Abstract
BackgroundEmotion regulation alters the trajectories of emotional responses and, when effective, transforms the emotional responses to help individuals adapt to their environment. Previous research has mainly focused on the efficiency of regulation strategies performed individually at a given time. Yet, in daily life, it is likely that several strategies are often combined. Thus, we question in this study the combinatorial efficiency of two emotion regulation strategies, Situation selection and Emotional suppression.MethodsIn a within-subject design, sixty-five participants were asked to implement either no strategy, Situation selection only, Emotional suppression only, or both strategies together (four conditions) while looking at various emotionally charged images. Experience, expressivity, and physiological arousal were recorded throughout the viewing. Repeated-measures ANOVAs and corrected post-hoc tests were used for analyzing the data.ResultsThe results of the combined strategies showed that Emotional suppression canceled the beneficial impact of Situation selection on negative experience, while significantly increasing the impact on cardiac activity. The use of both strategies together had a greater effect on respiratory function with an enhanced decrease in respiratory rate and amplitude.ConclusionsThe combinatorial effect of emotion regulation strategies is different according to the emotional response that the individual needs to regulate. The simultaneous use of Situation selection and Emotional suppression could be particularly beneficial to relieve physiological symptoms.
Highlights
Emotion regulation alters the trajectories of emotional responses and, when effective, transforms the emotional responses to help individuals adapt to their environment
We did not find an effect of the strategy on skin conductance level, which is usually a measure that reacts with a rebound to this instruction [36], but we found a positive impact of Emotional suppression on respiratory functions
To our knowledge, this study is the first to investigate the simultaneous effect on emotion responses of two emotion regulation strategies (Situation selection and Emotional suppression) used at the same time for a single event
Summary
Emotion regulation alters the trajectories of emotional responses and, when effective, transforms the emotional responses to help individuals adapt to their environment. We question in this study the combinatorial efficiency of two emotion regulation strategies, Situation selection and Emotional suppression. Emotion usually emerges following a situational trigger that is processed. It results in a set of experience, expression, and physiological arousal. Because of social display rules, personality, and individual preferences, a significant part of emerging emotional episodes are regulated [4]. Emotion regulation refers to “the processes by which individuals influence which emotions they have, when they have them, and how they experience and express these emotions” Emotion regulation alters the trajectories of the emotion responses and shapes the resultant affective reactions.
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