Look before you regulate: Differential perceptual strategies underlying expressive suppression and cognitive reappraisal.

Successful emotion regulation is important for maintaining psychological well-being. Although it is known that emotion regulation strategies, such as cognitive reappraisal and expressive suppression, may have divergent consequences for emotional responses, the cognitive processes underlying these differences remain unclear. Here we used eye-tracking to investigate the role of attentional deployment in emotion regulation success. We hypothesized that differences in the deployment of attention to emotional areas of complex visual scenes may be a contributing factor to the differential effects of these two strategies on emotional experience. Eye-movements, pupil size, and self-reported negative emotional experience were measured while healthy young adult participants viewed negative IAPS images and regulated their emotional responses using either cognitive reappraisal or expressive suppression. Consistent with prior work, reappraisers reported feeling significantly less negative than suppressers when regulating emotion as compared to a baseline condition. Across both groups, participants looked away from emotional areas during emotion regulation, an effect that was more pronounced for suppressers. Critically, irrespective of emotion regulation strategy, participants who looked toward emotional areas of a complex visual scene were more likely to experience emotion regulation success. Taken together, these results demonstrate that attentional deployment varies across emotion regulation strategies and that successful emotion regulation depends on the extent to which people look toward emotional content in complex visual scenes. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Spontaneous emotion regulation during evaluated speaking tasks: Associations with negative affect, anxiety expression, memory, and physiological responding.

In these studies, the correlates of spontaneously using expressive suppression and cognitive reappraisal during stressful speeches were examined. Spontaneous emotion regulation means that there were no instructions of how to regulate emotions during the speech. Instead, participants indicated after the speech to what extent they used self-motivated expressive suppression or reappraisal during the task. The results show that suppression is associated with less anxiety expression, greater physiological responding, and less memory for the speech while having no impact on negative affect. In contrast, reappraisal has no impact on physiology and memory while leading to less expression and affect. Taken together, spontaneous emotion regulation in active coping tasks has similar consequences as experimentally induced emotion regulation in passive tasks. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Emotion regulation and decision making under risk and uncertainty.

It is well established that emotion plays a key role in human social and economic decision making. The recent literature on emotion regulation (ER), however, highlights that humans typically make efforts to control emotion experiences. This leaves open the possibility that decision effects previously attributed to acute emotion may be a consequence of acute ER strategies such as cognitive reappraisal and expressive suppression. In Study 1, we manipulated ER of laboratory-induced fear and disgust, and found that the cognitive reappraisal of these negative emotions promotes risky decisions (reduces risk aversion) in the Balloon Analogue Risk Task and is associated with increased performance in the prehunch/hunch period of the Iowa Gambling Task. In Study 2, we found that naturally occurring negative emotions also increase risk aversion in Balloon Analogue Risk Task, but the incidental use of cognitive reappraisal of emotions impedes this effect. We offer evidence that the increased effectiveness of cognitive reappraisal in reducing the experience of emotions underlies its beneficial effects on decision making. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A randomized controlled trial of emotionally expressive writing for women with metastatic breast cancer.

Objective: To test the effects of emotionally expressive writing in a randomized controlled trial of metastatic breast cancer patients and to determine whether effects of the intervention varied as a function of perceived social support or time since metastatic diagnosis. Design: Women (N = 62) living with Stage IV breast cancer were randomly assigned to write about cancer-related emotions (EMO; n = 31) or the facts of their diagnosis and treatment (CTL; n = 31). Participants wrote at home for four 20-min sessions within a 3-week interval. Main Outcome Measures: Depressive symptoms, cancer-related intrusive thoughts, somatic symptoms, and sleep quality at 3 months postintervention. Results: No significant main effects of experimental condition were observed. A significant condition × social support interaction emerged on intrusive thoughts; EMO writing was associated with reduced intrusive thoughts for women reporting low emotional support (η2 = .15). Significant condition × time since metastatic diagnosis interactions were also observed for somatic symptoms and sleep disturbances. Relative to CTL, EMO participants who were more recently diagnosed had fewer somatic symptoms (η2 = .10), whereas EMO participants with longer diagnosis duration exhibited increases in sleep disturbances (η2 = .09). Conclusion: Although there was no main effect of expressive writing on health among the current metastatic breast cancer sample, expressive writing may be beneficial for a subset of metastatic patients (including women with low levels of emotional support or who have been recently diagnosed) and contraindicated for others (i.e., those who have been living with the diagnosis for years). (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Attitudinal consequences of commitment to unpleasant behavior.

"This study tested a 'nonobvious' hypothesis derived from Festinger's theory of cognitive dissonance: given the fact that a person is committed to an unpleasant behavior, he tends to increase his disliking for that behavior more if he is exposed to information against engaging in it than if he is exposed to information favorable to engaging in it… . the… hypothesis… was supported." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Comparison processes in social judgment: Mechanisms and consequences.

This article proposes an informational perspective on comparison consequences in social judgment. It is argued that to understand the variable consequences of comparison, one has to examine what target knowledge is activated during the comparison process. These informational underpinnings are conceptualized in a selective accessibility model that distinguishes 2 fundamental comparison processes. Similarity testing selectively makes accessible knowledge indicating target-standard similarity, whereas dissimilarity testing selectively makes accessible knowledge indicating target-standard dissimilarity. These respective subsets of target knowledge build the basis for subsequent target evaluations, so that similarity testing typically leads to assimilation whereas dissimilarity testing typically leads to contrast. The model is proposed as a unifying conceptual framework that integrates diverse findings on comparison consequences in social judgment. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The effects of fear arousal and suppression of fear upon social perception.

A research was designed to study the effects of fear arousal and suppression of fear upon social perception. "It was hypothesized that individuals subjected to a fear-producing situation would tend to project their feelings upon some social objects, and further, instructions to inhibit emotional reactions would increase the amount of projection." Sixty male volunteers from introductory psychology classes were randomly assigned to one of three groups: Control, Fear-Expression and Fear-Suppression. "The data indicate that the arousal of fear results in a tendency to project fear onto a stimulus object in the environment. The results are also consistent with the hypothesis that suppression facilitates the tendency to project although, in this latter instance, one is less confident in rejecting the null hypothesis. Several alternative explanations of the effects of the suppression variable were considered and the role of cognitive variables in the projection process were discussed." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Social norms and the expression and suppression of prejudice: The struggle for internalization.

The authors studied social norms and prejudice using M. Sherif and C. W. Sherif's (1953) group norm theory of attitudes. In 7 studies (N=1, 504), social norms were measured and manipulated to examine their effects on prejudice; both normatively proscribed and normatively prescribed forms of prejudice were included. The public expression of prejudice toward 105 social groups was very highly correlated with social approval of that expression. Participants closely adhere to social norms when expressing prejudice, evaluating scenarios of discrimination, and reacting to hostile jokes. The authors reconceptualized the source of motivation to suppress prejudice in terms of identifying with new reference groups and adapting oneself to fit new norms. Suppression scales seem to measure patterns of concern about group norms rather than personal commitments to reducing prejudice; high suppressors are strong norm followers. Compared with low suppressors, high suppressors follow normative rules more closely and are more strongly influenced by shifts in local social norms. There is much value in continuing the study of normative influence and self-adaptation to social norms, particularly in terms of the group norm theory of attitudes. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Emotion regulation in schizophrenia: Affective, social, and clinical correlates of suppression and reappraisal.

Individuals can exert considerable control over their experience and expression of emotion by applying different regulatory strategies such as reappraisal and suppression. However, although it has been suggested that blunted affect in schizophrenia, characterized by markedly reduced emotion expressivity alongside apparently normal emotion experience, may reflect overuse of suppression, no study to date has assessed self-reported use of these different emotion regulatory strategies in relation to this disorder. In the present study, 41 individuals with schizophrenia and 38 control participants completed a self-report measure that differentiated between use of suppression and reappraisal. Symptom severity and various aspects of cognitive and psychosocial functioning were also assessed. Relative to controls, individuals with schizophrenia did not differ with regard to their reported use of suppression and reappraisal, and reported use of both strategies was unrelated to clinical ratings of blunted affect. However, whereas (lower) use of reappraisal was associated with greater social function impairment for both groups, only for controls was (greater) use of suppression associated with reduced social functioning. Implications for understanding blunted affect and social dysfunction in schizophrenia are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The downside of being talented.

Comments on D. Lubinski and C. P. Benbow's (see record 2000-13324-013) discussion of individual differences and optimal development of exceptional talent, and E. Winner's (see record 2000-13324-015) discussion of giftedness. The articles, which have direct implications for the development of talent in children and adults, left J. A. Plucker and J. J. Levy with one serious concern: Practitioners could easily infer that being talented is an overwhelmingly positive experience with little downside. Research suggests otherwise. Plucker and Levy strongly advocate for improvements in the way psychologists and educators develop talent or--more generally--build on individuals' strengths, but any serious discussion of talent development should address strategies that help to mediate the negative consequences of excellence. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Social consequences of mental illness.

The person who is publicly known to have had a hospitalization for "mental illness" was inferred to be vulnerable to a sharp depreciation of social esteem in a wide range of social roles. Cross-validation across samples of Ss and across time indicated that the frame of reference of the normal adult population, as to the role status of ex-mental-hospital patients, is both general (widely consensual) and specific (differentiated from other negative social roles that evoke anxiety and fear and carry a social stigma). 2 broad dimensions were postulated to underlie the evaluative complex for ex-mental-hospital patients—an "anxiety-fear" dimension and a "sympathy-contempt" dimension. (32 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Emotion regulation and culture: Are the social consequences of emotion suppression culture-specific?

Emotional suppression has been associated with generally negative social consequences (Butler et al., 2003; Gross & John, 2003). A cultural perspective suggests, however, that these consequences may be moderated by cultural values. We tested this hypothesis in a two-part study, and found that, for Americans holding Western-European values, habitual suppression was associated with self-protective goals and negative emotion. In addition, experimentally elicited suppression resulted in reduced interpersonal responsiveness during face-to-face interaction, along with negative partner-perceptions and hostile behavior. These deleterious effects were reduced when individuals with more Asian values suppressed, and these reductions were mediated by cultural differences in the responsiveness of the suppressors. These findings suggest that many of suppression's negative social impacts may be moderated by cultural values. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Cognitive consequences of forced compliance.

Atest of some hypotheses generated by Festinger's theory of cognitive dissonance, viz., that "if a person is induced to do or say something which is contrary to his private opinion, there will be a tendency for him to change his opinion so as to bring it into correspondence with what he has done or said. The larger the pressure used to elicit the overt behavior… the weaker will be the… tendency… . The results strongly corroborate the theory." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

To see ourselves as others see us: An experimental integration of the intra and interpersonal consequences of self-protection in social anxiety disorder.

The current study investigated the mechanism through which safety behaviors perpetuate perceived and actual negative social outcomes hypothesized to maintain social anxiety disorder (SAD). Eighty individuals diagnosed with generalized SAD took part in a “getting acquainted” conversation with a trained experimental confederate. Participants were then randomly assigned to either a safety behavior reduction plus exposure condition (SB + EXP) or a graduated exposure (EXP) control condition and completed a 2nd conversation with the same interaction partner. Mediation analyses revealed that participants instructed to reduce their idiosyncratic safety behaviors displayed significantly greater increases in both perceived and actual positive interpersonal outcomes relative to the EXP group. However, whereas the safety behavior manipulation influenced participants' appraisals of their partner's reaction to them through reducing self-judgments about the visibility of anxiety-related behaviors, in reality, the SB + EXP group elicited more positive partner reactions because they displayed a greater increase in social approach behavior. Thus, although both parties recognized positive changes in the social exchange following the safety behavior manipulation, different sources of social information accounted for participant versus partner interpersonal judgments. The current findings point to the potential value of considering both the intra and interpersonal consequences of safety behaviors in SAD. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Temporal framing and persuasion to adopt preventive health behavior: Moderating effects of individual differences in consideration of future consequences on sunscreen use.

Objective: Previous work on temporal framing of health communications has focused upon detection behaviors that possess an inherent immediate risk of negative consequences. The present studies evaluate the role of temporal frame for a preventive behavior, using sunscreen. Design: Two experimental field studies manipulated the temporal frame in which positive and negative consequences of using sunscreen were presented. Main Outcome Measures: Cognitive responses, intention, and behavior (experiment 2). Results: Consistent with hypotheses, Experiment 1 showed that individual differences in consideration of future consequences (CFC; A. Strathman, F. Gleicher, D. S. Boninger, & C. S. Edwards, 1994) moderated (a) the processing of long- versus short-term consequences and (b) the persuasive impact of the different temporal frames on behavioral intentions. In Experiment 2, the balance of positive versus negative thoughts generated by reading the persuasive communications was shown to mediate the effects of the Temporal Frame × CFC interaction on a behavioral measure. Conclusion: Findings extend previous work by demonstrating the importance of individual differences in CFC to the processing of health communication about a preventive health behavior and to a behavioral outcome. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Attentional consequences of object appearance and disappearance.

This study compared the attentional effects of object appearances (onsets) and disappearances (offsets) in moderately complex displays. Four experiments showed that onsets produce the inhibition of return (IOR) effect that has been found with simpler displays. In contrast, although offsets did produce inhibitory effects, these effects did not follow the spatial or temporal pattern of IOR. Two further experiments used a very salient object disappearance to determine whether the typical pattern for IOR could be instantiated; it was not. The results indicate that object appearances are more potent perceptual events than object disappearances. In addition, object disappearances have different attentional consequences than object appearances: Disappearances provoke earlier and spatially narrower inhibition. The results are consistent with the view that inhibition serves a functional role in increasing the efficiency of visual search processes. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Cardiovascular responses of embarrassment and effects of emotional suppression in a social setting.

The cardiovascular effects of embarrassment and of attempts to suppress embarrassment were examined. In 2 studies, embarrassment was associated with substantial increases in systolic and diastolic blood pressure which monotonically increased over a 2-minute embarrassment period. In contrast, heart rate (HR) rose significantly during the 1st minute of embarrassment but returned to baseline levels during the 2nd minute. This pattern of reactivity may be distinctive. The effects of trying to suppress emotion in an interpersonal situation were also tested. Relative to the no-suppression group, suppression participants showed greater blood pressure during embarrassment and during posttask recovery. Suppression did not significantly affect HR. Possible mechanisms for these results, including passive coping, are discussed. Nonverbal behavior was also examined. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Burnout among Norwegian police officers: Potential antecedents and consequences.

This investigation examined potential antecedents and consequences of burnout in a large sample of Norwegian police officers. Data were collected via anonymously completed questionnaires. Three burnout components considered were emotional exhaustion, cynicism, and low professional efficacy. Work demands emerged in hierarchical regression analyses as the strongest predictor of each burnout component. With the burnout components as predictors, hierarchical regression analyses indicated that burnout components had significant relationships with a variety of outcomes (work, work-family, psychological health, physical health). Work demands, however, had a stronger relationship with both work and work-family outcomes than did the burnout components, the latter having the strongest relationship with indicators of psychological health. Emotional exhaustion had significant and independent relationships with most of the outcome measures. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Written Emotional Disclosure Buffers the Effects of Social Constraints on Distress Among Cancer Patients.

The aims of the present study were to examine whether written emotional disclosure would reduce distress among cancer patients and whether it would buffer the effects of high levels of social constraint (negative social responses to patients' expressions of emotion regarding their cancer) on distress. Cancer patients (N=104) were randomly assigned to write about their emotions regarding their cancer 20 min a day for 3 days or to write about a nonemotional topic. They completed questionnaires at baseline and 6 months postintervention. Results showed that written disclosure buffered the effects of social constraints on stress at the 6-month follow-up and that avoidance partly mediated these effects. The present data reinforce the notion that interventions should be tailored to patients' needs. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Book review: Perfectionism: Theory, research, and treatment.

Review of book: Perfectionism: Theory, research, and treatment, Gordon L. Flett and Paul L. Hewitt (Eds), See record 2002-02485-000. Washington DC: American Psychological Assocation, 2002, 435 pp. Hardcover. ISBN 1-55798-842-0. Reviewed by Peter Bieling. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)