The Effects of Emotion Regulation on Negative Affect During a Stressful Situation
Loading...
Date
2017-05
Authors
Kern, Mia
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
The Ohio State University
Abstract
Different emotion regulation strategies have been categorized as adaptive or maladaptive
due to their positive or negative associations with symptoms of psychopathology (Aldao, Nolen
Hoeksema & Schweizer, 2010); however, difficulties in emotion regulation can also be a result
of a person’s lack of clarity about how to implement the strategies (Aldao and Vine, 2014). I
examined self-reported use, observer-coded quality of use, accuracy, and resulting effectiveness
of three emotion regulation strategies (cognitive reappraisal, humor, and distraction) among
undergraduates (n=97) when viewing video clips aimed at arousing disgust. Surprisingly, the
accuracy correlations for each emotion regulation strategy, indexed by coherence between self
reported use and observer-coded quality of use, while significant, were small. Our results suggest
that self-reported use of humor and distraction are associated more with effectiveness than either
the quality or accuracy of the use. One possible explanation is that there may be a placebo-type
effect such that an individual need only to believe that they are using the strategy correctly in
order to reduce negative affect. These effects were surprisingly not mirrored in cognitive
reappraisal, which may be a result of either a structural problem in the study’s design or
reflective of a difficulty in implementing or measuring reappraisal use. This study may have
implications for how emotion regulation strategies are taught and maintained in mental health
therapy.
Description
Psychology Undergraduate Colloquium, 3rd Place
Keywords
Emotion Regulation, Cognitive Reappraisal, Psychopathology, Distraction, Humor