Emotion regulation choice: a broad examination of external factors

Emotion regulation choices are known to be profoundly consequential across affective, cognitive, and social domains. Prior studies have identified two important external factors of emotion regulation choice: stimulus intensity and reappraisal affordances. However, whether there are other external factors of emotion regulation choice and how these factors contribute to emotion regulation choice when considered simultaneously is not yet clear. The current studies addressed these gaps by examining the relations between emotion regulation choice (distraction vs. reappraisal) and self-reported stimulus intensity, reappraisal affordances, and several other factors including discrete emotions and distraction affordances. Across three studies using different databases of standardised images to enhance generalizability, our results showed that in the context of our experiments, reappraisal affordances were strongly associated with emotion regulation choice (greater reappraisal affordances predicted higher use of reappraisal). Further, stimulus intensity was independently associated with emotion regulation choice in each study. Our results also demonstrated that the discrete emotion of disgust (but not other discrete emotions) is a previously unidentified external factor of emotion regulation choice. We discuss the implications of the current findings.情绪调节选择在情感、认知与社会领域均具有深远影响，此结论已得到学界广泛证实。此前的研究已明确了影响情绪调节选择的两类核心外部因素：刺激强度（stimulus intensity）与认知重评可供性（reappraisal affordances）。但目前仍存在两大研究空白：其一，是否存在其他尚未被发现的情绪调节选择外部影响因素；其二，当多类因素被同时纳入考量时，它们各自如何作用于情绪调节选择。本系列研究通过考察情绪调节选择（分心策略vs.认知重评策略）与自我报告的刺激强度、认知重评可供性，以及离散情绪（discrete emotions）、分心可供性（distraction affordances）等多项其他因素之间的关联，填补了上述研究缺口。为提升研究的可推广性，三项实验均采用了不同的标准化图像数据库开展研究。结果显示，在本实验情境中，认知重评可供性与情绪调节选择存在显著正相关：认知重评可供性越高，个体越倾向于使用认知重评策略。此外，在所有三项研究中，刺激强度均与情绪调节选择存在独立关联。本研究还发现，厌恶这一离散情绪（而非其他离散情绪）是此前未被学界识别的情绪调节选择外部影响因素。文末对本研究结果的理论与实践启示进行了讨论。