Whether and how to regulate: Emotion regulation in negative-feedback situations

Area of Science:

• Psychology
• Social Psychology
• Cognitive Psychology

Background:

• Emotion-regulation goals are typically studied independently, yet often coexist with other objectives.
• Negative feedback situations present a unique context for examining the interplay between emotion-regulation and performance goals.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate emotion-regulation choices in response to negative feedback.
• To challenge the assumption that performance goals are primary in negative feedback scenarios.
• To explore how individuals choose to regulate emotions after receiving negative feedback.

Main Methods:

• Conducted five preregistered online studies with 1,087 participants.
• Examined emotion-regulation choice (whether and how to regulate) in response to feedback.
• Investigated the influence of emotion-regulation goals (feeling better) and performance goals (performing better) on strategy selection.

Main Results:

• Negative feedback enhances the salience of the goal to feel better through negative affect.
• The goal to perform better, not the goal to feel better, significantly influences emotion-regulation strategy choice.
• A strong performance goal is linked to a preference for reappraisal over distraction as an emotion-regulation strategy.

Conclusions:

• Affect-oriented processes, including emotion regulation, are active during negative feedback reception.
• Studying competing goals is crucial for understanding emotion regulation processes.
• Findings offer insights into why individuals may not improve performance after negative feedback.