Emotion regulation: Affective, cognitive, and social consequences

Emotion regulation: Affective, cognitive, and social consequences

2002 | JAMES J. GROSS
The article by James J. Gross, titled "Emotion Regulation: Affective, Cognitive, and Social Consequences," explores the effectiveness of different strategies for regulating emotions. Gross's process model of emotion regulation suggests that strategies acting early in the emotion-generative process should have different outcomes compared to those acting later. The review focuses on two common strategies for down-regulating emotions: reappraisal and suppression. **Reappraisal** involves changing how one construes a situation to reduce its emotional impact, while **suppression** involves inhibiting outward signs of inner feelings. Experimental and individual-difference studies show that reappraisal is often more effective than suppression. Reappraisal decreases both emotion experience and behavioral expression without impacting memory, whereas suppression decreases behavioral expression but not emotion experience and impairs memory. Suppression also increases physiological responses for both the regulator and their social partners. **Affective Consequences**: Reappraisal decreases negative and positive emotion experience and expression, while suppression has no impact on negative emotion experience but decreases positive emotion experience. Individual differences in suppression and reappraisal are associated with better or worse memory, with suppression linked to poorer memory and reappraisal to better memory. **Cognitive Consequences**: Suppression is cognitively costly, leading to decrements in memory, while reappraisal has no impact on memory. This suggests that suppression requires continuous self-regulatory effort, whereas reappraisal does not. **Social Consequences**: Suppression leads to decreased positive emotion expression and responsiveness, resulting in increased physiological responses in social partners. Reappraisal, on the other hand, maintains positive emotion expression and responsiveness, leading to better social support and social functioning. **Future Research Directions**: The article suggests five areas for future research: broadening the measurement of psychophysiological consequences, expanding the focus to other forms of emotion regulation, making explicit links to psychopathology, assessing long-term health consequences, and relating emotion regulation to other forms of self-regulation. In conclusion, the article highlights the importance of choosing effective emotion regulation strategies, with reappraisal generally showing more favorable outcomes compared to suppression. However, the choice between the two may depend on the specific context and the nature of the emotion being regulated.The article by James J. Gross, titled "Emotion Regulation: Affective, Cognitive, and Social Consequences," explores the effectiveness of different strategies for regulating emotions. Gross's process model of emotion regulation suggests that strategies acting early in the emotion-generative process should have different outcomes compared to those acting later. The review focuses on two common strategies for down-regulating emotions: reappraisal and suppression. **Reappraisal** involves changing how one construes a situation to reduce its emotional impact, while **suppression** involves inhibiting outward signs of inner feelings. Experimental and individual-difference studies show that reappraisal is often more effective than suppression. Reappraisal decreases both emotion experience and behavioral expression without impacting memory, whereas suppression decreases behavioral expression but not emotion experience and impairs memory. Suppression also increases physiological responses for both the regulator and their social partners. **Affective Consequences**: Reappraisal decreases negative and positive emotion experience and expression, while suppression has no impact on negative emotion experience but decreases positive emotion experience. Individual differences in suppression and reappraisal are associated with better or worse memory, with suppression linked to poorer memory and reappraisal to better memory. **Cognitive Consequences**: Suppression is cognitively costly, leading to decrements in memory, while reappraisal has no impact on memory. This suggests that suppression requires continuous self-regulatory effort, whereas reappraisal does not. **Social Consequences**: Suppression leads to decreased positive emotion expression and responsiveness, resulting in increased physiological responses in social partners. Reappraisal, on the other hand, maintains positive emotion expression and responsiveness, leading to better social support and social functioning. **Future Research Directions**: The article suggests five areas for future research: broadening the measurement of psychophysiological consequences, expanding the focus to other forms of emotion regulation, making explicit links to psychopathology, assessing long-term health consequences, and relating emotion regulation to other forms of self-regulation. In conclusion, the article highlights the importance of choosing effective emotion regulation strategies, with reappraisal generally showing more favorable outcomes compared to suppression. However, the choice between the two may depend on the specific context and the nature of the emotion being regulated.
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