Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jul 14, 2026
08:09
Psychophysiological Assessment of the Effectiveness of Emotion Regulation Strategies in Childhood
Published on: February 11, 2017
To Regulate or Not to Regulate? Situational and Individual Differences in Emotion Regulation Initiation in Daily Life
Tabea Springstein1, Anna C Bankston2, Tammy English2
1University of California, Riverside, USA.
Personality & Social Psychology Bulletin
|July 13, 2026
Summary
People initiate emotion regulation most of the time, especially in unfamiliar or unpleasant situations. Interestingly, those who believe emotions are uncontrollable were more likely to start regulating their feelings.
Area of Science:
- Psychology
- Cognitive Neuroscience
- Affective Science
Background:
- Emotion regulation is crucial for well-being, but the initial decision to regulate is understudied.
- Situational and individual factors influence emotion regulation processes.
- Existing research often focuses on strategy selection and efficacy, neglecting initiation.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate situational and individual predictors of emotion regulation initiation.
- To examine whether factors like situation familiarity and beliefs about emotion controllability influence the decision to regulate.
Main Methods:
- Experience sampling methodology with 216 participants over 14 days (7 assessments per participant).
- Participants reported on emotion regulation initiation and context (familiarity, pleasantness, social partners) in the past 2 hours.
- Assessed individual differences in beliefs about emotion controllability.
Main Results:
- Participants initiated emotion regulation 60% of the time.
- Regulation initiation was higher in less familiar, less pleasant situations, and with dominant, less warm social partners.
- Contrary to hypotheses, individuals believing emotions are uncontrollable were more likely to initiate regulation.
Conclusions:
- Situational factors significantly predict the initiation of emotion regulation.
- Individual differences in beliefs about emotion controllability play a role in regulation initiation, with unexpected findings.
- The decision to initiate emotion regulation is a critical stage influenced by context and individual beliefs, impacting well-being.
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