Examining the Physiological, Cognitive, and Physiological Effects of Experimentally Manipulated Suppression in the Lab, 2014

181 dyads (91 strangers; 90 romantic couples). Mostly undergraduate students recruited from the University of Rochester, NY, USA. Generally, dyads came to the lab, completed baseline self-report measures, affixed to physiological sensors that measured cardiovascular reactivity (heart rate, blood pressure, pre-ejection period, cardiac output, stroke volume, total peripheral resistance, heart rate variability). Then participants watched a negatively valenced video. After, participants were told they would be discussing their emotional reactions to the video with another participant. One person from the dyad (the regulator) was randomly assigned to receive additional emotion regulation instructions (expressive suppression vs. expression). Participants assigned to the partner role received no additional instructions. They were simply told to converse with their partner about their emotional reactions to the video and were unaware of the instructions given to regulators. After receiving interaction instructions, regulators and partners remained in their private testing rooms for an anticipatory period during which they were given 3 min to “gather their thoughts” and prepare for the upcoming conversation. They then engaged in a 5 min video-taped conversation about the video. After the conversation participants returned to their private testing rooms for a recovery period and to complete questionnaires.