Emotional regulation strategies in daily life: the intensity of emotions and regulation choice

Frontiers in Psychology

Psychology

Anna Szuster¹  Magdalena Kozubal²  Adrianna Wielgopolan³ 

[1] Faculty of Psychology, University of Warsaw, Warsaw, Poland;null;orcid.org/0000-0002-1834-1941;

关键词: emotion regulation strategies;    rumination;    reappraisal;    acceptance;    distraction;    suppression;    intensity of emotions;    daily diary study;   

DOI  :  10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1218694

 received in 2023-05-07, accepted in 2023-07-25,  发布年份 2023

来源: Frontiers

【 摘 要 】

ObjectiveEmotion regulation is an adaptive ability affecting people’s physical and mental health, quality of life and functioning. In the present study we focused on the influence of the intensity of experienced emotions on emotion regulation strategies (ERS) that are applied in everyday life.MethodsFor 7 days the participants kept an online diary where every day they described the situation which had aroused their strongest negative emotions. Next, they identified the emotions, their intensity and the type of applied strategies (acceptance vs. reappraisal vs. rumination vs. distraction vs. suppression). The study involved 88 people N = 88, which gives 538 observations.ResultsThe obtained results indicate that the intensity of emotions affects the choice of regulation strategies. When the intensity increases, people are more likely to choose the rumination strategy and less likely to choose the reappraisal strategy. However, the expected relationship between the intensity and the number of regulation strategies was not confirmed. In turn, it was gender (male) that turned out to be associated with a greater number of strategies used.ConclusionThe concern of this research was to look at making regulatory decisions in personally relevant and complex everyday situations. Although the emotions experienced in response to a difficult situation were varied, the intensity of the emotional experience was an important factor determining the choice of a regulation strategy. It indicates that this emotional dimension is a basic and determining aspect in people’s regulatory capabilities. These results also indicate that perhaps men in a situation perceived as stressful and worthy of emotional involvement use more regulatory strategies than women. These findings may find an application in all kinds of psychological interventions (e.g., psychotherapy, anger management therapies).

【 授权许可】

Unknown   
Copyright © 2023 Kozubal, Szuster and Wielgopolan.