, a

semistructured interview

format

permits

part ic ipants to

describe

events

in

their

own

words

but

also

makes it possible

to c ov er ro ug hly th e same ground

with each part ic ipant .

Our questions

were

a s fol lows:

E M O T I O N

R E G U L A T I O N

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I. Would each participant recall an emot ion regulatory episode?

Z . If so, which emoti ons wou ld be selected fo r

regulat ion?

3 . Vfhich aspects of these emot ions would be

targeted,

and would

participants

be

trying

to

up -

or

down-regulate?

4.

Vl fh ich emot ion

regulat ion

strategies

would

be used?

5. Would these

emot ion

regulatory efforts

va ry by s oc ia l con-

text?

To answer these questions, we interviewed 91 part ic ipants (7 0 women) ,

using th e fo l lowing prompt:

I would l ike yo u

to think

of

_ a _ t i r n e

in th e pas t week or tw o when yo u tr ied

to alter your emot ions.' .Go ahead and

take a

few moments to think of

a

t ime

when

yo u tr ied to alter your

emot ions.

Wlren youre ready, Id like

yo u

to

describe this time

to

me in a s much deta i l a s

yo u

can.

Part icipants

were

videotaped

a s

they described

the

episode

in

their

own

words.

In terv iews typ ica lly lasted

about

1 5 minutes. Prompts were used

a s

needed

to

ensure that

our

core

questions

were

answered.

'

Transcr ipts

of th e

in terviews

were coded independent ly by tw o tra ined

raters.

Cod ing

categories

included (a ) the

primary

target emot ion

(e.g., an-

ger, amusement);

(b) the

response system

primarily

targeted (e.g., behav-

ioral,

exper ient ial ,

physiological)

and th e direct ion of

regulation

(up-

or down-

regulat ion);

and (c) th e strategy used.

In

add i t ion, coders

rated

the social

context (social

or

nonsoc ia l ) ,

and,

for socia l emot ion

regulat ion

episodes,

coders i nd ica ted who wa s with the participant

(e.g.,

stranger, fr iend). Target

emot ions were subsequently coded independent ly by the f irst tw o authors. In

a

f irst

step,

the

35

target emot ions

collectively

generated by

the par ti c ipan ts

were

combined

into Z 4 distinct

emot ions by

combin ing highly overlapping

terms

(e.g.,

anger included

mad , irritated, and

angry).

In a second

step,

emot ions

were coded a s

negat ively valenced, posi t ively valenced,

or

neither.

. Our f irst

question wa s

w h e th e r p a rt ic ip a n ts w o ul d be a ble to describe

recent emot ion

regulat ion episodes.

Indeed,

we -found that

a ll

of our

91 par-

t ic ipants were able

to

describe a t ime in th e past

Z

weeks

when they ha d

tried

to regulate their emot ions. _

I

Regulation

Episodes and

Target Emotions

The episodes described

by

part ic ipants varied substant ia lly . Some

par-

t ic ipants

described

episodes

in wh ich the y changed their thinking

to decrease

negative emotion:

Yesterday I wa s

life

guarding . . . and . . . I fell into the pool

wearing

all

my

clothes . . .

[I ]

could-ve got ten real ly ma d

but

I just decided

to

laugh

it off

. . . I

suppose

[I]

altered

m y anger into-amusement. [I wa s trying to_change]

m y response

to the s i tuat ion.

Changing -my

outlook

on

what

happened

throughout

the day

when I

couldve

been

angry about everything.

But I

i-

2 0

cross,

srcuasos, A N D J O H N


9/24

-

dec ided

to

laugh

about i t ju.st_kind of

blow

it off.

S o

basically I thought

about it

and

put it in

perspective.

Other part ic ipants described episodes involving

posi t ive

emotions. Fo r

e xam p le , o ne participant concentrated his

efforts

on changing

his-expressive

behavior:

'- - '

'

We

ha d a paper that wa s

given

back in m y class and m y ro o m m ate

actu-

al ly

is

in that class also. Andwe go t

very

conflicting grades.

H e go t

a very

ba d grade,

and

I got

a

very

good

grade. . . I d idn t work

very

hard on this

paper, so

ll . . I wa s

surprised.

My

roommate

actual ly

d id

some work

and

didnt get

a

good grade, so he wa s

very,

very d o wn a bo ut it. So I kind

of

ha d

to

c ov er m y e m o tions . Instead

of acting happy

and--surprised,

.,.

ha d to

kind of

cover

up I wa s

very happy

inside-, but a t th e

same t ime,

I

didnt

w a nt to show up

m y ro om m a te because

hes

m y

friend

too.

So I

kind

of

p ut o n m y depressed face a nd yo u know,

m y

academic sa d face

and said, Oh well, I

d_idnt

do wel l

either.

I guess I wa s trying

to

[change]

my

express ions on my

face

more than anything.

Across the '91 respondents

regulat ion episodes,

2 4 typ es of emot ion

were represented.

The

th re e m o s t

common

were anger

(23%),

sadness

(22%) ,

and

a n xi ety (1 0 % ). T og eth er,

these

accounted

for more

than half

of

th e

emot ion regulat ion

episodes.

The majority of th e episodes described con-

cerned negat ive emot ions

(81%).

However, a s predicted by Parrot t (1993) ,

there

were also instances of

re g ula t in g p o s it iv e e m o ti on s (9%), including

three

instances of

regulat ing happiness,

tw o instances each of

regulat ing

ro -

mantic attraction

and

exc i tement , and

one

of regulat ing

interest, a s

wel l a s a

number of

episodes

involving the regu la t ion of l e s s

clearly

valenced

emo-

tional

states

(10%), with tw o instances each -of

regulat ingsurpr ise,

t iredness,

a n d a p a th y, a s well a s

one

instance

each of

boredom, confus ion, and

shock.

Emot ion

Response

Systems

and t h e

Direction of

Regulation -

Emot ions

involve

changes

across mult ip le

systems, including behav-

ioral ,

exper ient ia l , and

physiological response

systems

(Lang,

Greenwa ld ,

Bradley,

8 1 I -Iamm, 1993) . It is

not

clear,

however,

which

aspects

of-the

emo-

tional

response people typically regulate. Our f indings

show

that regulat ion

efforts

focused

a lmost equally on expressive

behavior and

subject ive exper i -

ence.

Forty-eight percent

of

episodes

invo-lvedichanges

to expressive behav-

ior ( 3 7 % involved nonverba l behavior alone, 1% involved verba l behavior

a lo ne , a nd 10% involved changes to both nonverba l and verbal behavior).

Fifty-three percent -of episodes involved changes to

subject ive exper ience.

Only 2% of

episodes

involved changes

to physio log ica l responses. These

per-

centages

total

more

than

100%

because some

episodes

involved

changes

to

more

than

one response

system. In terms of th e

direction

of change, all but

o n e i ns ta n ce of emot ion regula ti on

(which involved

behavioral regulat ion)

primarily i n vo lv ed e m o t io n down-regulat ion.

EMOTION

REGULATION IN EVERYDAY LIFE 21

J-:--___


10/24

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Emotion

Regulation Strategies

Our

process mode l

of emot ion regulat ion

(Figure

1.1)

suggests

that

emot ion

regulatory processes can be

categorized o n the

basis

ofwhen

a given

emot ion regulation strategy ha s it s pr imary impact on the emoti on-genera t ive

process

(Cross,

2001). Within the broader rubric

of

antecedent-focused

and

response-focused emot ion

regulat ion we

have

argued that five

more speci fi c

fami l ies

of

emot ion regu la t ion

strateg ies may

be

discerned.

How frequently are these five

emot ion

regulat ion strategies

used in

ev-

eryday

life? W e

found that whereas

si tuat ion

select ion and

si tuat ion

modi f i -

cat ion were rare , each represented

by

only one

exemplar,

the other

three

types of

regulat ion

were much

more

common.

Attention

dep loyment

was

used

in

39%

of episodes. Cogni t ive change

wa s

used

in 33%

of episodes, and

a full

83%

of these i nvo lved cogn i ti ve reappraisal

(Z5-/30),

including the f irst

example given earlier.

Final ly,

response

modula t ion was used in

53%

of

epi-

sodes, a nd 4 0%

of these

(19/48)

involved expressive suppression, inc lud ing

the

second example

given

earlier.

Although

si tuat ion

select ion

and

modifi-

cat ion m ay be less prototyp ic , or

m ay

occur outs ide

of

awareness,

these find-

ings

nonetheless provide st rong ev idence fo r

th e

common use

of

three

major

fami l ies

of

emot ion

regulat ion

strategies

(at tent ional

deployment , cognit ive

change,

response modulat ion) in everyday

l ife.

Social Context

Emotion

researchers have

long

emphas ized the social

ernbeddedness

of

emot iona l

respond ing (Scherer, Summerf ie ld, Gt

Wallbott, 1983).

Consis-

tent with t hi s v ie w , we found that

98%

of th e emot ion regulat ion

episodes

took

place

in th e

presence

of

other people,

and

in

only

2% of episodes were

th e

respondents

clearly

alone.

Furthermore,

episodes

that

occurred

in

a

so-

c ia l context

appeared

to

follow a closeness grad ient. Regula tion

episodes

that were descr ibed

by

part ic ipants in the

interviews most

commonly

in-

volved

fr iends (19%), romant ic

interests

(14%),

roommates

(11%),

or fam-

ily

members

(10%), and

were

leastlikely to

involve mere

acquaintances (3%)

or

dis l iked others (2%).

Approach 2 :

The

Survey

F

The

interview

data

der ived

from our

first approach

suggest

that emo-

tion

regulat ion

in everyday life

predominant ly involves

negat ive emot ions

(e .g ., anger,

anxiety ,

sadness),

whose

behavioral

and

exper ient ia l

aspects

par t ic ipants try to

'down-regulate.

However, there

were

also instances of the

up-regulat ion

of emot ion : and

th e regulationuof pos i ti ve emot ion . The rich-

nessof the emot ion regulat ion episodes

captured

by these interviews

suggests

th e need

to

cast a

very broad

ne t

indeed when

-examining emotion regulat ion

in everyday l i fe, even when one focuses as we have

done

here pr imar il y

on

consciously

accessible

emo t ion regula ti on processes. ll

2 2 o a o s s . arcnasns,

r u v o

J O H N

_

__

In - -K_---?

--- - --__

____

__

______ __ _ _ __ y

_ _ _)___.


11/24

O ne limitation

of

our in terview-based approach, however, is

that we

did

not

standardize

th e

emotions

we

asl


12/24

. . _ , _ . . _ , . . .

-H

- _ - - | -

_ ,_7- ,..

, . . . . . . _ . . _ _ m i

. _ . . _

J

when someone insults you. Another example

is

concealing

your

happiness

with a

poker

face a fte r be in g d e a lt an unbeatab le hand of cards.

For both

reappraisal

and suppression, separate rat ings were

made

fo r nega-

tive emot ions

and

pos i t ive emotions.

W e also wished to learn

about

th e

specif ic

emotions that

were

being

regulated

a nd

which of the components

(experience

a nd expression) of each

emot ion was

targeted

for regula ti on. We

d id th is

by

asking:

To what

extent

do

you genera l ly try

to alter the

experience

of th e following

emot ions? This

wa s fol lowed

by

a

l ist of the

1 5

emot ions.

Then part ic ipants were asked

To

what

extent

do yo u

general ly try to

a lte r th e expression of th e

following

emot ions? This wa s fol lowed

by th e

same

1 5

emotions presented in

a differ-

ent order.

Both

th e

regulate-experience

and

regulate-expression

items were

rated on 7-point

scales (0 %

Not

at

a ll to 6

=

A great

deal).

We

focused

on

these

tw o

aspects

of

emot iona l respond ing (experience

and

expression) be -

cause our

f irst

a p p ro a ch h ad previously shown that these

tw o components

were overwhelmingly

favored a s

targets

f or e mo t io n r eg u la ti o n.

Frequency

of Emotion Regulation

How

f requent ly d id pa r ti ci pan ts

report

regulating their emot ions? The

mean frequency

ofemot ion

regulat ion wa s

6.6

ti m es p e r w ee k,

that

is,

a lmost

once

a day.

However , the re wa s considerable variability

in

responses,

a s

re-

flected in

a

standard deviation of 12.5, and

a

range of O to 100.

Nonetheless ,

most part ic ipants re p o rte d a t

least

some use

of

emot ion regu la t ion ;

only 4%

of

part ic ipants reported

that

th ey d id not regulate their e m o ti on s a t

all

(regu-

lation

of

O ti m es p e r week).

Given

this substant ial

variability, we

also com-

puted measures

of centra l

tendency less sensit ive to outl iers,

including

the

5% t r immed m e an (4 .6

t imes

p e r w e ek ) and th e med ian (3.5 per week).

Social Context fo r Regulating Emot ion

We found

that

th e frequency

of

emot ion regu la t ion var ied by context ,

with frequency rat ings of 3.1 fo r strangers, 2.5 fo r friends, 2.3 for fami ly, and

1.7 for alone. O ne noteworthy finding

is

that these survey data ind icated

that emot ion regulat ion wa s more frequent with strangers than with better-

known partners. This finding is a t

odds with

th e closeness

grad ient de-

scribed in thejnterview approach, which

found

that emo t ion regu la t ion epi -

sodes

w ere m o re likely to be reported in the context of close

relat ionships

than

in more dis tant

relat ionships.

O ne possible

exp lanat ion for

this discrep-

ancy

is that

emot ions

m ay

be

more

frequent

and intense

in

close than in

d is tant re l a ti onsh ips , l ead ing to a la rger absolute number of

effortful

and

sa-

lient regulat ion episodes in close than d is tant relat ionships (interview

ap-

proach)._ However,

when

expressed

a s

a

fraction

of th e total number of emo-

t ions experienced,

a s

in

th e survey approach,

emot ion

regulationmaybe

more likely to occur in dis tant than in close

relat ionships.

2 4

o a o s s ,

R I C H A R D S ,

A N D

J O H N

-.

'

1

- _ . .

_ . . _ _ - _ _ _ _ . _ _ . _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ . .


13/24

L

L

-r._.

i

Valence of th e Emotion Being Regulated n

We expected

part icipants

to regulate

negat ive emot ions

more

frequently

than posi t ive

emot ions.

Indeed, 84%. of

participants_sa-id they

tried to

al ter

negat ive

emotions more frequently than posi t ive emotions,-and only 16 %

ind icated greater regulat ion

of

posi t ive emot_ions.- _ '

Us e ofReappraisal and Suppression

Both

reappraisal

and

suppression were

used

quite frequently,

with

mean

ratings of

3.8 for

each. Consistent with part ic ipants

genera l reports

ofgreater

regulat ion

of

n'egativ'e

t h a n - - p o _ s i _ t i v e

emot ions,

n e g a t i v - e ' -

iegulat l ion wa s more

frequent than pos i t ive regula t ion

fo r

both reappraisal '(M

negat ivereappraisal

= 4.2,

M posi t ive 5.3.3) and

for

suppression (M negat ive

suppr'ession=

4.6,

M

posi t ive

=

3-.0).

Specific Emotions

Being

Regulated, Separately fo r Experience and Expression

- Par t ic ipants

i nd i ca te d th e

e xte nt to

whichthey

regulated

t he e xp e ri -

ence

and

e x p r e s s _ i - o n of

15.-specific

emotions.

Table

1 . - 1 shows th e

mean

rat-

ings of

controliof

experience and Table 1.2'_shows -the means fo r

expression.

The

most

striking finding

was th e

difference

between negat ive and posi t ive

emotions:

Even

th e most-regulated posi t ive

emot ion

(pr ide) wa s regulated to

a lesser e x te n t tha n the least-regulated

negat ive

emot ion (disgust). A second

finding is that the survey approach repl icated th e results of th e

interview

approach for

the

specif ic

emotions most

often

targeted for regulat ion. The

top fi ve regulated

emot ions

were

sadness,

anger, embarrassment, anxiety,

and

fear. Among-- the posi t ive

emot ions,

the tw o most regula ted were pr ide and

-love. A

third

noteworthyfinding

is

ho w closely rat ings of regulat ing emot ion

experience

and emot ion expression-traveled

together. 'Mean

levels of

control

of

experience

a nd control of expression differed

in

only

2

of 15

instances,

with

expressive

behavior being regulated more tightly than

experience

in

each

case.

Group

Dif ferences: Sex and

Ethnicity

S ex and ethnicity are

both factors

that

have

been associated with dif-

ferences in

emot iona l responding

in pr ior

research (Gross

{ S t ]ohn,

2003 ). To

e xa m ine the im p a ct

of

ethnicity on emotion-,regulat ion,

we selected th e tw o

largest ethnic groups ( As i a n A m e r ica n

a n d E uro p ea n American) a n d re vi s-

i ted each

of

the aspects.of

emot ion

regulat ion described

in th e

previous

sect ion.

W e fo un d no

effect

of sex

or

ethnicity fo r overa l l frequency of

emot ion

regulat ion. With

respect

to the social context fo r regulating emot ion, we

found

that with

strangers,

Asian

Amer icans

(M

=

3.0, S D

=

1.4)

reported

levels of emot ion regu la t ion s im i la r to those

re p o rte d b y E uro p ea n

Ameri-

cans

(M

=

3.2,

S D = 1.1).

Fo r

th e

other three socia l

contexts,

however,

As ian

EM O T IO N REGULATION IN

EVERYDAY LIFE

25


14/24

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u | l

.-u

Amer icans

reported

signif icantly

greater emot ion regu la t ion than European

Amer icans with

friends

(M = 2 .7 , S D = 1 . 1 vs. 2 .3 , S D = 0.9), fami ly (M =

2.6, SD = 1 . 1 vs. M = 2.1, S D

= _

1.0), and

alone

(M = 1.9, S D =

1.3

vs. M =

1.5, SD =

0.8).

There were no sex effects.

W e

also

considered

whether

sex

and

ethnicity

affected

th e

valence

of

th e

emot ion being

regulated.

W e

found no

sex

differences: 82% of

m en

and

85% of

w o m e n r ep o rte d

controlling

negat ive

emotions to

a

greater

extent

than

posi t ive emot ions.

However, we

d id

find ethnic differences:

90%

of

European Amer icans

reported controlling

negat ive emot ions more than

p o s i -

tive emot ions, whereas

only 76% of A sia n A m e ric a n

p a r ti ci p a nt s d i d so.

That is ,

only

10 % of

European Amer icans

reported controlling posi t ive emo-

t ions more

than

negat ive

emotions, versus 24%

ofAs ian

Amer icans.

In terms

of

th e specif ic emot ion

regulat ion

strategies

that

part ic ipants used, we found

no sex differences, b ut A s ia n Amer icans

d id

make

greater use

of

suppression

(3.3) than European Amer icans (2.7) fo r pos it ive emotions.

Fo r

control

of

emot ion

experience,

As ian

Amer icans

reported

signif i -

cant ly

greater

contro l of five of th e

six

posi t ive

emotions (all except pr ide,

which still showed

the same t rend toward

relat ively

greater

control by As ian

Amer icans ) . There

were

no ethnic differences fo r the negat ive

emot ions.

As

shown

in

Table 1.1,

there

wa s only one sex difference:

Wo m e n

reported less

control of amusement experience than m e n. Fo r control of emot ion express

sion,

ethnic

effects

paral le led those found in the

experience

doma in : Asian

Amer icans again

reported

greater control of five of th e si x posi t ive emotions

(all except pr ide, which,

a s

with emot ion experience, showed th e

same

trend

toward greater control

by

As ian Amer icans ) . There were no ethnic differi-

ences fo r the

nega tive emot ions .

As shown in Table

1.2,

sex differences

were

more

pronounced:

Wo m e n

reported

l e s s

control

of

amusement expression

than men,

but

greater control of anger,

contempt ,

and sadness expression.

This general pattern of

women

exert ing l e s s control over posi t ive emotions

than m en is born out by the s ign i fi can t difference in mean control ofposi t ive

emot ion, which is

2.1 for

women and 2.4 fo r men. The

tendency for women

to

report

more

control of negat ive emoti ons than m en wa s not signif icant,

reflected in

an

overal l mean

difference of

3.2 for

women

a nd 3 .0 fo r men.

Approach 3: The LaboratoryExperiment

.

A

.

|. .


17/24

I n

press their emotion-expressive

behavior unde-r

controlled condi t ions.

By

dint

of their

prior accumu la ted experi ence with suppressing -posit ive emotions,

Asian

Amer icans should

find

it less difficult to inhibit posi t ive emot ions

than

European

Amer icans. Given -that ethnic differences

seem

to be evident

only for posi t ive emotions, no such differences in emot ion regulat ion d i f f i -

culty

should

emerge

in o t he r e mo t io n a l contexts

(e.g.,

in negat ive

or

neutral

emot iona l

contexts).

-

To

test

this

hypothesis,

an exper imenta l

approach

is needed. To

illus'-

trate

this

method ,

we present secondary analyses of Ia

data se t

examined

e a r -

lier

by

Gross and Levenson-(1997),

focusing

on a subset

of

12 7 women who

were either

European

-American (58) o r A s ia n American

_ (

69).-

In

this study,

par t ic ipants h ad w a tc he d f i lms drawn from a se t

of

standardized

film

stimuli

(Gross Sr

Levenson,

1-995)

in

individual exper imenta l

sessions.

O ne

-film

elicited a

relatively neutra l affective

state, whereas th e o th er f i lms el ici ted

either amusement (a s tand-up comedy routine)

or

sadness (a funeral

scene).

Of

in terest here

is th e

viewing

condition, in which part ic ipants had been

told

to

watch th e

film

carefully

and

also told if

you h a ve a n y fe e li ng s

a s

yo u

watch th e

film

cl ip ,

please

try

your

best

not

to

let

those feelings

show

(the Suppression

condition). After each

film, part ic ipants rated ho w

d i f f i -

cult it had

been to suppress

their

behavioral

responses: On a

scale from

1

to

10 ,

where

1 is n ot a t

a l l d i f fi cu lt and 10

is very difficult,

how difficult wa s

it

fo r

yo u to

hide

your feelings during

th e film

clip yo u

just

saw?

Us ing these

suppression difficulty

rat ings,

we

no w

testedwhether,

rela-

tive to European Amer ican part icipants,

As ian

Amer icans

would

find

it

easier

to suppress their

emotions during a positive-emotion-eliciting

film, but

not

in-the

negat ive

or

neutral film contexts

(reflecting a

prac ti ce e ffec t due to

prior

experience

suppressing posi t ive

e m o ti o ns ). A s

predicted, we

found

that

for

th e

posi t ive film,

As ian

Amer icans indeed reported less

difficulty (M =

6 .0 , S D =

3.1)

than

European Amer icans

(M = 8.0,

S D _ = 2.0).

It is

important

to

note

that

this

effect

of

ethnicity wa s specif ic to the posi t ive emotion con-

dition: There were

no

ethnic

differences foreither

th e

Neutral film

(M =

2.6,

S D

=-2.4 vs.M = 2.8, SD = 2.3) , or th e Sadness

film (M

= 4.0,

SD-=

2.9

vs.

M

= 4.9,

S D

=

2.8). These

f indings

are consistent with

th e

hypothesis

that ev-

eryday pract ice in regula ti ng pos i ti ve

emotipn makes

it easier for Asian

Ame r ic a n s t o regulate a posi t ive

emotion

such a s amusement when ca ll ed on

to

d o

so

in

a

speci f ic

si tuat ion.

I

FUTURE DIRECTIONSAND

POLICY

IMPLICATIONS

Considered together,

these

three

studies

i l lustrate ho w

multiple

m e t h

od s (interview,

survey,

and exper iment)

are

need-ed

to

achieve

a

more com

plete

understanding

of

emot ion regulat ion.

Our

f indings converged

in

show

in g

that in

genera l peop le

tr y to

regulate negat ive emot ions (especially

anger,

E M O T I O N R E G U L A T I O N a v

svsaroar

use

2 9


18/24

sadness,

and anxiety) m u ch m o re

f requent ly than

posi t ive emot ions,

with a

part icular focus on regulating both

exper ient ial

and

behavioral,

but not

physi-

ological , aspects

of

emot ion.

Although. a large

number

of


strategies

m ay

be d iscemed,

tw o of th e

most

common

ones

are

cognit ive

reappra isa l and

expressive suppression.

Results

from

these

three studies

also

showed

that

emot ion regulat ion ef for ts vary

by

contex t (occurr ing

more

fre-

quently in close than d is tan t re la t ionsh ip contexts) and by ethnicity (with

greater regulat ion

of

posi t ive emotions

in

Asian Amer icans than European

Amer icans). Although these stud ies represent an initial step t ow a rd e lu ci -

dat ing the ways emotions are regulated by young adults

in

everyday l i fe, they

nonetheless

have

several limitations.

In

the sections that fo l low, we

cons ider

these limitations and suggestdirections

fo r future

research

and imp l ica t ions

fo r

pol icy.

. _

Implications for Health

and

Dysfunction

O ne

notable limitation of th e

present

studies is that we asked partici-

pants to recal l

a _ single recent emot ion regulat ion

episode

(Approach

1) , to

make genera l ratings

concerning

their

typ ica l


(Approach

2 ),

or

to regulate

on command in a

specif ic laboratory

co n te x t ( Ap p r o a ch

3).

O ne direction fo r future research

will

be to use other methods t o b e tt er char-

acterize

emot ion

regulation. in everyday l i fe.

This

will make it possible

to

address

th e

important

question of wha t

h e a lt h i mp li ca t io n s

chronic

use

of

par t icular

emot ion regulat ion strategies

might

have.

In

a

series

of individual-

difference

studies

(Gross

( S t Iohn,

2003) ,

w e h ave be gun

to link use

of

reap-

p ra is a l a n d suppression to

various

indicators of health and dysfunct ion, in-

c lud ing emot ion ,

social support, depression,

l ife

sat is fact ion, and

well-being.

Our f indings suggest

that everyday

use

of reappraisal is

related

to

greater

experience

of

posi t ive emot ion and lesser experience

of negat ive emot ion.

Reappraisers also have

closer

relat ionships

with

their

fr iends

and

are

better

liked

thanindividuals using reappra isa l

less frequently. In terms

ofmaladap-

t ive symptoms,

ind ividuals

who -habitually

use

reappraisal

show fewer

symp-

toms

of depression.

They a re a lso more

satisf ied with their

live s a nd m ore

optimistic.

In terms

of

Ryffs (1989) doma ins

of psycholog ica l

health,

reappraisers

have

higher

levels

of

envi ronmenta l

mastery,

personal growth,

and self-acceptance,

a

clearer

purpose in

l i fe,

a greater

sense

of

autonomy,

and better relat ions with others. ,

By

contrast ,

everyday

use

of

suppression

is

related

to

lesserexperience

of posi t ive emot ion -and -greaterexperience of negative emot ion . These el-

evat ions

in

negat ive emot ion -appear to be due to suppressors greater feelings

of

- inauthentici ty.

Greater

use

of

suppression

is also l inked to

lesser

social

support

in genera l , and to lesser

emot iona l s u p p o r t - _ in

part icular. In terms of

symptoms,

suppression

is related to

elevated

levels of depressive symptoms.

Suppressors

have

lower levels of sat isfact ion and well-being,- a s one would

30 o s o s s , R I C H A R D S , awn J O H N

r

. ,t-.

Q


19/24

. _ . , ;

-7 - I -= . I .

.- '- ,

1.

: . - _ -

.- 1

expect from

their

keen

awareness

of

-their

inauthenticity,

less l ife

satisfac-

tion, and

a

less

optimistic

att i tude about th e future , consis tent with

their

avo idance and lack ofclose socia l relat ionships and support .

In

terms ofRyffs

(1989) six

doma ins

of psychological health, suppressorsshowed lowe-r

leve-ls

of

well-being

across

th e board, with th e biggest

effect

-for posi t ive

relat ions

with

others.

O v er a ll , t hi s p a t te rn

of

f indings

shows

that

-the

use

of

reappraisal

is associated

with

multiple

indicators

of healthy functioning,

and

that the

use

of

suppression

is associated with multiple ind icators of unheal thy func-

tioning. lllfhat is needed now,

however,

are prospective -studies in which ini-

tial patterns in

emot ion

regulat ion

use

pred ic t s u b s e q u ; -1 - , , n _ t , , fu n c t io n in g - a c ro s s

multiple life dpmains. T '

Development:

Stability

a nd C ha ng e

A second impor tan t direction fo r future research is to

examine

stability

a nd change

in emot ion

regulat ion processes. There is growing

evidence

that

emotion

regulat ion

varies

over

th e

course

of

childhood

(e.g.,

Eisenberg St

Morr is , 2002 )

and

adul thood (e.g., lohn

< 8 1 . Gross,

2-004), and

that

there are

both individual

and

group

differences (e.g.,

Gross

8 1 .

]ohn, 2003;

Tsai et

al.,

2002 )

in emot ion

regulation. The

present studies focused

on normat ive

var ia-

tion

in

emotion regulat ion

in

a part icular age group, namely college-aged

adults.

However, our work on ind iv idua ld if fe rences suggests that, even within

th e

norma l

range of

functioning, ind ividuals vary

greatly in

how

much

they

use

emot ion regulat ion strategies such

a s

reappraisal

and suppression.

Thus, although

we sometimes summarize o u r fi nd i ng s

by referring to

reappra isers and suppressors, we

d o

not

conceive

of these

patterns

of typical

emotion regulat ion a s f ixed. Indeed,

in

our college samples,

th e 3-month

test retest

stability of

reappra isa l and

suppression is

about

.7 0

(Gross

Gt

]ohn,

2003) , which suggests substant ial

room

fo r

change,

especially over

longer

periods

of

t ime.

If nothing

else, increasing life experience and wisdom re -

garding

th e

relat ive costs and benefi ts

of dif ferent

forms

of

emot ion regula-

tion suggest

that changes

will

take

place

with

age (Gross

G t john,

2002) .

In

part icular, a s ind iv idua ls mature and

gain

life experience, they might in-

creasingly learn to make greater use ofhea l thy emot ion regu la t ion

strategies

(such

a s

reappraisal)

and

lesser use

of l e s s heal thy emot ion regulat ion

strate-

gies

(such a s

suppression).

This speculat ion

is

broad ly cons i sten t with the fact that

emot ional ly ,

older

ind iv idua ls fare

surprisingly well

in later years, despite a

host

of

unde-

sirable changes

to

physical health and

social networks (Carstensen,

Gross,-

S t

Fung,

1998). This hypothesis

is

also

consistent with

data that

suggest that

re la t i ve to younger

adults, older adults report

considerably

l e s s negat ive

emo-

tion (e.g., Helson 8 1

Klohnen,

I998),

and

with cross-sectional

research

show-

in g that o lde r i nd iv idua ls report

greater

emot ional control than younger adults

(Gross

et al., 1997) .

E M O T I O N R E G U L A T IO N I N svsarn-u use 3 1


20/24

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- i n - _ _ _ i

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-+7--..___ _|r---i-.1_-..-__.-_-_--_-.-_-=|==.-w1--_--_-_-___-

-==-=-

--- = . .

.

- -

.I*

In a recent test of the idea

that there

is

a normat ive shift

toward

healthier

emotion regulat ion

in

la ter adul thood, we used retrospect ive and cross-

sect ional designs to

examine

individual differences

in

reappra isa l and sup-

pression (]ohn 8 1 . Gross, 2004). 'Us ing a retrospective design, th e

same older

adul ts ra ted

their

use

of

reappra isa l and

suppression

twice,

once

with

respect

to how

they were

now

(early

60s), a nd o nce

with respect

to

-how

they

ha d

been

in their

early 20s. W e found

that

use

of reappra isa l increased

from

th e

20s

to th e

60s, whereas use

of

suppression decreased from

th e

20s to

th e 60s.

Using

a

cross-sectional

design,

we repl icated

these effects

by -compar ing

use

of

reappra isa l and suppression in

this

older-adul t

sample

to

that of individu-

als

now in their

20s. Here, too,

we found that

compared with younger partici-

pants, o lder pa r ti c ipan ts reported greater use

of

reappraisal and lesser

use

of

suppression.

Together,

these f indings are consistent

with th e idea that ,

with

age,

ind iv idua ls

make

increasing

use

of

reappraisal

a s

an

emot ion

regulat ion

strategy

and decreasing

use

of

suppression;

that

is , they show an increas ing ly

hea l thy pa t te rn

of

emot ion

regulat ion.

What

is

needed

now

are

longitudinal

studies in

-which emot ion regulat ion use

i s a s s e s s e d

a t multiple t ime points-

using th e same instruments.

Interventions and Policy Implications

A third

important

di rect ion is

a p p l yi ng o ur emerging understanding

of

emot ion

re g u la t io n t o rel ieve

exist ing

human

suffering (Gross

8 1 .

Munoz ,

1995).

For it is on e thing

to

make the

cla im Ithatmany forms

of

psychopa-

thology

are

characterized by

emot ion

dysregula tion, and

qu ite another thing

to

actual ly w o rk o ut th e

precise nature

of the def ic i ts (Rot tenberg ( S t Gross,

2003) .

The challenge is

to

describe

how

these

cond i t ions develop ,

clarify the

underly ing

mechan isms,

and

use

this

knowledge

to

fashion

better

interven-

t ions to

help those

in

need of assistance.

In

part icular, ifnatural changes in typ ica l use ofdif ferent emot ion regu-

lation strategies

can be documented

in

adul thood,

then we ought

to be a ble

to

harness

the se s am e

change processes

in

targeted

intervent ions. O ne cru-

c ia l early pointof

intervention m ay

be

inf luencing

ho w parents shape

their

chi ldrens

early

emot ion regulat ion. For examp le , pa ren ts differ in their meta-

emot ion

phi losophies,

def ined

a s a n organized J s e t

of

fee lings and thoughts

about ones

own

emot ions

a n d o ne s ch il d ren s emot ions (Go t tman , Katz,

8111-Iooven,

I-9 96 , p .

243) .

The

emotion-coaching phi losophy

is

held hy

par-

ents

who

attend to and posi t ively evaluate emotions, and discuss explicitly

with their

children

how to

best

manage

_ o n _ e s

emot ions,

This

parenta l

phi-

losophy,

we predict ,

s h o _ u l d _ _

encourage

children to rely

more

on reappraisal to

regulate

their

emotions. The dismissing phi losophy, contrast,

is held

by

parents who view emot ions

as

dangerous andfocus on avoid ing and

min im iz-

ing the m. H ere w e suggest a link to using _ s u p p r e s s i o n _ .

a s

the , _ h a b i _ t u a l regula-

tion

strategy. The finding that emot ion coaching byparents

wa s

related to

3 2 oaoss,

R I C H A R D S ,

syn

J O H N

l

3 %

-r -

.-

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-'4

children showing

l e s s

stress during emot ional ly challenging-situations

is

con-

sistent with our f ind ings regarding -the well-being and heal th consequences

of

us ing reappra isa l ra th e r t ha n

suppression

(Gottman et al.,

I996).

In th e

context

of

our-studies of yoim-g adults,

we

have

found that

for

m a n y y o un g

adults,

thinking explicitlyabout their own emotion regulat ion

goals

a nd thestrategies

they: use

t o a c h ie ve these

goalswas

a nove l experi-

ence.

This

observat ionsuggests

that

o ne s im p le

form

of

preventive

inter-

vention would

be to

increase

awareness and offer information about emo-

tion

regulation,

-for

example,=us ing

contemporary

research on -

emotion

regulation to inform

-and

enrich curr icula in high s cho o l a n d co lle ge

that

typically do not include information on emotion and prpotion regulat ion.

An a lo g o us t o Writing

101,

l l / lathemat ics

1 01, a nd

Psychology 101;--it m ay

be time to o ffe r Emot ion

101---an

introductory course on the

nature

and

regulat ion of emot ion.

Individuals who are at e levated r isk fo r undesirable well-being and heal th

outcomes

might

benefi t f rom targeted

emot ion

regulat ion

in_terven_tion_s_tud-

ies. Fo r

example,

intervent ions could be designed that

teach

i nd i vi d ua ls t o

increase

their

use

of

reappraisal

or

decrease

their

rel iance

on

suppression.

Such

interventions could be

modeled

after a study

(Giese-Davis

et al.,

2002)

that randomly assigned breast cancer

pat ients to

either a

control group

or

a

group

that encouraged th e expression

of

emot iom and then fol lowed

pa-

t ients

to a s s e s s

subsequent outcomes.

Through

such

in tervent ions whether

during

early

chi ldhood in th e fa m i ly ,

dur ing later

chi ldhood

or

adul thood a t

school, or

in

support groups a t the

cliniclit m ay

be possible to shape indi-

viduals emot ion regulatory

tendencies

in

ways

that powerful ly and

benefi -

cially

affect

their subsequent menta l

and

physical

heal th.

'

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