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Objective Background Method Results Conclusion This study aimed to explore the efficiency of different emotion regulation strategies, specifically reappraisal and suppression, in relation to adaptive and maladaptive personality profiles.Personality conditions emotions and influences emotion regulation. Of the available regulation strategies, reappraisal (reinterpreting the situation) is described as an efficient strategy, whereas suppression (not displaying the experienced emotion) carries higher physiological and cognitive costs. Little is known, however, about the influence of personality on these efficiencies.We tested the personality structure of 102 participants (Meanage = 20.75, SDage = 2.15), based on the Five‐Factor Model and the Maladaptive Personality Trait Model. Experience, expressivity, and physiological arousal were recorded during the viewing of emotionally charged positive and negative images while participants reappraised, suppressed, or viewed the images without regulating their emotions.We identified two clusters for adaptive personality (“Adaptive Resilient” and “Anti‐resilient”) and two for maladaptive personality (“Maladaptive Resilient” and “Under‐controlled”). The major finding was for emotional experience in maladaptive personalities, where reappraisal was efficient in the Maladaptive Resilient profile, while none of the strategies brought relief in the Under‐controlled profile.This study, which systematically contrasts personality and efficiency of emotion regulation strategies, is one of the first attempts to refine the understanding of how personality influences the emotional regulation process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Situation selection consists in choosing an upcoming emotional situation in order to regulate emotions. It was found to be a strategy with powerful effects on emotional negative experience and physiological arousal. Situation selection is supposed to be efficient through the empowering effect of choice itself. In the present study, we wanted to replicate results on Situation selection efficiency and explore its limits by examining the implications of a non-meaningful choice procedure preceding the emotional trigger, expecting that even this non-meaningful choice would be regulatory. Sixty-one participants (40 females, mean age 21.4 years) were presented with emotional pictures, either with no particular instruction (no regulation) or with the task to make a choice between two options. This task was either a classical Situation selection task, with the label corresponding to the image that could be later seen (Word Situation selection), or non-meaningful options (Non-word Situation selection). The effect of Situation selection for negative experience was replicated. Effects on physiological arousal showed reduced heart rate and respiratory rate at the end of the viewing period, particularly for positive viewing. In negative viewing, Non-word Situation selection did not reduce negative experience, but did reinforce the calming effect of Situation selection on heart and respiratory rate. These results confirm Situation selection as a valid emotion regulation strategy, particularly regarding physiological arousal. Significant understanding of the options seems to constitute a strategic part of the regulation on the full spectrum of emotion responses but is not mandatory if only some specific physiological responses are targeted. • Situation selection regulates emotional experience and physiological arousal. • Having the choice seems to play a capital role in the regulatory process. • Giving non-meaningful options in choices impedes regulation of negative experience. • But non-meaningful options in choices still retain respiratory and cardiac regulation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Situation selection is an emotion regulation strategy consisting in choosing a future emotional situation. Past research showed that Situation selection triggers a decrease in negative experience, exocrine reactions and respiratory activity, while maintaining stable positive experience. In this study, we wanted to replicate these observations and test emotional responses that follow an Illusory choice, i.e., when the chosen situation is not available and replaced by another. Sixty-eight participants watched emotional pictures, either in a condition in which the images were imposed, or in a condition in which they could perform a choice. In these latter trials, participants saw either the chosen option (Situation selection) or the non-selected option (Illusory choice). Continuous recordings of experience and physiological arousal showed that, unlike Situation selection, Illusory choice decreased positive experience but not negative experience. Strikingly, however, we showed that having the choice decreased skin conductance and respiratory arousal, regardless of whether the choice was respected or not. These results have important implications regarding emotion regulation through Situation selection, since having the choice about the upcoming emotional situation, no matter if we really end up in this situation, gives a sense of control that may be sufficient to alleviate physiological responses to stressors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Emotional acceptance has begun to attract considerable attention from researchers and clinicians alike. It is not yet clear, however, what effects emotional acceptance has on early emotion response dynamics. To address this question, participants ( N = 37) were shown emotional pictures and cued either to simply attend to them, or to accept or suppress their emotional responses. Continuous measures of emotion experience, expressive behavior, and autonomic responses were obtained. Results indicated that, compared to no regulation, acceptance led to more positive emotions, transiently enhanced expressivity, and lowered respiratory rate. Compared to suppression, acceptance led to more positive emotions, stronger expressivity, and smaller changes in heart rate, blood pressure, and pulse amplitude, as well as greater oxygenation. Acceptance and suppression thus have opposite effects on emotional response dynamics. Because acceptance enhances positive emotion experience and expression, this strategy may be particularly useful in facilitating social interactions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines the early affective consequences of two close forms of suppression. Participants ( N=37) were shown negative, positive, and neutral pictures and cued either to attend to the pictures, or to perform expressive or physiological suppression (i.e., reduce body reactions). Continuous measures of experience, expressivity, and autonomic responses showed that both suppression strategies produced rapid response modulation. Common effects of the two strategies included a transient increase in negative feeling, a durable decrease in positive feeling, and a decrease in expressivity, cardiovascular activity, and oxygenation. The two strategies were significantly different only in response to positive stimuli, with physiological suppression showing a larger decrease in experience intensity and blood pressure. These results suggest a strong overlap between the two suppression strategies in terms of their early impact on emotional responses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]