Jove
Visualize
Contact Us
JoVE
x logofacebook logolinkedin logoyoutube logo
ABOUT JoVE
OverviewLeadershipBlogJoVE Help Center
AUTHORS
Publishing ProcessEditorial BoardScope & PoliciesPeer ReviewFAQSubmit
LIBRARIANS
TestimonialsSubscriptionsAccessResourcesLibrary Advisory BoardFAQ
RESEARCH
JoVE JournalMethods CollectionsJoVE Encyclopedia of ExperimentsArchive
EDUCATION
JoVE CoreJoVE BusinessJoVE Science EducationJoVE Lab ManualFaculty Resource CenterFaculty Site
Terms & Conditions of Use
Privacy Policy
Policies

Related Concept Videos

Coping Strategies: Emotion Focused01:20

Coping Strategies: Emotion Focused

Emotion-focused coping refers to a set of strategies aimed at managing the emotional impact of stressors, rather than directly addressing their causes. This approach involves altering one's emotional response to stressful situations to reduce their psychological effects. For example, individuals might talk with a friend or engage in activities like journaling to express their feelings. Such actions can help achieve emotional clarity or release, providing the psychological stability needed to...
The Influence of Cognition on Affect01:29

The Influence of Cognition on Affect

Cognition plays a pivotal role in shaping emotional experiences, as demonstrated by Schachter and Singer’s two-factor theory of emotion. According to this model, emotion arises from a combination of physiological arousal and cognitive interpretation. The body’s physiological response to stimuli is ambiguous and only gains emotional significance through cognitive labeling. For instance, an increased heart rate and adrenaline surge while standing near an attractive person may be interpreted as...
Decision Making01:20

Decision Making

Decision-making is a fundamental cognitive process that involves evaluating alternatives and selecting among them. This process can range from simple choices, such as deciding what to wear, to complex decisions, like choosing a major in college or a career path. The complexity of the decision often dictates the approach we use, which can be broadly categorized into two types: automatic and controlled decision-making.
Automatic decision-making is fast, intuitive, and relies on gut feelings...
Self-Regulation01:25

Self-Regulation

Self-regulation, also known as self-control, encompasses a range of cognitive and behavioral processes that allow individuals to adjust their internal states and outward actions to align with socially acceptable norms and long-term goals. It plays a fundamental role in adaptive functioning, from resisting impulsive behaviors to persisting through challenging tasks. While its benefits are widely recognized, self-regulation is not limitless. Muraven and Baumeister's theory posits that...
Self-Discrepancy Theory02:45

Self-Discrepancy Theory

One influential perspective on what motivates people's behavior is detailed in Tory Higgin's self-discrepancy theory (Higgins, 1987). He proposed that people hold disagreeing internal representations of themselves that lead to different emotional states.
Reason and Intuition01:37

Reason and Intuition

The human brain processes information for decision-making using one of two routes: an intuitive system and a rational system (Epstein, 1994; popularized by Kahneman, 2011 as System 1 and System 2, respectively). The intuitive system is quick, impulsive, and operates with minimal effort, relying on emotions or habits to provide cues for what to do next, while the rational system is logical, analytical, deliberate, and methodical. Research in neuropsychology suggests that the brain can only use...

You might also read

Related Articles

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

Sort by
Same author

Sticking with the status quo: How defaults shape the age-related positivity effect.

Psychology and aging·2025
Same author

The building blocks of emotion regulation flexibility: correlational and causal evidence for the influence of sensitive classification of emotional intensity on flexible strategy selection.

Cognition & emotion·2025
Same author

Matching-Adjusted Indirect Treatment Comparison of Tarlatamab Versus Comparator Therapies in England in Patients with Extensive-Stage Small Cell Lung Cancer Who Have Received Two or More Prior Lines of Therapy.

Advances in therapy·2025
Same author

Emotion regulation, fast or slow: A computational model of strategy choice.

Emotion (Washington, D.C.)·2025
Same author

Temporal dynamics of negative emotion regulation: Insights from facial electromyography.

Psychophysiology·2025
Same author

Emotion regulation contagion drives reduction in negative intergroup emotions.

Nature communications·2025
Same journal

How Does the Mind Grow? Cross-Cultural Intuitive Theories of Mental Development.

Psychological science·2026
Same journal

Not All Practice Is Created Equal: Longitudinal Evidence From Over 40,000 Chess Players.

Psychological science·2026
Same journal

Eye Glint as a Novel Perceptual Cue in Human Vision.

Psychological science·2026
Same journal

Multitarget Visual Search Flexibly Switches Between Concurrent and Sequential Search Modes.

Psychological science·2026
Same journal

Motive Alignment Promotes Adolescents' Proenvironmental Behavior: A Field Experiment in Two Cultures.

Psychological science·2026
Same journal

Retributive Sentiments Track Both Deterrent and Compensatory Concerns in a Small-Scale Society and a WEIRD Sample.

Psychological science·2026
See all related articles

Related Experiment Video

Updated: May 28, 2026

Psychophysiological Assessment of the Effectiveness of Emotion Regulation Strategies in Childhood
08:09

Psychophysiological Assessment of the Effectiveness of Emotion Regulation Strategies in Childhood

Published on: February 11, 2017

Emotion-regulation choice.

Gal Sheppes1, Susanne Scheibe, Gaurav Suri

  • 1Department of Psychology, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305-2130, USA. gsheppes@gmail.com

Psychological Science
|October 1, 2011
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

People adapt emotion regulation strategies based on situation intensity. Low-intensity negative situations favor engagement reappraisal, while high-intensity situations favor disengagement distraction for better emotional adaptation.

More Related Videos

Multimodal Protocol for Assessing Metacognition and Self-Regulation in Adults with Learning Difficulties
12:55

Multimodal Protocol for Assessing Metacognition and Self-Regulation in Adults with Learning Difficulties

Published on: September 27, 2020

Brain Imaging Investigation of the Neural Correlates of Emotion Regulation
14:04

Brain Imaging Investigation of the Neural Correlates of Emotion Regulation

Published on: August 26, 2011

Related Experiment Videos

Last Updated: May 28, 2026

Psychophysiological Assessment of the Effectiveness of Emotion Regulation Strategies in Childhood
08:09

Psychophysiological Assessment of the Effectiveness of Emotion Regulation Strategies in Childhood

Published on: February 11, 2017

Multimodal Protocol for Assessing Metacognition and Self-Regulation in Adults with Learning Difficulties
12:55

Multimodal Protocol for Assessing Metacognition and Self-Regulation in Adults with Learning Difficulties

Published on: September 27, 2020

Brain Imaging Investigation of the Neural Correlates of Emotion Regulation
14:04

Brain Imaging Investigation of the Neural Correlates of Emotion Regulation

Published on: August 26, 2011

Area of Science:

  • Psychology
  • Cognitive Neuroscience
  • Affective Science

Background:

  • Understanding how individuals select emotion regulation strategies is crucial for mental health.
  • Existing research offers limited insight into strategy selection based on negative situation intensity.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the relationship between the intensity of negative situations and the choice of emotion regulation strategies.
  • To test the hypothesis that low-intensity negative situations prompt engagement (reappraisal) and high-intensity situations prompt disengagement (distraction).

Main Methods:

  • Three experiments were conducted using varying negative stimuli: emotional pictures and unpredictable electric stimulation.
  • Participants were presented with negative contexts of differing intensities.
  • Participants chose between two emotion regulation strategies: reappraisal (engagement) and distraction (disengagement).

Main Results:

  • Across all three experiments, results consistently supported the hypothesis.
  • Participants preferentially chose reappraisal in low-intensity negative situations.
  • Participants preferentially chose distraction in high-intensity negative situations.

Conclusions:

  • The choice of emotion regulation strategies is dynamically modulated by the intensity of negative emotional contexts.
  • This adaptive strategy selection, favoring engagement for lower intensity and disengagement for higher intensity, has significant implications for healthy psychological adaptation.
  • Findings contribute to a process-based understanding of emotion regulation and its role in well-being.