The simultaneous use of Emotional suppression and Situation selection to regulate emotions incrementally favors physiolo
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EARCH ARTICLE
Open Access
The simultaneous use of Emotional suppression and Situation selection to regulate emotions incrementally favors physiological responses Simon Thuillard1,2 and Elise S. Dan‑Glauser1*
Abstract Background: Emotion regulation alters the trajectories of emotional responses and, when effective, transforms the emotional responses to help individuals adapt to their environment. Previous research has mainly focused on the effi‑ ciency of regulation strategies performed individually at a given time. Yet, in daily life, it is likely that several strategies are often combined. Thus, we question in this study the combinatorial efficiency of two emotion regulation strategies, Situation selection and Emotional suppression. Methods: In a within-subject design, sixty-five participants were asked to implement either no strategy, Situation selection only, Emotional suppression only, or both strategies together (four conditions) while looking at various emo‑ tionally charged images. Experience, expressivity, and physiological arousal were recorded throughout the viewing. Repeated-measures ANOVAs and corrected post-hoc tests were used for analyzing the data. Results: The results of the combined strategies showed that Emotional suppression canceled the beneficial impact of Situation selection on negative experience, while significantly increasing the impact on cardiac activity. The use of both strategies together had a greater effect on respiratory function with an enhanced decrease in respiratory rate and amplitude. Conclusions: The combinatorial effect of emotion regulation strategies is different according to the emotional response that the individual needs to regulate. The simultaneous use of Situation selection and Emotional suppression could be particularly beneficial to relieve physiological symptoms. Keywords: Emotion regulation strategies, Emotion responses, Multiple strategy use, Strategy efficiency Background Emotion is a central aspect of psychological functioning, generally defined as a rapid psychological process leading to changes in behavior [1]. Emotion usually emerges following a situational trigger that is processed. It results in a set of experience, expression, and physiological arousal *Correspondence: [email protected] 1 Institute of Psychology, University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland Full list of author information is available at the end of the article
patterned responses, which help the individual adapt to the changing environment [2, 3]. Because of social display rules, personality, and individual preferences, a significant part of emerging emotional episodes are regulated [4]. Emotion regulation refers to “the processes by which individuals influence which emotions they have, when they have them, and how they experience and express these emotions” ([5, p. 275]). Emotion regulation alters the trajectories of the emotion responses and shapes the resultant affective reactions.
© The Author(s) 2020. Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons At
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