Search

Recent theory conceptualizes emotion regulation as occurring across three stages: (a) identifying the need to regulate, (b) selecting a strategy, and (c) implementing that strategy to modify emotions. Yet, measurement of emotion regulation has not kept pace with these theoretical advances. In particular, widely used global self-report questionnaires are often assumed to index people's typical strategy selection tendencies. However, it is unclear how well global self-reports capture individual differences in strategy selection and/or whether they may also index other emotion regulation stages. To address this issue, we examined how global self-report measures correspond with the three stages of emotion regulation as modeled using daily life data. We analyzed data from nine daily diary and experience sampling studies (total N = 1,097), in which participants provided daily and global self-reports of cognitive reappraisal, expressive suppression, and rumination. We found only weak-to-moderate correlations between global self-reports and average daily self-reports of each regulation strategy (indexing strategy selection). Global self-reports also correlated with individual differences in the degree to which (a) preceding affect experience predicted regulation strategies (representing the identification stage), and (b) regulation strategies predicted subsequent changes in affective experience (representing the implementation stage). Our findings suggest that global self-report measures of reappraisal, suppression, and rumination may not strongly and uniquely correlate with individual differences in daily selection of these strategies. Moreover, global self-report measures may also index individual differences in the perceived need to regulate, and the affective consequences of regulation in daily life. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved). ispartof: Emotion vol:23 issue:2 pages:357-374 ispartof: location:United States status: published

BACKGROUND Family carers of youth recovering from early psychosis experience significant stress however, access to effective family interventions is poor. Digital interventions provide a promising solution. OBJECTIVE Our objective was to evaluate across multiple Australian early psychosis services the effectiveness of a novel online early psychosis intervention for carers. METHODS In this cluster RCT conducted across multiple Australian early psychosis services, our digital moderated online social therapy for carers (Altitudes) was compared with enhanced family treatment as usual (TAU) on the primary outcome of perceived stress and secondary outcomes including mental health symptoms and family variables at 6 months follow-up. RESULTS 86 caregivers were randomized and data was available for 74 young people. Our primary hypothesis that carers randomized to Altitudes would report greater improvements in perceived stress at follow-up compared with carers randomized to TAU was not supported with the TAU group showing more improvement (p=.032). For secondary outcomes, the TAU group showed improved mindfulness over time (p=.036). Regardless of group assignment, we observed improvements in satisfaction with life (p=.043), quality of life (p=.037), emotional over-involvement (p=.012) and burden of care (p=.005). In contrast, hair cortisol concentration increased (p=.041). Post hoc analyses revealed more contact with early psychosis services in the intervention group compared to TAU (p=.006) and that improvements in perceived stress (p=.008) and social support (p=0.015) were associated with use of the intervention in the Altitudes group. 80% reported a positive experience with Altitudes and 93% would recommend it to others. CONCLUSIONS Our trial did not show a treatment effect for Altitudes in perceived stress. However, our post hoc analysis indicated that amount of use of Altitudes related to improvements in stress and social support. Additional design work is indicated to sustain users’ engagement and to significantly improve outcomes in problem solving, communication, and self-care. CLINICALTRIAL ACTRN12617000942358p

Social interaction and loneliness have received much research interest. However, the direction of their relationship is unclear—does social interaction shape loneliness, or does loneliness shape willingness to interact? We explored dynamics of these social experiences under exceptional circumstances: COVID-19 lockdowns, which were necessary for public health but impacted people’s social lives. Specifically, we investigated the relationship between social interaction and loneliness in and out of lockdown in Australia. We used experience sampling methodology to follow 233 people across one week (Mage=30; 8,495 surveys) in a period that spanned one of the longest lockdowns in the world. While loneliness did not predict subsequent social interaction, having a social interaction predicted lower subsequent loneliness, particularly in (vs. out of) lockdown. These findings suggest social interactions may limit loneliness, especially during physical isolation. In short, times when we are apart from others may be times we benefit from interacting with them most.

Emotions have a significant impact on our decision-making, learning, awareness, social interactions, and mental and physical health. Even though large efforts have been put into quantifying human emotions, their subjectivity, context-dependence, and complexity render them as being almost unpredictable. However, while different streams of research in pervasive computing and psychology have made significant progress in the quantification of emotions, the most successful research results come out of controlled laboratory studies. In this article, we present a retrospective of a series of in-the-wild studies through the lens of human emotions. We are looking at the weaknesses and strengths of traditional research methods and present lessons learned. We furthermore call for a readjustment of research rigor and describe potential new research designs specific to out-of-the-lab studies.

Researchers often combine longitudinal panel data analysis with tests of interactions (i.e., moderation). A popular example is the cross-lagged panel model (CLPM). However, interaction tests in CLPMs and related models require caution because stable (i.e., between-level, B) and dynamic (i.e., within-level, W) sources of variation are present in longitudinal data, which can conflate estimates of interaction effects. We address this by integrating literature on CLPMs, multilevel moderation, and latent interactions. Distinguishing stable B and dynamic W parts, we describe three types of interactions that are of interest to researchers: 1) purely dynamic or WxW; 2) cross-level or BxW; and 3) purely stable or BxB. We demonstrate estimating latent interaction effects in a CLPM using a Bayesian SEM in Mplus to apply relationships among work-family conflict and job satisfaction, using gender as a stable B variable. We support our approach via simulations, demonstrating that our proposed CLPM approach is superior to a traditional CLPMs that conflate B and W sources of variation. We describe higher-order nonlinearities as a possible extension, and we discuss limitations and future research directions.

Emotion regulation is inherently dynamic, unfolding iteratively over time and in reciprocal relation with other psychological processes. This makes emotion regulation a prime candidate for study using daily life methods--also known as ambulatory assessment or intensive longitudinal methods--which involve frequent active (e.g., via self-report) or passive (e.g., via sensors) sampling of experience, context, behavior, or physiology over time in naturalistic settings. In this chapter, we focus on the application of active self-report methods—i.e., ecological momentary assessment (EMA), the experience sampling method (ESM), and daily diaries—to the study of emotion regulation processes in daily life, which have grown rapidly in popularity over recent years. We hope to help readers navigate this burgeoning literature. We start with a brief overview of the “nuts and bolts” of using daily life methods to study emotion regulation. Next, we turn to motivating why researchers should bother using these methods by highlighting their key strengths. We then provide an overview of three key research questions that have been addressed using these methods, including empirical examples. Next, we propose a unified approach to jointly addressing these research questions using daily life data. And we end with a brief discussion of some challenges facing researchers investigating emotion regulation in daily life.

Our environment is in constant flux, and in response, our emotions change dynamically (Kuppens & Verduyn, 2017). Thus, when seeking to influence our emotions, we must also dynamically tune our emotion-regulation efforts. This means that successful regulation does not involve merely using particular adaptive strategies, but rather, flexibly picking the right strategy to suit ever-changing situational demands (Bonanno & Burton, 2013). This means that emotion regulation researchers must understand flexibility, often defined as systematic variation in emotion regulation processes in synchrony with the context (Aldao et al., 2015). In this chapter, we first discuss variability as a precursor to flexibility, then introduce the components of emotion regulation flexibility, and finally discuss challenges and future research directions.

Adopting a detached perspective—known as distancing—while reflecting on stressors can facilitate emotional recovery. Researchers have theorized that distancing works by enabling reappraisals of negative events, yet few studies have investigated specifically how distancing impacts stressor appraisals. In this experiment, we investigated how participants’ (N=355) emotional experience and appraisals of an interpersonal conflict differed depending on whether they reflected on the event from a linguistically immersed (first-person) or distanced (second/third-person) perspective. Partly replicating previous findings, distanced reflection predicted increases in positive affect, but not reductions in negative affect, relative to immersed reflection. Linguistic distancing also predicted increases in motivational congruence appraisals (i.e., perceived advantageousness of the event), but did not influence other appraisal dimensions. We discuss how linguistic distancing may facilitate emotional recovery by illuminating the benefits of stressful experiences, enabling people to “see the good in the bad.”

Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, policy makers have tried to balance the effectiveness of lockdowns (i.e., stay-at-home orders) with their potential mental health costs. Yet, several years into the pandemic, policy makers lack solid evidence about the toll of lockdowns on daily emotional functioning. Using data from two intensive longitudinal studies conducted in Australia in 2021, we compared the intensity, persistence, and regulation of emotions on days in and out of lockdown. Participants (N = 441, observations = 14,511) completed a 7-day study either entirely in lockdown, entirely out of lockdown, or both in and out of lockdown. We assessed emotions in general (Dataset 1) and in the context of social interactions (Dataset 2). Lockdowns took an emotional toll, but this toll was relatively mild: In lockdown, people experienced slightly more negative and less positive emotion; returned to a mildly negative emotional state more quickly; and used low-effort emotion regulation strategies (i.e., distraction). There are three interpretations for our findings, which are not mutually exclusive. First, people may be relatively resilient to the emotional challenges posed by repeated lockdowns. Second, lockdowns may not compound the emotional challenges of the pandemic. Third, because we found effects even in a mostly childless and well-educated sample, lockdowns may take a greater emotional toll in samples with less pandemic privilege. Indeed, the high level of pandemic privilege of our sample limits the generalizability of our findings (e.g., to people with caregiving roles).

The synthesis of novel organic prototypes combining different functionalities is key to achieve operational elements for applications in organic electronics. Here we set the stage towards individually addressable magneto-optical transducers by the on-surface synthesis of optically active manganese-phthalocyanine derivatives (MnPc) obtained directly on a metallic substrate. We created these 2D nanostructures under ultra-high vacuum conditions with atomic precision starting from a simple phthalonitrile precursor with reversible photo-induced reactivity in solution. These precursors maintain their integrity after powder sublimation and coordinate with the Mn ions into tetrameric complexes and then transform into MnPcs on Ag(111) after a cyclotetramerization reaction. Using scanning tunnelling microscopy and spectroscopy together with DFT calculations, we identify the isomeric configuration of two bi-stable structures and show that it is possible to switch them reversibly by mechanical manipulation. Moreover, the robust magnetic moment brought by the central Mn ion provides a feasible pathway towards magneto-optical transducer fabrication. This work should trigger further research confirming such magneto-optical effects in MnPcs both on surfaces and in liquid environments., We gratefully acknowledge financial support from the Spanish Ministries of Economy, Industry and Competitiveness (MINECO, grants MAT2016-78293-C6-4-R and MAT2016-78293-C6-6) and of Science and Innovation (MICINN, grant no. PID2019-107338RB-C62, PID2019-107338RB-C64, PID2019-107338RB-C66/AEI/10.13039/501100011033 and RED2018-102833-T), the regional Governments of Aragon (E13-20R and E12-20R), the Xunta de Galicia (Centro de Investigación de Galicia acreditation 2019–2022, ED431G 2019/03), the Dept. of Education of the Basque Government and UPV/EHU (grant no. IT1246-19), the Spanish Research Agency (AEI), the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) under the program Interreg V-A España-Francia-Andorra (contract no. EFA194/16 TNSI) and the European Union through Horizon 2020 (FET-Open project SPRING grant. no. 863098)., We acknowledge support of the publication fee by the CSIC Open Access Publication Support Initiative through its Unit of Information Resources for Research (URICI).

Real-world emotions are often more vivid, personally meaningful, and consequential than those evoked in the lab. Therefore, studying emotions in daily life is essential to test theories, discover new phenomena, and understand healthy emotional functioning; in short, to move affective science forward. The past decades have seen a surge of research using daily diary, experience sampling, or ecological momentary assessment methods to study emotional phenomena in daily life. In this paper, we will share some of the insights we have gained from our collective experience applying such daily life methods to study everyday affective processes. We highlight what we see as important considerations and caveats involved in using these methods and formulate recommendations to improve their use in future research. These insights focus on the importance of (i) theory and hypothesis-testing; (ii) measurement; (iii) timescale; and (iv) context, when studying emotions in their natural habitat. ispartof: Affective Science vol:3 issue:2 pages:505-515 ispartof: location:Switzerland status: published

People often think about how they might feel tomorrow or next week. Research on affective forecasting suggests people overestimate their future feelings, but it remains unknown whether this pattern extends to everyday affective forecasts. We aimed to test whether people can accurately forecast their daily and weekly affect, and whether accuracy is associated with emotional benefits. At baseline, participants (N=209) forecasted how they would feel over the next week. Each evening for 7-days, participants forecasted tomorrow’s affect, and rated today’s affect, emotion-focused coping, and life satisfaction. Participants were relatively accurate in predicting tomorrow’s affect but showed evidence of absolute inaccuracy by overestimating their exact affect level. Forecasting accuracy did not predict emotion-focused coping or daily life satisfaction, but experienced affect did. Thus, people may be better off focusing on managing their emotions when they arise, rather than trying to manage them in advance.

While emotion regulation often happens in the presence of others, little is known about how social context shapes regulatory efforts and outcomes. One key element of the social context is social support. In two experience sampling studies (Ns = 179 and 123), we examined how the use and affective consequences of two fundamentally social emotion-regulation strategies—social sharing and expressive suppression—vary as a function of perceived social support. Across both studies, we found evidence that social support was associated with variation in people’s use of these strategies, such that when people perceived their environments as being higher (vs. lower) in social support, they engaged in more sharing and less suppression. However, we found only limited and inconsistent support for context-dependent affective outcomes of suppression and sharing: suppression was associated with better affective consequences in the context of higher perceived social support in Study 1, but this effect did not replicate in Study 2. Taken together, these findings suggest that the use of social emotion-regulation strategies may depend on contextual variability in social support, whereas their effectiveness does not. Future research is needed to better understand the circumstances in which context-dependent use of emotion regulation may have emotional benefits, accounting for personal, situational, and cultural factors.

Social anxiety disorder (SAD) is characterised by an excessive fear of negative social evaluation. There is a limited understanding of how individuals with SAD react physiologically and subjectively to social stress.The Trier Social Stress Test (TSST), an acute social stress task, was completed by 40 SAD individuals (50% female) and 41 healthy controls (matched on age, sex, and education) to examine salivary cortisol and self-reported stress reactivity. Salivary cortisol concentrations and self-reported affect (anxiety, sadness, tiredness, withdrawal, and happiness) were assessed at baseline and across nine-time points during the TSST.Bayesian salivary cortisol analyses revealed no group differences in salivary cortisol levels at baseline or during the TSST, with results comparative after the removal of 17 cortisol non-responders (21%). Contrastingly, the groups significantly differed on self-reported affect. At baseline, the SAD group (vs. controls) reported heightened negative affect and diminished happiness. In response to the TSST, the SAD group (vs. controls) displayed greater negative affect reactivity and diminished happiness reactivity, and significantly higher rates of change in their anxiety and sadness over time. After accounting for differences in the temporal resolution of self-reported versus cortisol responses, a moderate positive association was found between salivary cortisol and anxiety reactivity to social stress that was comparable between the groups.Despite elevated subjective anxiety, our findings suggest concordance in psychobiological stress reactivity in SAD and healthy controls. We discuss the possibility of heightened subjective sensitivity to social evaluative stress as a core treatment target for SAD.

Sensory processing sensitivity is an individual difference that captures the extent to which people show heightened emotional reactivity to, and increased cognitive processing of, their environment. Although central to its definition, there has been no research examining whether highly sensitive individuals display stronger reactivity to naturally occurring negative and positive events in everyday life. We addressed this gap by carrying out a 21-day online diary study with 239 participants, varying in sensory processing sensitivity, who reported their daily life-satisfaction, affective experiences, and self-esteem along with appraisals of the most negative and positive events of the day. Multilevel analyses demonstrated that individuals higher in sensory processing sensitivity showed greater reactivity to more subjectively intense negative events, but no difference in their reactivity to positive events. These findings provide initial insights into how sensory processing sensitivity manifests in daily emotional reactivity with greater reactivity to negative events in our study.