Interpersonal Emotion Research Articles

A Spanish adaptation and validation of the Interpersonal Emotion Regulation Questionnaire

Intrapersonal Emotion Regulation is a widely studied and recognized term as an essential variable in people’s well-being, and their optimal psychosocial functioning. It has not been until recent years that Interpersonal Emotion Regulation (IER) has been taken into account in studies focused on emotional life and academic performance. The Interpersonal Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (IERQ) is one of the few self-report instruments designed for the evaluation of this construct. As far as we know, there is no tool that evaluates this variable in the Spanish language. The present study aims to adapt and validate the IERQ in the Spanish population (n = 289). Maintaining the internal structure of the original scale, it has been found that the Spanish version of the IERQ (IERQ-S) is a valid instrument for the evaluation of IER in the Spanish population.

Staging enmity: reading populist productions of shame with Jelinek's On the Royal Road.

Background: Populism is often perceived as a shamelessly loud segment of political discourse. However, Jelinek's play On the Royal Road, written on the occasion of Trump's 2016 election as US president, suggests that populism leads to societal silencing. Jelinek's text expounds that when a society's public sphere is marked by ubiquitous enmity against an imagined "we", grounded in antagonism, then the possibility of speaking to one another disappears, because speaking to one another is based on the willingness to give one's counterpart space and listen to them. In a public discourse that stages enmity, the counterpart vanishes. Therefore, populism, loud as it is, leads to the silencing of whole communities insofar as they are left with nothing in common but enmity. Method: Critical discourse analysis is used to contextualise close readings of select passages of Jelinek's play with recent social sciences and humanities research on global populisms to highlight what literary language and the dramatic form can contribute to understanding populism. Results: The silencing populisms entail is fed, in large part, by a dynamics linking the interpersonal emotion of shame to its discursive exploitation in shamelessness and shaming: populist voices transgress rules of democratic debate in the public sphere to elicit outrage by mainstream politics, media, and civil society, which often retort populist shamelessness by shaming populist actors. The audience excitement populist leaders and supporters generate is an important factor in normalizing the emotional, moralizing populist polarization of "us" versus "them" that undermines differentiated discussion and a dispute of arguments. Conclusion: While media and research commonly suggest that with the populist reduction of politics to a spectacle, citizens become a passive audience, the article expounds that audiences play a key role in the production of populist enmity. This insight offers an alley to counteract populism.

Judging Genocide: Emotional Labor During Transitional Justice

Despite the proliferation of transitional justice, scholars have rarely researched the emotional toll on those who implement transitional justice mechanisms. This article accordingly examines the emotion management techniques employed by eighty-five judges who served in Rwanda’s post-genocide gacaca courts. Most of the intrapersonal and interpersonal emotion management strategies we find are gendered, with men generally emphasizing strength and women underscoring empathy and understanding. Moreover, the dimensions of identity that were most salient during the conflict also shaped the judges’ interpersonal emotion management strategies. Specifically, judges who were not targeted during the genocide focused on regulating emotions tied to punishing defendants, while judges who were targeted emphasized survivors’ emotional catharses. As such, our findings show how conflict divisions and gender norms structure the expression of emotion during transitional justice processes.

Non-Suicidal Self-Injury and Emotional Dysregulation in Male and Female Young Adults: A Qualitative Study.

Non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) has been theoretically, clinically, and empirically associated with emotional dysregulation. NSSI is a means of regulating emotional states, particularly negative emotions. However, empirical studies on this topic are scarce and the literature lacks qualitative research on individuals' perceptions and comprehension of the function of self-injury. Thus, this qualitative study aimed to provide novel insights into the relationship between NSSI and emotional dysregulation in young adults. Twelve participants (mean age=22.7 years, 9 females and 3 males) from different support groups and a healthcare center participated in semi-structured interviews on NSSI-related emotional processes. Three aspects were investigated: reasons for NSSI, function of NSSI, and emotions. Each interview was voice recorded and typically lasted between 20 and 40 minutes. All responses were analyzed using thematic analysis. Four major themes were identified. The results showed that NSSI had both intrapersonal and interpersonal functions, within which emotional regulation played a significant role. NSSI was also used to regulate positive emotions. The results also showed a sequence of emotions among the participants, going from feeling overwhelmed to feeling relatively calm but guilty. NSSI has several functions for the same individual. Thus, it would be interesting to provide integrative therapy, such as emotion-focused therapy, which focus on improving intrapersonal and interpersonal emotion regulation skills and strategies.

Supplemental Material for Influencing a Nation: How a Leader’s Interpersonal Emotion Regulation Influences Citizen Compliance via Trust and Emotions During a Global Pandemic

Supplemental Material for Influencing a Nation: How a Leader’s Interpersonal Emotion Regulation Influences Citizen Compliance via Trust and Emotions During a Global Pandemic

Attachment Insecurity and Depression: The Mediating Role of Interpersonal Emotion Regulation

Attachment Insecurity and Depression: The Mediating Role of Interpersonal Emotion Regulation

Development and validation of the Interpersonal Emotion Regulation for Couples Scale (SIERC) in the Spanish population

Antecedents Interpersonal emotional regulation (IER) is the deliberate attempt to influence others’ emotions. There is not enough research on IER in the context of romantic couples. Aim The aim of the present study was to develop and validate an instrument to assess couples’ IER and understanding its functioning at both an individual and dyadic level. Method Participants were 764 adults and 91 dyads. Three studies were carried out: first, to study the psychometric properties of the scale and its validity; second, to understand the functioning of the scale at a dyadic level; third, to analyse the predictive capacity of the instrument. Results Our 11-item scale has four factors: observe, ask, validate, and soothe feelings. These factors are doubly evaluated: as an agent (SIERC-A) and as a target (SIERC-B). The scale showed good psychometric properties and adequate internal consistency. It presents convergent validity with emotional competences, and divergent validity with emotional dysregulation and insecure attachment. At a dyadic level, there is an actor-partner effect of IER on couple adjustment. Finally, IER seems to predict relationship satisfaction, sexual satisfaction, and life satisfaction. Discussion This new instrument can be a useful tool for assessment and intervention in couple therapy and research.

Psychometric Properties of Interpersonal Regulation Questionnaire for Chinese College Students: Gender Differences and Implications for Well-Being.

Intrapersonal emotion dysregulation has been found to be a transdiagnostic predictor in the development of almost all affective disorders. Interpersonal resources are also involved in achieving people's emotion regulation goals. The Interpersonal Regulation Questionnaire (IRQ) has been developed to assess the tendency and efficacy of people using external resources to help manage their emotions. Under the restrictions of the COVID-19 pandemic, the role of interpersonal emotion regulation in individuals' adjustment and well-being remains unclear. This study aimed to investigate the optimal factor structure of the IRQ in Chinese culture using an exploratory structural equation modeling approach and to examine the associations between interpersonal emotion regulation, tested by the IRQ, and young people's intrapersonal emotion dysregulation and social and emotional well-being. The sample consisted of 556 college students aged from 17 to 31 from Mainland China. Factor analyses suggested that the four-factor structure was the optimal model for the current data. Females reported a higher tendency to use external resources to regulate their negative emotions and higher efficacy in regulating negative emotions. The Chinese version of the IRQ (C-IRQ) presented adequate psychometric properties and would be a useful tool for measuring interpersonal emotion regulation behaviors.

The Effectiveness of Interpersonal Emotion Regulation and the Role of Anxiety in Parent-adolescent Relationships

The Effectiveness of Interpersonal Emotion Regulation and the Role of Anxiety in Parent-adolescent Relationships

Do targets of ostracism truthfully communicate their emotional reactions to sources?

Ostracism triggers negative emotions such as sadness, anger, and hurt feelings. Do targets of ostracism truthfully share their emotions with the sources of ostracism? Drawing on past research on social-functional accounts of emotions and interpersonal emotion regulation, we investigated the possibility that targets may misrepresent their emotions (i.e., gaming emotions). We conducted three experiments (N = 1058; two pre-registered) using an online ball-tossing game, in which participants were randomly assigned to be included or ostracized. Consistent with the literature, we found that ostracized individuals were more hurt, sad, and angry than included individuals. However, we found little and inconsistent evidence that ostracized (vs included) individuals misrepresented their emotional reactions to the sources. Further, Bayesian analyses offered more support against misrepresentation of emotions. These findings suggest that targets of ostracism truthfully communicated their social pain to the sources.

Clients' emotional experience as a dynamic context for client-therapist physiological synchrony.

Client-therapist physiological synchrony has recently attracted significant empirical attention. Recent theoretical accounts propose that physiological linkages should not be considered a stable dyadic virtue but rather a dynamic process that depends on the situational context in which they transpire. The present study adopted a "momentary" (vs. "global") approach that focuses on therapist-client physiological synchrony over relatively short periods of time. These temporal data served to examine the interplay between patterns of synchrony (in-phase vs. antiphase) and clients' momentary emotional experiences (inhibited/unproductive, productive, and positive). Synchrony was assessed by measuring respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA), an autonomic index that is known to be associated with interpersonal emotion regulation. Data were drawn from 28 clients undergoing a 16-session supportive-expressive dynamic therapy for depression. Clients' and therapists' electrocardiography were recorded in five sessions; clients' emotional experiences were coded at the speech-turn level. After each session, the clients also completed the session evaluation scale. Client-therapist dyads had greater momentary RSA synchrony than would be predicted by chance. Compared to moments of unproductive emotional experience, greater antiphase synchrony was observed during moments of productive emotional experiences. In addition, compared to moments of unproductive emotional experience, greater in-phase and antiphase synchrony were observed during moments of positive emotional experiences. These patterns of synchrony were associated with clients' favorable evaluations of the session. By considering the dynamic nature of synchrony, these findings provide a fine-grained picture of physiological synchrony and its potential effects on therapy. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

Interpersonal emotion regulation flexibility: Effects on affect in daily life.

Although the emotion regulation (ER) literature is vast, two emerging areas are particularly noteworthy. First, as opposed to the traditional blanket characterization of ER strategies as adaptive or maladaptive, theoretical models have highlighted the adaptability of greater ER flexibility (i.e., flexibly implementing ER strategies based on the context). Second, instead of focusing on how individuals independently regulate emotions, researchers are increasingly examining how ER can occur with the help of another person, a process known as interpersonal emotion regulation (IER). This study is the first to integrate these two emerging areas of research and to apply the two main theories of ER flexibility to investigate the effect of IER flexibility on negative and positive affect. A sample of 384 adults (Mage = 38.58 years, SD = 13.82) residing predominantly in North America completed this 14-day daily diary study. As expected, greater repertoire and greater responsivity to feedback were associated with more adaptive affective outcomes (i.e., less negative affect and/or more positive affect). However, unexpected findings also emerged: Greater context sensitivity did not significantly predict affect, and the covariation of within-strategy variability and environmental variability predicted higher negative affect. Findings provide initial evidence that IER adaptiveness is influenced by one's ability to flexibly implement IER strategies (i.e., IER flexibility). The results also highlight the components of IER flexibility (namely greater repertoire and responsivity to feedback) that predict daily adaptive affective consequences. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

The intrapersonal and interpersonal consequences of a new experimental manipulation of co-rumination.

Co-rumination is a form of interpersonal emotion regulation wherein dyads engage in extensive, cyclical conversations regarding the causes and consequences of problems and associated negative emotions. In the present investigation, we leveraged the biopsychosocial model of challenge and threat to elucidate the intrapersonal costs and interpersonal benefits of co-rumination. To do so, we developed the first direct experimental manipulation of co-rumination using a multimethod, dyadic approach to test the effects of co-rumination on both dyad members. Friend dyads (N = 172) engaged in conversation during which one dyad member (i.e., the discloser) divulged and discussed their most stressful, extradyadic problem with their friend (i.e., the responder). Dyads either engaged in co-rumination or talked about the problem as they would naturally. Validating the experimental paradigm, results revealed a pattern of intrapersonal costs (stressed/upset feelings and rumination) and interpersonal benefits (perceived partner responsiveness) of co-rumination that replicated and extended past research. Regarding challenge and threat, results indicated that female disclosers in the co-rumination (vs. natural) condition exhibited physiological responses corresponding to greater psychological threat (i.e., greater total peripheral resistance). This research contributes to a growing body of literature identifying co-rumination as a vulnerability factor that exacerbates stress, potentially leading to poor downstream health outcomes. Furthermore, these results highlight the importance of examining co-rumination from a dyadic perspective, as inter- and intrapersonal effects varied as a function of whether individuals were disclosing or responding during the problem talk discussion. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Buffering Against the Social and Emotional Challenges during COVID-19 Lockdown: A Guideline of Online Communication for Solo-dwellers

COVID-19 has severely damaged people's health worldwide, so governments adopted lockdown policies to control the spread of it. However, this policy threatens people's social and emotional well-being, especially among solo-dwellers. I found online communication a promising method to promote solo-dwellers mental health, but it didnt always work well. Therefore, this research aims to identify reasons why online communication fails to improve peoples mental health, and propose a guideline targeting these damaging factors. With this guideline, this research aims to help people survive the mental crisis during lockdown by digital communication. Given that online communication involves social interactions and regulating each others emotions, I hypothesized that the problems and troubleshooting solutions might center around these two facets, so I read and analyzed previous literature on interpersonal social interaction and interpersonal emotion regulation. Through literature review, I found online communication has its drawbacks such as low adaptation to and preference for online activities and high risk of ruminating together and neglecting others emotional needs. To overcome these drawbacks, I proposed a series of psychological procedures such as promoting shared reality and interpretation flexibility to improve social interactions and advocating co-reappraisal and responsiveness to improve the quality of emotional support. In conclusion, I proposed a guideline of online communication for solo-dwellers, targeting their skills of social interaction and emotion regulation, aiming to educate them on how to benefit from online activities. What is more, skills suggested in this guideline can help people whenever they go through a hard time.

THE CHANGING PARADIGM OF COHABITATION: INTERPLAY BETWEEN SOCIAL NORMS, EMOTIONAL INTERDEPENDENCE AND SUBJECTIVE WELL BEING

Objectives: The present study attempts to understand how the social norms concerning the idea of cohabitation and different patterns of emotional interdependence affect an individuals subjective well-being in cohabiting relationships. Method: Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 6 participants (three males and three females) aged 21-48 (n=6) in a cohabiting relationship for more than eight months and residing in Indian metropolitan cities. A semi-structured interview schedule with twenty-six questions was designed and validated by three experts. Results: A review of audio recordings, transcripts, and process notes revealed thirteen sub-themes listed under six global themes that emerged from the qualitative analysis: Emotional Covariation Interpersonal Emotion Dynamic Societys Standpoint Social Support Individual Perspective, and Well Being. Conclusion: Examining emotional interdependence, social norms, and subjective well-being, we drew attention to several vital factors of interpersonal emotion dynamics and individual versus relational well-being. Participants views about cohabitation were recorded. A low social acceptance of cohabitation led to significant distress and feelings of anxiety, fear, and uncertainty. The role of social support in higher levels of affective well-being is also analyzed.

Displaying pride: Variation by social context, ethnic heritage, and gender?

Pride is universal; however, the complexities linked to its social status functions and implications for social relationships suggest the possibility of variation in its display. Drawing from empirical evidence, this study examined whether displayed pride would vary by social context (i.e., whether the target was a competitor or a loved one), ethnic heritage (i.e., membership in individualistic or collectivistic cultural groups) and by gender. Young adults (N = 145) verbally described a pride experience to an imagined competitor, loved one, stranger or in a no-context control condition. Results showed similarity in displayed pride across the four contexts. However, some ethnic group and gender variations were observed. Latino/a/x Americans displayed less pride verbally than European Americans while women displayed more than men. These findings contribute to a better understanding of how people manage the display of pride and suggest that ethnic and gendered motivations for managing pride displays are relevant to a comprehensive understanding of interpersonal emotion regulation.

Emotion-regulatory chatbots for enhancing consumer servicing: An interpersonal emotion management approach

To reduce service staff's burden in customer servicing and improve the performance of automatic service recovery, we propose an emotion-regulatory chatbot for service recovery applications drawing on interpersonal emotion management (IEM) theory. In addition, we develop a model to examine the underlying mechanisms through which perceived IEM strategies influence consumers’ emotions and behavioral intentions. Our experimental results verify the effectiveness of IEM strategies. We find that appraisals and consumers’ post-recovery emotions sequentially mediate the relationship between perceived emotion regulatory strategies and positive word-of-mouth (PWOM).

How to Improve Others’ Emotions: Reappraise and be Responsive

People often try to improve others’ emotions. However, it is unclear which interpersonal emotion regulation strategies are most effective and why. In 121 candid dyadic conversations between undergraduate students via video conferencing, target participants recounted a stressful event to regulator participants. Three strategies used by regulators during these conversations to change targets’ emotions were obtained from the regulator after the conversation: extrinsic reappraisal, extrinsic suppression, and extrinsic acceptance. Perceived regulator responsiveness was obtained from targets to examine the social consequences of extrinsic emotion regulation and its mediating role in successful extrinsic emotion regulation. We found that regulators’ extrinsic reappraisal use was associated with improved target emotions measured across two distinct classes of outcomes: targets’ emotions during the conversation and targets’ perception that the regulator improved their emotions. Regulators’ extrinsic suppression and acceptance, in contrast, were not related with improved target emotions or perceptions of improvement. Instead, all extrinsic regulatory strategies were associated with improved targets’ emotions when mediated by targets’ perceptions of regulator responsiveness. Finally, observer-ratings of regulators’ extrinsic reappraisal and suppression use were found to be consistent with regulators’ self-ratings and follow the same pattern of results on the outcome measures. These findings provide insight into why the social regulation of emotions can succeed or fail and hold implications for interventions aimed at guiding people toward more successfully improving others’ emotions.

Emotions and Emotion Regulation in Family Relationships

Research shows that emotions and emotion regulation strategies are important variables for family functioning. The aim of the present article was to review the literature on the role of emotions and emotion regulation in couple relationships and parent-child interaction. The paper presents the most important theoretical models on emotions and family functioning and provides an overview of research investigating the association of positive emotions, negative emotions and emotion regulation with family relationships outcomes. First, we provided an overview on the functionality and social function of positive and negative emotions. Second, we investigated the role of positive and negative emotions in couple relationship and parent-child interaction. Third, we emphasized the role of specific intrapersonal and interpersonal emotion regulation strategies in couple relationships. Finally, we outlined the role of parents in child’s emotional development. The conclusions of our review support the importance of including emotions and emotion regulation strategies in counselling programs for couples and families.

I wanna hold your hand: Handholding is preferred over gentle stroking for emotion regulation.

Social touch is an important form of interpersonal emotion regulation. In recent years, the emotion regulation effects of two types of touch have been studied extensively: handholding and stroking (specifically of skin with C-tactile afferents on the forearm, i.e. C-touch). While some studies compare their effectiveness, with mixed results, no study to date has examined which type of touch is subjectively preferred. Given the potential bidirectional communication provided by handholding, we hypothesized that to regulate intense emotions, participants would prefer handholding. In four pre-registered online studies (total N = 287), participants rated handholding and stroking, presented in short videos, as emotion regulation methods. Study 1 examined touch reception preference in hypothetical situations. Study 2 replicated Study 1 while also examining touch provision preferences. Study 3 examined touch reception preferences of participants with blood/injection phobia in hypothetical injection situations. Study 4 examined types of touch participants who have recently given birth recalled receiving during childbirth and their hypothetical preferences. In all studies, participants preferred handholding over stroking; participants who have recently given birth reported receiving handholding more than stroking. This was especially evident in Studies 1-3 in emotionally intense situations. These results demonstrate that handholding is preferred over stroking as a form of emotion regulation, especially in intense situations, and support the importance of two-way sensory communication for emotion regulation via touch. We discuss the results and possible additional mechanisms, including top-down processing and cultural priming.