Appraisal shifts during reappraisal

Area of Science:

• Psychology
• Cognitive Science
• Neuroscience

Background:

• Emotion regulation is crucial for mental well-being.
• Reappraisal is a key cognitive strategy for managing emotions.
• Understanding the mechanisms of reappraisal is essential for developing effective interventions.

Purpose of the Study:

• To model the cognitive processes underlying emotion regulation through reappraisal.
• To investigate whether reappraisal impacts emotions by altering appraisal dimensions.
• To identify distinct reappraisal tactics and their mediating roles.

Main Methods:

• Two studies were conducted: an experimental study with 437 students and an intensive longitudinal study with 168 participants.
• Participants rated their appraisals and emotions before and after using reappraisal.
• Latent profile analyses were used to identify distinct reappraisal tactics.

Main Results:

• Shifts in appraisal dimensions statistically mediated between 19-49% of emotion changes in Study 1 and 22-46% in Study 2.
• Four distinct reappraisal tactics were identified in Study 1, with two similar and four novel tactics in Study 2.
• Appraisal shifts were less significant for unregulated emotion changes.

Conclusions:

• Multivariate profiles of appraisal shifts are more suitable for modeling reappraisal than univariate dimensions.
• Appraisal shift profiles offer a useful model for understanding the cognitive processes of reappraisal.
• Findings suggest reappraisal operates through distinct tactics involving shifts across multiple appraisal dimensions.