Emotion Regulation between Determinants and Consequences

Abstract

Emotion regulation, a concept that sparked great interest from researchers in the last two decades, is deepening the understanding of the affective dimension of mental functioning. If there was a time when emotions were taboo for research and psychological intervention, today it has become a significant component that is integral with the cognitions and behaviors and this allows a holistic approach to the human being. Furthermore, research in this area “dug” so much, that at this point there are known strategies that we use even in the emotion generative process. The recent literature, dedicated to emotional regulation, argues that people try, by an automatic way, to control their emotional experiences (Gross, 2002). Automatism, more or less functional, is the result of the interaction of heredity, environment and education. Cognitive reappraisal and expressive suppression are the previous focused strategies and response-focused strategies of the process model of emotion regulation (Gross, 2002). The progresses made in knowledge of emotion regulation are the results of experimental studies and studies of individual differences in which emotion regulation has been reported to a number of constructs. Results, coherent and consistent for some variables (eg age is associated with decreased expressive suppression, men use more expressive suppression than women) are contradictory to others (eg, neuroticism, as a dimension of personality, is predictor variable and without significant correlations with expressive suppression, over 25 years increased use of cognitive reappraisal or age does not influence the use of cognitive reappraisal). In our analysis, we organize and summarize the results of investigations in terms of two main categories of factors that, according to the analysis grid, are subsumed to the heredity-environment interaction (as factors of personality development): 1. determinants and 2. consequences. For an accurate analysis, each of the two categories is divided into subcategories and analyzed in terms of the established models: 1.1. intrinsic factors: temperament and personality structure (Five Factor Model of Personality, Tupes & Cristal, 1961) and 2.1. extrinsic factors: attachment style (Attachment Theory, Ainsworth, 1969; Bartholomew and Horowitz Model, 1991; Armsden Model, 1986), emotion socialization (Malatesta- Magai Model, 1991), 2.2. demographic factors (gender and age), 2.3. cultural factors (culture of belonging). In terms of consequences, the analysis focuses on three areas: emotional, cognitive and social. The third factor of personality development - the influence of socio-educational, brings to attention the empirical arguments from clinical psychology and psychotherapy, to support the intervention oriented toward restoring the functional mechanisms of cognitive reappraisal of emotion regulation.